Just As I Am?
(Note: I post this to just lay out my thoughts, without supporting them with appropriate scriptures. Because of time constraints, I will add them later. A computer bible would be just the right thing now …)
In new Christian songs you can often hear that God loves us just as we are, without conditions. I recently noticed that trend and I wondered whether this is true and what the consequences of this thinking are.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3,16)
Sentences starting with “that” are often very important since they indicate the reason for something. The purpose of God’s love is therefore that people should not be lost (which means, spend eternity in hell) but have everlasting life if they believe in Jesus (what exactly that means remains to be explained later).
Are we really good, just as we are? Like many things, there are several sides to this issue. God created us and it was very good (but only after He created woman …). David describes this very beautifully in Psalm 139. However, we are also fallen beings who have a sinful nature and cannot survive God’s righteous judgment and His holiness. “There is none who does good, not even one.” The proverbial good news is of course that we become a “new creation” through the Holy Spirit if we repent and trust in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. Until the day we die we will sometimes stumble but not habitually “swim” in sin anymore. We should be in a process of sanctification.
Now, where is the problem with “God loves me just as I am”? I see it in an unbalanced emphasis on grace. Of course, God’s grace is absolutely vital; without it, Jesus might not have died for us in the first place. Even becoming a Christian is by God’s grace, “that nobody may be able to boast.” There also is a “cheap” grace which simply overlooks sin. It creates a false security so that people can continue living in habitual sin without ever being challenged to separate themselves from it and to progress in their process of sanctification. It’s even worse in so-called evangelistic church services where it is assumed that non-Christians are present. If they hear only that God loves them without condition, they will never come to a place of contrition over sin and deep repentance, which would drive them to the Cross and the Savior. Why should I hate my sin if God already loves me the way I am? What must I be saved from if everything seems to be alright?
Often the parable of the prodigal son is quoted, especially to demonstrate God’s fatherly love. One thing often overlooked is the fact that the prodigal son first realized and confessed that he had sinned against God and his own father. He was so broken over his sins that he did not even want to be considered his father’s son. Still he had enough faith to entrust himself to the care of his father because he could not survive anywhere else. In my opinion, the problem of the second son, who had always served faithfully, was selfrighteousness. He said that he had never broken any of his father’s commands and had therefore earned his favor. That is the works righteousness of the pharisees. The prodigal son realized his true condition and entrusted himself to the grace of the father, the second son though highly of himself and expected a reward for his outwardly good works.
“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (…)
Conclusion: God loved us while we were still sinners (and His enemies). His condition is a humble heart and faith in Jesus. His love changes us and He does not want us to stay as we are.
Update: Renée Derstine sent me this excerpt from the book “Future Grace” by John Piper and asks an interesting question:
“To be sure, there is unconditional grace. And it is the glorious foundation of all else in the Christian life. But there is also conditional grace. For most people who breathe the popular air of grace and compassion today, conditional grace sounds like an oxymoron – like heavy feathers. So, for example, when people hear the promise of James 4:6, that God “gives grace to the humble” many have a hard time thinking about a grace that is conditional about humility … And yet conditional promises of grace are woven all through the New Testament teaching about how to live the Christian life.” (p. 12)
One question that comes to my mind is, “Would you distinguish between the love of God and the grace of God?” I fully agree that God’s grace is conditional in many cases (and costly, as you and Bonhoeffer put it), but can’t quite reconcile the idea of conditional love. God is love and therefore loves because it is His nature to love, not because of the merit of the object on which the love is bestowed. God loved the world while we were still in sin and His enemies, but God bestows grace on those who believe … that is, those who meet the “condition” demanded.
My reply: I do agree with you that God’s love is unconditional in the sense that we cannot do anything to earn it. If God’s love depended on any temporal attribute that I have, it would have to cease when that attribute passed away. However, it is not a “pampering” love, as James McDonald (I think) put it. If God is love, He must punish lawlessness. Love does not simply look the other way. If that were so, we would end up with universalism. I think this is partly why the things we read about the people of Israel were written down, so we could learn about God’s continuing love which at times had to manifest itself as anger and wrath on unrepentant people. Also, “for whom He loves, He reproves, as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.”