How does God love sinners?
"Well, I don't judge people on their worst mistakes." Natasha Romanoff of the MCU
In order to know what it means to love most deeply, most boldly, most mercifully, we must first answer: how does God love? To do this well we must begin by saying that even to say that human words cannot begin to broach the answer is itself an understatement of just how incomprehensibly infinite and exceeding to human sense, expression, and estimation the love of God truly is, let alone the fact we are the aspiring fallen beloved of Him Who alone loves. Candidly, my original post/first attempt on this was focused on the end in mind and not so much on deriving what God has provided us in answering this question and in doing what He has taught/shown us, after all He gave the command. Nevertheless, it is precisely this question (how does God love?) whose answer truly answers what it means to "love the sinner and hate the sin", to not "judge people by their sins", and so not reduce people to their worst mistakes. Based on what the Bible, our own understanding, and what Saints inform us in its way, God's love is unconditional, redemptive, merciful, personal, and conforms to justice.
First, let us consider the unconditional purity of God's love for the sinner. Just as our love does not flee when a family member is diseased of body, neither does the love of God leave us when we are diseased of morality, of mind, of heart, and certainly not of body. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:44-45). Yes, we may transgress the saving love of God but we do not do it because we are bad but because we are sick, and perhaps that is a way of saying it that makes us uncomfortable, but I would like to suggest that this is how we know it is true in the context. There are several further images in Scripture which confirm this in fact the whole of Scripture testifies to the unconditional love of God, since in every failure of Israel to choose Him, God never ceased establishing new covenants. He worked with everything they offered Him to bring their salvation, and in the fullness of time, sent His Only Begotten Son, Who has infinite love for the Father and for whom the Father loves, He gave Himself full to us. In that full gift of Himself, we did not accept Him rather much like all whom God had sent to us we tortured and murdered Him by the worst means of which we were capable, and we still do this in our vices and sins (Romans 5:1-11, Acts 2:36; cf. Matthew 20:1-16).[1]
Second, let us consider the redemptive act. It is important to note also that while the love of God is imitated, it can never be repeated (1 Corinthians 11:1). We can participate in the redemptive act of Christ in our love only in the measure that it is truly His love lived in us, albeit in a besmirched sort of way (Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:7; cf. John 15). If ever we can bring greater redemption, it is truly by extending the reach of the singular and final sacrifice of Christ not only in our good works but in our conformity to God's redemptive will to which Christ Himself submitted and so brought about our redemption and reclamation of our Divine filiation (Galatians 3:26, Hebrews 10:10-18). If I were to cite all the verses of Scripture here which speak of the nature of God's plan of redemption, I would have cited much of the Bible. Moreover, although Old Testament imagery discusses the "Wrath" or "Anger" of God, what truly satisfies God is not that punishment be felt but communion restored as a result of our conversion, since the problem is ours not God's, if He cares He will get our attention (Hebrews 10:30).
Thirdly, God's mercies are beyond comprehension. Indeed, we would struggle to understand what it means to say God is just without mention of being unconditional and merciful and seeking our redemption. He returned (far from abandoning us to our depravity and its just consequences, unredeemed Hell and Death) and the first thing He told those whose betrayal was most personal was "peace be with you" (John 20:19-29). Not only did our Lord command "treat others as you would be treated", "forgive as you would be forgiven", and "love others as yourself", but He commanded that we love Him with every ounce of our being and "love as [He] has loved us (Luke 6:31, Mark 11:25; Colossians 3:13; John 13:34; Mark 12:30-31). Forgiveness is necessary for our health and the breach of justice is something God takes care of (Proverbs 20:22; Hebrews 10:30). This command is enlightened by Luke 6:41-46, since we cannot hope to be the Savior in our limited understanding of what is true, often all we can do is direct a fellow sinner to Jesus. God endeavors, as should we, to restore what once was "in the beginning" (cf. Matthew 19:4). Since everything was good and hole and well in the beginning before we misused our free will, and to heal truly means to be restored. In giving Himself fully to us, when we murdered Him, we become totally indebted to Him, at His mercy as it were. Becoming our judge thereby and not only our Origin, but He was also free to condemn us fully, and finally. However, He does not wish any to perish (2 Peter 3:9, 15). It is not for us to determine who is good or bad, as in judgment, just as it isn't for us to author morality, but it is for us to love and witness to/share the truth God gives as well as His love (1 Corinthians 6:20, Genesis 3). Much like the redemptive aspect, both the Old and New Testament speak of mercy in the singular 200 times (not counting the plural or when it is implied or when it is what happened but isn't named) and actually more in the Old than the New, similar to the command "be not afraid" (investigate for yourself on that). Luke 15 demonstrates a considerable amount to our question, in fact, we see that for half of the case categories, God looks at us more as a lost people and the other half as misinformed. All such categories originate from the same place at large did, distrusting the love of God. So, when we reflect on love, it is no wonder it makes people uncomfortable (John 15:18-27). In other passages, not only in the New Testament but for the sake of efficiency we shall focus on what Christ did, Christ shows that He forgives and does so in a particular way on several occasions; the Woman caught in adultery, the woman with hemorrhages, and others (John 8:1-14, Luke 8:43-48). Jesus reconciles us to God when we need it and are willing to receive it. This makes it not only merciful but personal, and Jesus gives Himself fully to us when we are forgiven such that we are free to betray Him again (cf. Luke 15:22).
