That is precisely what God, in Christ, has done. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This divine rescue, based on unconditional love, resulted in a gracious act of self-sacrifice. God experienced our humanity-everything it means to be a human being-and then offered Himself willingly as a substitutionary atonement for our sin. Rather, God condescended to become a man and live among His people (John 1:14). God did not wait for us to better ourselves as a condition of atoning for our sin. We also learn that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and that none of us seek God none of us do what is right before His eyes (Romans 3:10–18).ĭespite the hostility and enmity we have toward God (for which God would be perfectly just to utterly destroy us), God revealed His love toward us in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation (the appeasement of God’s righteous wrath) for our sins. We reject God, and God gives us over to our sin. We are at enmity with God, and His wrath is being revealed against the ungodly for their unrighteousness (Romans 1:18–20). Reading through the book of Romans, we learn that we are alienated from God due to our sin. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6–8). Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Listen to the apostle Paul’s words from his letter to the Romans: As God considered the plight of His rebellious people, He determined to save them from their sin, and this determination was based on His love (Ephesians 1:4–5). The gospel message is basically a story of divine rescue. The unconditional nature of God’s love is most clearly seen in the gospel. That love moves Him toward benevolent action: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). In other words, God loves without placing any conditions on the loved ones He loves because it is His nature to love (1 John 4:8). God’s love for mankind, as described in the Bible, is clearly unconditional in that His love is expressed toward the objects of His love despite their disposition toward Him.
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