Is God's love really unconditional?

Quick answer

God’s love reaches beyond all our rebellion, demonstrated most powerfully when He sent Jesus to die for us while we were His enemies. Yet this unconditional love doesn’t ignore justice—those who reject it face the consequences of sin apart from His grace.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

God’s love is unconditional because He loves those who do not love Him back. That is, His love is not dependent on people loving Him first. However, His love being unconditional does not mean we are free to hate Him by ignoring Him or living in sin. He is holy and just, which means He will hold all sin and sinners accountable. For those who do not repent, this means facing His righteous judgment. Rather than overlooking our sin, God’s unconditional love is shown by providing a way to escape judgment through His Son. This love is unconditional because we do not deserve the opportunity—it was given while we were still opposed to Him. However, even though this offer is unconditional, we must repent of our sin and trust in Jesus to experience God’s love fully. Rejecting Jesus means that after death, God ceases to show His unconditional love and, instead, administers justice and eternal punishment.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

Prior to Adam and Eve rebelling against Him, God promised they would die if they did so. Specifically, He told Adam not to eat from a particular tree (Genesis 2:17). Adam and Eve rebelled and did eat it (Genesis 3:6), and the result was death. However, it was not instant death. Rather, we see God’s unconditional love in delaying their physical deaths.

Indeed, when they sinned, God made a promise of love toward humanity. When cursing Satan (the serpent), He said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The word “bruise” is clearer when translated as “crush.” What He said was that woman’s seed would be hurt by Satan but would crush (kill) the serpent. Through that promise, God was prophesying that there would be a man who would conquer Satan. This was God’s unconditional love in action. Mankind deserved nothing but complete and immediate death. Yet, God delayed death, allowing humans to continue to be born so that He could give us an escape from His eternal judgment.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see faint shadows of the Redeemer who would come. Speaking to Abraham, God told him, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:18 [NASB]). Just like Adam and Eve were promised a “seed” (descendant), Abraham was told that a seed would come through his line and would bring God’s blessing of love to the world.

Moses, the greatest prophet, foretold someone even greater. He said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Isaiah 7:14 reas, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The word “Immanuel” means “God with us.” This pointed toward a Redeemer who was not just man (a “seed”) but also God.

The Servant in Isaiah 53:5–6 was prophesied to be the One through whom God would show His unconditional love.

The Israelites, through whom the “seed” would come and to whom God made the promise of salvation, were often rebellious. Despite their rebellion, God said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). God punished them for their rebellion, but because of His unconditional love, He promised there would be a day in the future where He would bring redemption.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

God’s unconditional love was demonstrated when He sent Jesus (John 3:16).

Love is not a subversion of God’s justice. God’s unconditional love was shown by sending Jesus to die in the place of we who deserve death for our rebellion (1 John 4:9–10).

Paul put it succinctly: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Speaking to believers, he added, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10a).

Jesus taught what God’s kind of love looks like in believers: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:43–45a). He then said not to love conditionally: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46–47). A worldly love is a conditional love—it’s loving those who love you. However, a godly love is loving those who hate you! This is what God’s unconditional love looks like.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

God’s unconditional love is a love that has no strings attached. He doesn’t love after we demonstrate our loyalty or love to Him. Rather, despite our protracted sin and rebellion against Him, He loves us. That is, He loves His enemies.

His love does not overlook sin, and He must punish it. However, He demonstrated His love by sending His only Son to come to earth and die in the place of sinners. So, God’s unconditional love does not guarantee an eternal future of His love but gives us a way to escape His justice against our sin. Therefore, the first thing we must all do is to repent. We don’t earn God’s love by doing that. Rather, we are responding rightly to His unconditional love, which is Jesus being punished for our sin, so we can go free and live eternally with God.

After we are saved from His wrath, then we are to love like He loved. We see this clearly in the example Jesus gave us. He loved those who hated Him and desired their well-being despite them desiring His death. We must also love like this. It’s easy to love someone that loves us or will do something for us. However, to love someone that wants to harm us is very hard. But that is what God’s unconditional love looks like—it’s not defined by what we get but what we sacrificially give.

UNDERSTAND

God’s love is unconditional in that He loves us even while we are in rebellion and offers salvation we do not deserve.

God’s unconditional love does not ignore sin but provides a way to escape His just judgment through repentance and faith in Jesus.

While God offers His love freely, we only experience its eternal benefits if we respond by turning from sin and trusting in Christ.

REFLECT

How have you experienced God's love even when you were far from Him or not seeking Him?

Where do you need to not take God's unconditional love for granted by tolerating sin in your life?

How does knowing that God loved you while you were still His enemy challenge the way you love others today?

ENGAGE

What does it mean that God's love is unconditional but still requires repentance to be fully experienced?

How can we hold together the truths of God's unconditional love and His perfect justice when talking to others about the gospel?

How does Jesus’s example of loving enemies reshape how we think about love in our relationships?