Is God’s Love Unconditional or Unconditioned?

Sometimes I hear preachers emphasize that God’s love is “unconditional”, and what they mean by this is intended to comfort and encourage their listeners. The idea, however, can be so easily abused. What these speakers might need to stress instead is that even though “God is love,” God is also holy and rejects sin. Without this reminder, I fear that the message of unconditional love might register to some people as a license to sin and get away with it. After all, God’s unconditional love could be understood as “God will never punish or reject me no matter what I do!”

This understanding of unconditional love is not supported in the Bible. We only need to read the many experiences of the Israelites in the Old Testament, who were often punished by God for their sins. Even in the New Testament, we can point to Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, the egregious fornicator in Corinth, and Hymenaeus and Alexander as similar examples (Matt 27:3–10; Acts 5:1–10; 1 Cor 5:1–5; 1 Tim 1:19–20).

The Need for Repentance

We fail others, I think, when we are silent about teaching them that sin has consequences. It is not enough for them to have repeated the “sinner’s prayer” in the past, or to go to confession if there is no real intention to change. There must be transformation, resistance against sinful conduct, and evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our churches and its members.

In a word, when it comes to sin, there must be true repentance. Repentance involves authentic remorse for the wrongs we have done. This should include trusting in the Lord for empowerment against sin, choosing good company, abandoning what we know will provoke a return to our former vices, and seeking the professional help we might need to break free of destructive habits. God’s “unconditional” love does not do away with repentance (see Romans 2:4).

The Reality of Divine Punishment

What should be stressed about God’s love is this—even if God loves a person “unconditionally,” this does not mean that God will never punish that person.

Yes, God so loved the “world” that He gave His only son, according John 3:16. This would seem to include all people in this context. And yet in the immediate verses that follow—John 3:17–18—the Johannine writer makes clear that unbelievers are condemned before God. Doesn’t this mean that despite God’s love for the world, He still punishes its people, even with eternal condemnation if they refuse to believe?

I recommend that the next time you hear a message about love and the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, that you also read about the works of the flesh (our sinful nature) in the verses that precede it in Galatians 5:19-21. The passage reads: “Now the works of the flesh are clearly visible, which are fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, use of drugs, enmities, strife, jealousies, outbursts of rage, covert rivalries, dissensions, factional teachings, envious malice, murders, drunkenness, carousing and such things as these, which I am warning you, just as also I warned before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (italics mine). The “you” is addressed to Christ-followers in Galatia. Their potential punishment for living a life that characterizes such vices is clearly evident—not inheriting God’s kingdom!

Christ warns that if we deny him, he also will deny us (Matthew 10:33; Luke 12:9; cf. 2 Timothy 2:12).

Sin and Grace: Romans 6:1–2

Paul’s words in Romans 6:1–2 are apropos here: “Shall we continue to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? May it never be so!” In other words, if I could paraphrase this text, “You’re out of mind if you think this way!” Little could our apostle imagine that this way of thinking would actually be turning into the norm for certain Christians in the 21st century.

The interlocutor’s questions in Romans 6:1 and 15 typify a misunderstanding about God’s grace relevant back then as well as today. As Martin Franzmann suggests, the question in Rom 6:1 can be interpreted as “cool, Satanic logic: there is in it the Satanic suggestion that we should exploit God, make His grace serve our selfish will, use His gifts to support us in our rebellion against God.” (Franzmann, Romans: A Commentary, 108).

When human sin has a tendency to be played down in the name of God’s surpassing grace and so-called “unconditional love,” Paul sets the record straight. Christians are to consider themselves to be dead to sin; they are to refuse to let it rule them. They are to become slaves to righteousness instead of sin (Romans 6:11–20).*

God’s Grace is Unconditioned, but not Unconditional

Paul is not speaking about an altruistic gift of grace (χάρις) that expects nothing in return. Such misconception has more to do with modern western thought than Paul’s thinking. Divine χάρις is a gift that assumes believers are now obligated to reciprocate with gratitude and loyalty, and this manifests in their continuing in faith and obedience to God and Christ (Romans 1:5; 8:12–13).

John Barclay puts it well with this kind of grace as the Christ-gift. It is “unconditioned” but not “unconditional” (Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 562; cf. 223). It is given to us free of prior conditions and without regard to our worth, and hence, it is unconditioned. However, it is not unconditional. It is not free from expectations that the recipient will offer some sort of “return.” God does expect a return for the Christ-gift—our obedience. There is also such a thing as grace being received in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1).**

Allegiance to the Gift-Giver should compel us to break away from other allegiances, especially Sin, since this force is diametrically opposed to God. Hence, the Christ-gift comes with expectation and obligation. Believers should not lapse into their former sinful ways (or new ways) but persevere in obedience as they rely on the Holy Spirit’s power for strength.

In the same manner, if we interpret God’s love as “I will never punish you,” perhaps it is time that we perceive God’s love as we do God’s grace—unconditioned rather than unconditional.

Conclusion

So then, when is it time to push back on messages about God’s unconditional love? When such messages fail to teach us about the holiness of God and divine punishment against sin. When God’s love is experienced, just like God’s grace, there is an expectation for us to reciprocate with loyalty and obedience.

May Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous words against “cheap grace” continue to be pondered on:

Cheap grace is “the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom it departs….Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”***

Notes

* See my article, B. J. Oropeza, “Grace as the Ground of Obedience in Romans 6,” Sacrum Testamentum 3 (2023) 1–35.

** See my article, B. J. Oropeza, “The Expectation of Grace: Paul on Benefaction and the Corinthians’ Ingratitude (2 Cor 6:1).” Bulletin for Biblical Research 24.2 (2014) 61–80.

*** Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1977), 47; cited from R. Kent Hughes, Romans: Righteousness from Heaven (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991), 133.