Tag Archives: God loves sinners

God’s Love that Saves

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Jesus on Cross with Cloudy SkyLove is an intrinsic attribute of God that motivated Him to reach into time and space and offer salvation to lost sinners who have offended Him. This was a voluntary act of love on the part of God, as He was in no way compelled to act. But He did act for our benefit, and this is most pronounced in the sending of His Son to die for us. In Scripture, we are told, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Here, the apostle John used the Greek verb agapao (ἀγαπάω), which speaks of God’s love for lost sinners, and His love was manifest toward us by providing His uniquely born Son as an atoning sacrifice for sin so that we might not spend eternity in the lake of fire. Instead, we might believe in His Son and come to possess eternal life. Love here is universal, extending to all of humanity. It is gracious because the object is undeserving (Rom 5:8). It is giving, as God gave His precious Son to die for us. It is simple, being received by faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 4:12; Eph 2:8-9). And it is salvific, saving those who accept God’s Son as their Savior (John 1:12; Gal 3:26).

But God, being holy, righteous, and good, cannot love anything contrary to His nature. And because God is immutable (Mal 3:6), His love never changes. This means He does not love us more at one moment and less at another. When God loves us, it means He desires our best, and that He is committed to our wellbeing and spiritual growth. Sometimes this means comforting us (2 Cor 1:3-4), but other times it means discipling us (Heb 12:6). His love is always perfect. Robert B. Thieme, Jr., states:

“Divine love, like every other attribute of God, is eternal, unchanging, and unfailing (1 Ch 16:34; Psa 57:10; 136). Even God’s complete knowledge of the sins and failures of His creatures cannot disappoint, frustrate, or diminish His love. God’s love can never be compromised, for it is governed by His perfect integrity (Psa 89:14a; Jer 9:24). Infinitely superior to human love, divine love always functions in a rational manner, free from emotion and sentimentality (Ex 34:6; Psa 86:15; Eph 2:4).”[1]

God is interested in saving lost sinners because He loves them and wants what is best for them. In John 3:16, love is seen as that beneficial act of God, borne out of His eternal attribute of love, whereby He seeks to save lost sinners by directing them to Christ as their Savior. God’s love is based entirely on His character and not in the beauty or worth of the object. The apostle Paul wrote, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). According to W. E. Vine, “In respect of agapao as used of God, it expresses the deep and constant ‘love’ and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects.”[2] And Christopher A. Beetham notes,

“God is essentially love (1 John 4:8), and His purpose right from the beginning has been one of love. The love of the Father for the Son is therefore the archetype of all love. This fact is made visible in the sending and self-sacrifice of the Son (John 3:16; 1 John 3:1, 16) …God’s primary purpose for the world is His compassionate and forgiving love, which asserts itself despite the world’s hostile rejection of it.”[3]

The apostle John wrote, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). Our salvation was not earned by anything we did, but rather, by the love He showed to us by sending His Son to be the satisfying sacrifice for our sins. W. E. Vine states, “God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son (1 John 4:9-10). But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects (Rom 5:8). It was an exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.”[4] God loves because of who He is, as it is natural for Him to love, for “God is love” (1 John 4:16).

Dr. Steven R. Cook

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[1] Robert B. Thieme, Jr. “Essence of God”, Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary, 87.

[2] W. E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 382.

[3] Christopher A. Beetham, ed., “Ἀγαπάω,” Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021), 111.

[4] W. E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 381–382.

[5] Lewis Sperry Chafer, He That Is Spiritual (Moody Press: Chicago, 1918), 41.

[6] Lewis S. Chafer, “Israel” in Systematic Theology, Vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI., Kregel Publications, 1993), 206.

I am a sinner

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       I am a sinner.  If you don’t know that about me, then you don’t really know me.  I am a sinner by birth (Rom. 5:12-18; Ps. 51:5), by nature (Rom. 7:19-21; Eph. 2:3), and by choice (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:9-18).  You are a sinner.  If you don’t know that about yourself, then you don’t really know yourself.  God loves sinners.  If you don’t know that about God, then you don’t really know God. 

I am a sinner. 

God loves sinners. 

God loves me.   

       How does God love me?  The Bible says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).  This is Good News.  God sent His Son into the world to die in my place and bear the punishment for my sin that rightfully belonged to me.  Peter declares, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18a), and Paul says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).  Salvation is simple for us, because Christ paid for all our sins at the cross.  The apostle Paul states, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).  This is God’s grace.  We don’t deserve this.  We can never earn this.  All of us are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).  What good news!  Christ has born all our sin and given to us the gift of salvation!  And God did this for us while we were sinners, unlovely, and hostile toward Him (Rom. 5:6-10).  Paul says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4-5).  That’s good news!

I am a sinner.

Christ died for sinners.

Christ died for me.

       God has made a way whereby sinners can come to Him through the cross of Christ and receive forgiveness of sins (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Eph. 1:7), eternal life (John 3:16; 10:28), and the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9).  John writes in his Gospel, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16).  To believe in Christ means we trust Him to save us.  We dare not look to ourselves or our human works in any way, but we rely on Him alone and His atoning work on the cross as sufficient to save us.  Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).  And Peter states, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Act 4:12).  Salvation is simple for us, because Christ paid for all our sins at the cross and there is nothing more for us to pay.  This is God’s grace.  John writes that Jesus “is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  Jesus death on the cross satisfied every righteous demand of God the father, and there’s nothing more we can pay.  Jesus paid it all.  It’s pure grace.

       There are some who may want to do good works to be saved, but good works can never save.  Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.  There were some who came to Jesus and asked, ‘“What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”’ (John 6:28-29).  Good works should follow salvation, but they are never the condition of it.  It is the will of God that we believe in Jesus for salvation.  Jesus declared, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 6:40).  And when the Philippian Jail asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).  He was met with the simple answer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).  Salvation is always by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  Paul declares, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9).  How are we saved?  It’s simple…“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). 

Dr. Steven R. Cook