The Fallacy of Unconditional Love

The title of this article may completely shock the living daylights out of some readers—this is to be expected. But this is precisely what the concept of unconditional love is—a fallacy. Believers have been fed with the idea that God’s love is unconditional, but nothing can be further from the truth. God’s requirement for a propitiation and His conditions for man’s salvation was nothing less than perfection so that the only acceptable sacrifice for the atonement of our sins was the Lord Jesus Christ alone. So where in the world did we ever get this idea that God’s love was unconditional? The price Christ paid to freely offer us the gift of salvation was too high a price for just any man to pay!

In this article, we will explore the implications of this concept and the conflicts it brings to the life and thought of the believer. We will also look into the primary Greek word, agape (agaph, agapaw) which has been popularly rendered to represent God’s unconditional love.

Nothing more than a concept

Unconditional love sounds good as a concept, but there is no Biblical basis for this concept. Unfortunately, evangelical believers have constantly referred to unconditional love as the reason why the Lord came to die on the cross for this sins of mankind. Preachers have used this concept to spice up their Sunday sermons, in order that they may “touch the heart”, or more accurately to exploit the emotions so that their listeners respond affirmatively to their preaching. The word agape is the popular “brand” employed to mean unconditional love. In its popular state, it became the entry for heresy to penetrate the pulpits of evangelical churches. Unconditional love, as purportedly demonstrated by God, became the subtle gateway for unbelievers to influence believers and is also at the heart of the Church’s systemic departure from the foundational doctrines of the faith.

The Meaning of Agape

The noun agape is from the root verb agapao (agapaw) which technically means, “to love”. There are a couple of key words employed by the New Testament that is translated as love, these are agapao and fileo. Of the two words, agapao occurs more frequently than fileo in the New Testament. Although both words mean love, the choice of word used is largely dependent on the context. The word agape is used primarily when describing the love of God towards man and as an example of how the church should love each other. The word fileo is used primarily when describing love in human relationships.

It is interesting to note that despite the abundant occurrences of the word agape in the New Testament, nowhere does it provide the context that compels us to interpret agape to mean unconditional love. In every case, the message imparted by New Testament writers has to do with divine or sacrificial love, both of which in no way suggests unconditional love. The concept of unconditional love goes against the expressed revelation of God about Himself, His ministry, and plan for the ages.

The Fallacy of Unconditional

Nowhere does the Scripture teach us that God’s love is unconditional. The fact of the matter is that God required a perfect sacrifice that necessitated the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. While God’s love is infinite, it is not unconditional. This is why, it was necessary for Christ to shed His blood so that those that believe in Him will be covered and reckoned righteous in the sight of the Almighty (Romans 5:8-11). To suggest that God’s love was unconditional would render the death of Christ worthless and unnecessary. The free gift of salvation, much like freedom, is not free—it is a free gift offered to us but paid by another. We can now freely avail of the gift of salvation because the Lord Jesus Christ paid for the price of our individual redemption, and now exercises the right to give it to whomsoever He will. In every essence, by His death on the cross, Christ literally purchased the title deed that reckons those that believe in Him justified and reconciled with God. Paul states: “¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God... ⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ¹¹And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:1-2,8-11)”

The condition the Almighty required was personally settled entirely and in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. The requirement for a perfect offering for the sin of mankind was paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. Again Paul states, “¹²Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. ¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. ¹⁷For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:12-21).”

This idea of unconditional love is nothing more than a manifestation of aberrant albeit, poor theology. Not only does this go against the soteriology of the Scriptures, it also goes against the anthropology of the Scriptures and the fundamental doctrine of sin and the complete depravity of man. As long man is a free agent, choice will exist, and as long as choice is present, conditions that make choices essential will always exist. Christ Himself, stated, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. " ¹⁹"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. " ²⁰"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. " ²¹"But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:18-21). Here, the condition required of man to be saved and escape condemnation is belief in the Son of God.

This aberrant concept, turned false doctrine, opens the gate to all sorts of heresies and, is an attempt of man to frame the Scriptures within acceptable boundaries of human thought and subjectivism. This is at the heart of pseudo-Christian movements that over-emphasize the love of God at the expense of His holiness, righteousness, and justice. This aberrant doctrine generates a great deal of confusion for the individual believer in understanding the nature and character of God as revealed in the Scriptures. For if God’s love were truly unconditional, then how will the believer understand the constructs of God’s holiness and justice that calls for every one who professes the name of Christ to depart from iniquity? How will the believer reconcile God’s purported unconditional love with the coming judgment?

This is why a lot of believers have great difficulty reconciling God’s love with His holiness, judgment and justice. Much like unbelievers they ask, “how could a loving God allow men to go to hell? how could a loving God allow mankind to suffer?” Their faith is built on subjective faith, hence they so easily become offended; they gravitate towards the emotional rather than the spiritual (based on the objective truths of the Scriptures); they emphasize emotion-driven action rather than principle-driven actions; they adhere to methods than are unscriptural and worldly; they tend to focus on form and not substance; and, they base their standards of holiness on the ways of man (touch not, taste not, do not), placing so much on ascetic constructs and entirely missing the truth that true holiness is a spiritual change, a state reckoned (not earned) to mankind by God before the sight of God.

For those of us who have been saved by the grace of God through an objective faith in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must always remember (and not confuse) that we freely received the gift of salvation not because God’s love is unconditional, but because Christ settled in our debt in full and all the conditions for atonement required by the One True and Holy God, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Salvation is a personal matter. It is not collective. And people will go to everlasting damnation unless we tell them of the free gift offered to them by the Holy God. Our role is to tell, the Holy Spirit is responsible for conviction and conversion. We must tell, we must teach the whole counsel of God.