A Balanced Love

Over the last two weeks I have looked at the two main views of God that are held today. Although both views have strong points neither one is totally correct. Those who believe in the loving God view feel that his unconditional love keeps him from judging sin. This foundational truth leads them to see condemnation of sin or rules as something terrible in the eyes of God. The problem comes when they try to motivate Christians to do good works for God. Most times those who hold this view end up contradicting themselves by stating that God has unconditional love, and then later showing his demand that we be missionaries to the world.

Those who believe in a judging God are little better. They focus totally on the things that God does not want us to do. There is a serious danger of focusing so much on the outer person (following the rules) that the inner person (personal relationship with Christ) is ignored. This view also opens the door for legalism, and putting personal views on the level of Scripture.

So which God is the correct one? The actual answer is both. This “balanced view of God” does not go to either extreme. Instead it states that God is at the same time both holy and loving. I will illustrate what this looks like in later posts. But first it would be helpful to have a basic understanding of what I mean by “a balanced God”. I personally believe that God's holiness and love are two of his strongest characteristics. He expresses his love to us in various ways. God's love is first seen in the fact that he does not force us to do anything. Mankind has been given freedom to choose whatever way seems best for him. This has been true ever since Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden.

This does not mean God will not convict our hearts through the Holy Spirit when we disobey him. Neither does it mean that we will not suffer consequences for our actions. But it does clearly show that God will allow us to choose the path of sin. A God of judgment would never let this happen.

God gives us much more than just freedom through his love. We also receive acceptance. He does demand that we confess our sins, and accept Christ as our savior in order to be saved. This is a part of his holiness that can not be compromised. But God will accept anyone who is willing to repent of their sins. Some people can get the idea that God will not accept us until we have made ourselves good people. But that is not true at all. The Bible is very clear about the fact that any sinner who comes to God can be saved. A God of judgment would give a long list of rules or requirements to meet before becoming saved.

All of us who are saved have also received grace from God. Actually this grace is offered to all believers and unbelievers. Just because an unbeliever rejects God's grace doesn't mean he could not have been saved. Grace is viewed as receiving something that we did not deserve. And salvation definitely fits within that definition. None of us could ever claim to deserve salvation. But because of God's grace it is given to us as a free gift that could never be earned on our own. This as well goes against the God of judgment view.


If I stopped explaining the balanced view of God here it would be incomplete. But that doesn't change the fact that God does give us liberty, acceptance, and grace. It is encouraging to remember that we do not serve a God who enjoys judging sin. Instead we serve one who is, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”1

1 II Peter 3:9