What is God’s love like? Is His love capricious and unstable like much human love?
There is much talk today about unconditional love. They say you are to love people regardless of what they do, and accept them with no conditions. Is God’s love unconditional?
The Hebrew noun chesed means to be loyal, to show solidarity in a relationship; it is mutual liability for those who belong together, a covenant relationship often.1 Of God it is said, “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful” (2 Sam. 22:26). God shows Himself faithful in all relationships.
The noun form of chesed appears frequently and is translated often as “mercy” or “lovingkindness” (kjv). The rsv translates it as “steadfast love” or “loyalty.” The niv uses the expression “unfailing love.” The nasb has “lovingkindness,” “kindness;” or “love.” Perhaps a good translation of it often is “loyal love,” for it has the idea of fidelity in it. God is faithful to His promise, to His commitments, and to His character. 2
God is described as “showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Ex. 20:6). He is described as “keeping mercy (chesed) for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:7). Because of His loyal love, He is a forgiving and compassionate God.
For many centuries, chesed was translated as mercy, kindness, or love. In 1927, Nelson Glueck published a doctrinal dissertation in German on chesed in the Bible. In this he stressed the fact that God’s chesed was not simply mercy or kindness, but loyalty to covenant obligations.3 This thesis has been accepted by many and there is much truth in it. In the cases where a covenant is not involved, there is at least the idea of a loyal love and faithfulness, a sense of obligation. For example, Rahab cast in her lot with the spies and sheltered them. She had shown them chesed and asked them to show the same kindness to her (Josh. 2:12).
David showed chesed to Hanun, king of Ammon, because of the kindness his father had shown David (1 Chron. 19:2). David felt a sense of obligation or loyalty to Hanun even if there had been no formal covenant.
The first time the noun chesed appears is in Genesis 19:19, where Lot is speaking to the Lord and pleads with Him: “Indeed now, Thy servant has found favor in Thy sight, and Thou hast increased Thy mercy (chesed) which Thou hast shown me by saving my life…” God had indeed shown His loyal love, His mercy, to Lot in saving him from the destruction of Sodom–Lot, who had been living a life of compromise with the world. Our God is a loyal God.
God was loyal to Israel. As the children of Israel came through the Red Sea in triumph and left the armies of Pharaoh destroyed behind them, they sang a song of victory. They praised God, saying, “Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people whom Thou hast redeemed” (Ex. 15:13). God had been faithful and loyal to His people and to His promises. He is characterized by such “mercy” or “loyal love.”
Moses, in speaking to Israel at the close of his life, described God to them: “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9). This loyal love is the love of God for His people who have entered into a covenant with Him. He is committed to them.
David in his psalm praised God, singing, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (1 Chron. 16:34). His mercy, His loyal love, is enduring. Surely David experienced the faithfulness of God after his fearful sin of adultery with Bathsheba. God disciplined him, but did not cast him away. God is loyal and committed to His people.
However, one must not confuse loyal love with unconditional love. Because God is loyal in His love, there are conditions that He expects of His people. The emphasis in some thinking today is that real love will be unconditional love, non-judgmental, accepting people and their actions without reproof or correction. God is committed to those who have entered into a covenant with Him, but there are obligations with such a relationship. “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you according to these words'” (Ex. 24:7-8).
In His loyal love (chesed) God rebuked and warned His people of their wrongdoing. If they did not repent, He punished them to bring them to repentance. This is the recurring story of the history of the people of Israel. When there was turning away from God to idols, God’s patience could be exhausted to the point where He could say to Israel, “You are not My people and I will not be your God” (Hos. 1:9). So today Israel is described as branches broken off because of unbelief (Rom. 11:20). Israel will one day be restored spiritually when there is brokenness, repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus (Zech. 12-13; Rom. 11:25-26). It is because of God’s love that He has disciplined Israel. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12:6).
When a person accepts Christ today, he enters into a covenant relationship with the Lord. Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we acknowledge this relationship. As we take the cup, we hear Him say, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Lk. 22:20). As the blood sprinkled the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, they entered into a covenant relationship with Jehovah God. Their response was to commit themselves to love and to serve their God. God is a God who “keeps covenant and (chesed) mercy” (Neh. 9:32). He expects His people to be loyal also. God tells Israel through Hosea, “I desired loyal love (chesed), not sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6). God still desires that loyal love toward Himself by those He has redeemed. It should be the grateful response by the sinner to the Saviour.
This covenant relationship involves a commitment to obey and to follow the Lord. Obedience is not the basis of salvation, but surely it should accompany salvation. Accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour is to obey the gospel (2 Thess. 1:8); it is to be the beginning of a life of obedience. The great commission is not to make professors of Christ, but disciples of Him (Mt. 28:18-20), disciples of Christ who submit to Him and obey Him.
Christ shows loyal love (chesed) to His disciples: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn. 13:1). In His loyalty He promises: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). His love and loyalty should move His followers to an answering devotion and commitment.
But we need to remember not to presume upon that love. Believers must not be careless in their attitude toward sin and disobedience to God. He loves His children too much to allow them to go astray. If we are without discipline and chastening, the Scripture states that we are not truly His children (Heb. 12:8). “Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29). God is committed to loyally love His people. Let us respond with such loyal love and obedience toward Him.
Endnotes:
1. Ludwig Kochler and Walter Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1958), p. 318.
2. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer, Jr. and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1960), p. 305.
3. Ibid.