Does God Punish Us? 3 Assumptions We Make about God’s Unconditional Love and Justice

Have you ever questioned God’s unconditional love? Someone recently asked me, “how can a loving God punish people for sin?” This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard such a question. Even so, it is a difficult question to answer because it’s often asked from a place of hurt. 

While I acknowledge that the most compassionate answer may not satisfy everyone, I’m going to attempt to provide a starting point for those who are struggling with the concept of a loving God who also holds us accountable for our sins. 

Before I Begin…

I want to start my response by saying that I am by no means a learned Bible scholar or apologetics master. Nor do I claim to have the only answer or right answer to this question. I am simply sharing what I believe God has put on my heart to say as a response to questions about why God punishes us for sin even though He loves us. 

Understanding Why a Loving God Punishes Us for Sin 

To answer this question, we need to examine three hidden assumptions that we often make about God, human nature, and unconditional love.These assumptions are:

1. God is a loving Father

This is true! However, we often overlook that fathers discipline their children and that God is also a righteous king.

2. Human beings are inherently good

This is false! According to the Bible, human beings are sinful in nature and deserving of punishment.

3. Unconditional love means no consequences

This is false! Loving relationships actually require standards and accountability.

When we question why God punishes sin, we often misunderstand one or more of these key truths. Let’s dig deeper.

Assumption #1: God is a Loving Father

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. (Psalm 103:13)

This assumption about God is true. God is a loving father, and He considers us to be His children. However, the Bible also tells us that, just like any loving earthly father, God disciplines us when we do wrong. Hebrews 12:6 says, “the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.” 

When I was a child, my parents disciplined me when I misbehaved—not out of anger, but because they loved me. I have a younger brother, and we occasionally got into fights as most siblings do. When that happened, my mother would often reprimand us. The truth is that parents discipline their children to help them learn how to be responsible for their behavior. God similarly reprimands us so that we can be encouraged to live righteously and to prepare us for life with Him in eternity.

Why God’s Discipline Matters

Another overlooked truth is that God is a righteous judge. Isaiah 33:22 says, “for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.” While we desire to embrace God’s love, we often reject the idea of God being our judge and king. However, our rejection of this idea doesn’t change God’s role, and we can’t ignore or pretend that His isn’t a king and a judge. 

If we are truly going to live in relationship with God, we need to accept His true nature and role as both our Heavenly Father and Heavenly King. This means that God may punish us for sin because He is a holy and just king.

Assumption #2: Human Beings are Inherently Good

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

This assumption is completely false according to the Bible. Romans 3:23 tells us we are all sinners. The truth is that sin entered the world through the first man and woman—Adam and Eve—when they disobeyed God in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7). Since then, every human being has been fundamentally altered because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

What is Sin?

If you’re new to the idea of sin, a simple definition for sin is an intentional act of wrongdoing. These acts of wrongdoing can include something as life altering as murder to sins that are less noticeable, like lying or pridefulness. 

I don’t know about you, but I know that, no matter how well I try to live my life, I commit little acts of wrongdoing daily. This is because we are born with hearts that harbor evil desires (Jeremiah 17:9). And, unfortunately, the penalty for acting on these desires is death. 

As human beings, we tend to bargain away our sin. For example, if someone tells a white lie then we say that it’s not the same as stealing or murder. God, however, considers every sin an act of rebellion against His righteousness and punishes every sin the same.

Whether we realize it or not, when we sin, we are trying to redefine what is means to be righteous on our own terms. We are rejecting God’s role as king and a relationship with Him. While God loves us unconditionally, He still has the obligation of being a righteous king and upholding the laws of His kingdom. 

Consider This Scenario

Imagine this scenario: If your child committed a terrible crime, would you still love them? Most parents would say yes. But love doesn’t eliminate accountability for our wrongdoing. Similarly, God offers us His unconditional love but cannot ignore sin because His standard is perfect righteousness (Isaiah 5:16).

Jesus Saves Us Through His Sacrifice

Fortunately for us, this is where Jesus comes in! God knew that the punishment for sin was death, and He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us in order to take our punishment. When we decide to stop rebelling against God, repent for our wrongdoing, and live our lives for our Heavenly King, we can receive forgiveness through Jesus’s selfless and loving act of sacrifice (Romans 10:9-11). 

God has never and will never violate His standard of holiness. He is a righteous king and will always perform this role. However, God also loves us so much that He made a way for us to avoid the punishment of death for our sins. This is an important truth because it helps us to understand that we are not inherently good. We are sinful. Yet, we are still loved by God as His children.

Assumption #3: Unconditional Love Means No Consequences

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12)

This assumption is totally false, but it is also very common. We often want to believe that loving someone means accepting everything they do. However, the problem with this idea is that love has standards. 

For example, let’s say you’re in a relationship with a constant cheater. While you might forgive them out of love, that doesn’t lower your standard for faithfulness in a relationship. Whether we realize it or not, we all have a set of standards that dictate how we’ll treat another person in a relationship as well as behaviors we’ll accept from someone else in a relationship. 

This is an important concept because people often use the excuse that God’s unconditional love to argue that God should accept a relationship with us while we repeatedly sin without remorse. However, if love has standards then unconditional love can’t be love without a standard. If love has no standards then we would be able to lie, cheat, steal, or even kill someone and claim to love them. Yet, we know that abusive or neglectful treatment is not love. Why? Because love has standards, including unconditional love. 

What is Unconditional Love? 

I think a better definition for unconditional love is a love that is rooted in forgiveness and restores a relationship when the other person in the relationship falls short of the standard. Taking the example above, let’s say you decided to forgive someone who cheated. If that person continued to be unfaithful, you may choose to leave the relationship. In this way, unconditional love is an act of forgiveness and restoration when the other person makes a mistake. It is not a free pass to repeatedly hurt or abuse someone. This way of looking at unconditional love helps us to better understand how God can be a loving God but punish us for sin.

God’s Holiness and Forgiveness

When we understand the true meaning of unconditional love, then we also understand that God truly does love us unconditionally. Firstly, God is holy and is incapable of sin. He will never lie, steal, hurt, or abuse us. His holiness means that He will not tolerate deliberate acts of sin, but it also means that He is the only living being capable of perfect love because He has a perfect standard!

Secondly, God showed us unconditional love when He sent Jesus to die on the cross. The Bible states, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus Christ laid down His life for us to create an opportunity for us to be in an eternal relationship with God. Jesus’s sacrifice also allows us to receive forgiveness for all of our sins, including future sins. All God asks in return for a relationship with Him is that we respect His standard by living holy lives (1 Peter 1:15-16).

This means that our relationship with God ends up looking something like this: we show God our love for Him by doing our best to honor His standard, and He shows His unconditional love for us by forgiving us when we fall short.

Key Takeaways about God’s Love and Justice:

• God is both a loving father and righteous judge, and we need to accept His true nature
• Human beings are not inherently good. We are born into sin and deserving of punishment 
• Jesus bridged the gap between love and justice by paying for our sins on the cross
• Unconditional love is rooted in forgiveness. It upholds standards while offering restoration
• We can love God by doing our best to live righteously in response to His unconditional love and forgiveness

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I hope this blogpost helps to provide a starting point to answering questions about God’s unconditional love and punishment of sin. At the very least, I hope it provides you with a new perspective to consider. 

How do you answer tough questions about God’s love? I’m not a master of apologetics, so I’m more than happy for any great tips! Please leave a comment below!