Love – Grace Nation’s Core Values Part 3 | GOF96
God’s love is the most often misunderstood and debated aspect of His character. Is God only love? Is the phrase “love wins” always right? How do we understand God’s anger in light of His love? On today’s episode, Jonathan discusses his perspective on God’s love and explores how the Bible reveals this aspect of God’s character.
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Love - Grace Nation’s Core Values Part 3 | GOF96
This Episode’s Topic: Recovering the Bible’s View of Justice
To better understand why this topic matters, some conservative Evangelical scholars will point out that the Bible speaks a lot about God’s anger towards sinners. That is true. Unfortunately, some Christians use this as their cue to practice “anger” towards people groups they do not like. That is never permitted by scripture. So when we disagree with certain people, how do we have constructive dialog while avoiding the problems of anger?
Take Aways From Today’s Episode
The Problem with D.A. Carson Quote:
“The cliche, God hates the sin but loves the sinner is false on the face of it and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty Psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, His wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18) and on the Sinner (John 3:36).”
My big problem here is the incorrect scripture comparison. In this quote, the wrong scripture is referenced. Romans 1:18 is a universal statement. Not a personal statement. God’s wrath is poured out on all humanity. John 3:36 is a personal statement; those who chose the light. A better comparison is John 3:16, God’s love for the world. God’s love and anger are understood in light of rejecting or following Him.
Jesus as our model of love:
Even though the Old Testament is replete with examples of God’s anger towards sinners. Jesus balances this insight with the way he approaches broken people. In Luke 7, the story of a sinful woman and a Pharisee, Jesus makes it quite clear that human brokenness is the pathway to God’s love. Those who have been forgiven much, love much.
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