Fourth, let us consider the justice aspect of God's love. We shall begin with a practical example, considering there is an AI Robot someone designed so that it was free and inherently good to do whatever it wanted but it only acted intelligible when it did what it was commanded. There is much similarity to this when we are the created, and God is the Creator. Similarly, when we sin we act contrary to how we were made, we pretend we are not made for a purpose. We also tend to not comprehend that we are made to be sacred and are called to goodness, which we are not used to any longer. God did not make us to hurt but we hurt ourselves when we sin. We malfunction and the only way to not hurt is to come to function properly and although it seems particular and specific, the correct framework, as opposed to any other framework, does in fact fulfill us. Indeed, our salvation consists not only in our contrition and regret, but our conversion, restoration, healing, sanctification, and even dei-ficatio[2]. The same God who said “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged,” “neither do I condemn you,” and “[forgive] not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” is the same who says “Go and sin no more” (Matthew 7, John 8:1-20). God loves us enough to forgive us but too much to let us keep doing what is hurting us. This is where fraternal correction applies (Matthew 18). Perhaps we should spend another post elucidating the meaning and proper understanding of fraternal correction.
In conclusion, in every sin, we not only hurt ourselves and/or others, offending both God and others, but we also transgress a pure love and trade it for our own perception, and we lose love for Our One, True, Lover. It flips our lives upside down and the response God gives to it is not only compassion, mercy, and grace, but seeks to restore what was before so that sin and brokenness no longer have a grip on us. As necessary as these conclusions are we must equally recognize the fullness of life with God can be only partially experienced on Earth, and we cannot accurately see ourselves, others, and certainly not God. When we suffer on account of sin (of others or our own), we need to be mindful of weakness. If error is the only problem we should help each other toward not just the truth, but also Him Who is Truth Himself. Let us forgive others as we would have God forgive us, and let us love sinners as God loves sinners both being patient and aware of the struggles of the other, and still mindful of what the fullness of truth, goodness, and beauty can offer us and that we are equally called and equally fall short of it often. Still, the fullness of our calling is realized in love, let us be eager to receive correction as we are to give it, so also with forgiveness and love. God gives us a mission, His mission, not because He needs us to help but for our good and the good of those, we love we are invited to participate (1 John 4, Matthew 28:19-20). We do this not to bring conversion but to love in such a way that invites conversion by the guidance of Christ and His Holy Spirit. And still more, to walk with each other in not only difficult situations but all situations that we may understand we are all sick, children of God, called Home to the Church and to Heaven where our Physician, Shepherd, Father, and Spouse longs to not only have us back home but dwelling in the unapproachable light of His blessed communion and let us not do so alone. Let us hope in His loving arms that we may come to the food of our deepest longing and starvation. Let us "be perfect, therefore, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect."(Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15).
For deeper understanding and further study of this stay tuned for the Release of the Life in Christ Bible study in August 2024. Also see this video from the National Eucharistic Conference.
"Love attracts love; mine darts towards Thee, and would fain make the abyss brim over, but alas! it is not even as a dewdrop in the ocean. To love Thee as Thou lovest me, I must make Thy Love mine own. Thus alone can I find rest. O my Jesus, it seems to me that Thou couldst not have overwhelmed a soul with more love than Thou hast poured out on mine, and that is why I dare ask Thee to love those Thou hast given me, even as Thou lovest me. If, in Heaven, I find that thou lovest them more than Thou lovest me, I shall rejoice, for I acknowledge that their deserts are greater than mine, but now, I can conceive no love more vast than that with which Thou hast favoured me, without any merit on my part." Therese of Lisieux [3]
"We should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse." Benedict XVI[4]
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ... God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another." 1 Corinthians 12
"Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will." Eucharistic Prayer
"For you have given your children a sacred time for the renewing and purifying of their hearts, that, freed from disordered affections, they may so deal with the things of this passing world as to hold rather to the things that eternally endure." Preface from Lent
Written by Carter Carruthers
FN:
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 460.
- Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, Chapter XI; The Canticle of Love.
- Benedict XVI, Encyclical on Christian Hope Spe salvi (30 November 2007), §48.
