The central, defining element in the character of God is love—covenant love, chesed (Exodus 34:6-7). God’s covenant love is steadfast and faithful. Steadfast means it never waivers. Faithful means God never gives up on or abandons those God loves. God abounds in—overflows with—this steadfast, faithful love. It extends to the thousandth generation—a Hebrew phrase meaning it is never ending.
Following this revelation recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament Johannine community also identified the essence of God’s nature as love—self-giving, other-centered love (1 John 4:8-10). God gives freely and sacrificially of self (self-giving) on behalf of the other (other-centered). Such love is expressed in a servant spirit—giving oneself without reservation to seek the wellbeing and wholeness of the other.
The heart of God is self-giving, servant love.
God’s character of steadfast, faithful love, of self-giving, servant love governs all that God does—including how God relates to us.
God relates to us out of who God is—that is, out of this self-giving, servant love. Consequently, God relates to us out of grace and forgiveness.
We humans naturally think in terms of merit—of what we deserve. Our merit-based, deserving-oriented thinking makes it difficult for us to grasp, much less embrace, grace and forgiveness. We struggle to grasp that merit—what we deserve—does not come into play in any way. How God relates to us is not based upon who we are or what we do or what we deserve. It is rooted in who God is. It is an expression of God’s character of self-giving, servant love.
Grace is unconditional love that is given freely and joyfully. It is pure gift.
Forgiveness is an expression of this unconditional love we call grace. It too is a gift. It is given to remove any barrier in the relationship—guilt, shame, fear, regret—created by our failure in the relationship. It allows the relationship to continue unhindered in spite of our failure (sin). (Read that again.) Because of God’s forgiveness, sin does not separate us from God (in spite of what we have been taught). It does not destroy the relationship. God refuses to let sin be a barrier in the relationship with us. Because of God’s steadfast, faithful love, God deals with our sin by forgiving it.
Forgiveness too is unconditional. It is not given if or when we repent. It is given freely, joyfully, lavishly because it is not about what we deserve. It is an expression of who God is—of God’s steadfast, faithful love. God’s unconditional love and gift of forgiveness are what give us the courage to face, acknowledge, and turn from (repent of) our sin. They allow us to turn to God for help (Hebrews 4:14-16). They allow us to learn from our failures so that we don’t repeat them. They allow us to grow spiritually. They lead us to grow more deeply in love with God and with who God is.
Jesus understood the unconditional nature of God’s love. He understood the unconditional nature of forgiveness. He repeatedly told people “Your sins are forgiven” because he understood that God had already forgiven them and their sins. In contrast to Jesus, the religious leaders of his time bartered forgiveness, making it a transaction. When the proper sacrifice was offered, then forgiveness would be proclaimed. This bartering of forgiveness indicated the religious leaders did not know the heart of God. It was an expression of merit-based thinking, not of the character of God.
Because God is love—steadfast, faithful love; self-giving, servant love—God relates to us out of grace and forgiveness. Any religious position or belief that is not an expression of God’s grace and forgiveness—that is, of God’s steadfast, faithful love, of God’s self-giving, servant love—is not of God. (If this statement is true, it calls into question how we commonly think about confession and repentance, about condemnation and judgment, about heaven and hell.)
Because God is love, grace and forgiveness are
the heart of the matter.
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