Sacred Cow: God's Unconditional Love?

The concept of unconditional love is not really in the scriptres.

1 John 4:16 God is love.

People take this verse and then proceed to put their definition of what love is. Many people have a definition of love that has no judgment and in fact, is unconditional . Unconditional means that there are no conditions for this love.

How many times have you heard this sacred cow? Many well meaning Christians have proclaimed this God of unconditional love to non believers as a means of drawing them. We are told that God loves all people with an unconditional love--that it does not matter what we do or believe-- that God still loves us--that nothing can separate us from His love.

Yet that is not how God presents his love in the scriptues.

Actually here is a shocker. The word unconditional is not in the Bible. NOWHERE!

Now there is an aspect of God’s love that is unconditional.

Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Paul is saying that the love that God demonstrated for humanity manifested itself in the sending of Jesus Christ to die on the cross. That is the only sense that God’s love is unconditional.
Every verse that regards the love of God for the world has to do with the sending of his Son to the cross.

1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But is there a conditional side of God’s love as well?

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

This is written by the same John that wrote "God is love" in 1 John . Look at what Jesus says. He says IF you keep his commandments THEN he and the Father would love you. Now this is a conditional love. But even friendship with Jesus is conditional .

John 15:14 You are my friends IF you do what I command.

So what is the condition.? It is the same condition we see for the love of the Father: Keep my commandments. That’s right, God said if you keep his commandments then he would love you. "But your talking works again pastor." Yes, I am saying as I have been saying often that works demonstrate a true faith and are necessary to abide in the love of God.

If your hearts' desire is not to obey Jesus, but rather to do the minimum required for salvation, you need to think again. You are deceived. You have created a theology to suit yourself, but it will not save you.

God loves all people because of the cross, yet his love wont help anyone unless you obey Him.