Does God Love Sinners?

Does God love sinners?

Yes, absolutely!. Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. It is not sin or the lack of sin that brings us to God's love. It is believing that brings us to God. Through that believing, we strive to resist sin.

Christians have often gone off in wrong directions. That's called wrong believing. Does that make them void as Christians? Were the Crusaders Christians?, They claimed to be followers of Christ. They were wrong in their beliefs. The inquisitions were wrong. The Puritans were wrong. They sinned in their wrongful belief. Yet, what nullifies man's confession of Christ as in Romans 10:9-10?

We all as Christians have knowingly sinned and or wrongfully believed. Who among us hasn't broken the speed limit? Told a white lie? What man hasn't seen a woman he perceived beautiful and not felt a twinge of lust? Does God draw some line in the sand and to sin on one side of the line is forgivable BUT to sin on the other side is unforgivable? And is His love based on those conditions? If so who can tell me where that line is?

Scripture names two places where sin is unforgivable: Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Rev 14:9-11 says of any man who worships the beast and bears the mark "their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."

Jesus taught us in Matt 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust . 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. The lesson is that the Father in heaven is perfect and He loves the just and the unjust. Are not the unjust sinners? "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Then belief leads us away from sin (unfrigheorusness).

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: The pious receive no more respect from God than the impious. The key is Romans 10:9-10. Were not the hypocrites in Matt 6:5 pious?

Paul freely admits his sinful nature in: Rom 7:12-25. (These are among my favorite verses.) Rom 7:25 is most relevant here: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain . Many become legalistic in their pursuit of God through Christ. Are works a legal requirement for salvation or rather a natural outflow of our belief and love for Christ? Do we through works or church attendance or whatever else buy our way into heaven? Do we bribe God? No, acting on our love, we do the will of God.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Just like Romans 10:9-10 again. So even in our belief, we can sin or wrongfully believe. Yet, through our belief we are not condemned. Grace is undeserved favor; then, what need of grace if not for sin?

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit This means that with all the faults of our flesh, we continue to walk after the Spirit. We stumble, we get up. We repent. We move on.

My concern is expressed in Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise , they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, First, this speaks of corruptible man. Would that not be the same as sinful man? Secondly and most importantly, they became fools because they tried to humanize God; that is, to reduce God to man's level of understanding.

1 Cor 13:9-12 speaks of how as men we know in part, we speak as children, see through a glass, darkly. 1 Cor 13:10 But when that which is perfect (God) is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. I accept that now I know in part. I am meek in my understanding of God's ways.

The Word of God says God loves believers, even those who sin. What else could be called unconditional love? Our goal, as believers, is to walk in the Spirit and through love, resist sin.