Introduction
Well, the short answer is…yes. Many people struggle with this idea. We are so much more comfortable with the God of love than the God of judgment and wrath. However, if we study God’s word, we cannot honestly come to any other conclusion. We find in the Gospels that Jesus spoke about hell more than He spoke about heaven. For example, in Matt. 10:28, Jesus tells us not to fear man who can destroy the body but to fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell. He also tells us in Matt. 7:21-23 that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom but only the one who does His will. In the end He tells them “I never knew you. Depart from Me…”
So why would a loving God do this? Wasn’t Jesus all about love and compassion? He was very loving and compassionate. Yet He was also tough on sin and hypocrisy. To understand God’s reasoning for sending people to hell we must understand 1) Who God is, 2) Who we were made to be, and 3) What we mean by heaven and hell.
Who God Is?
If we want to have a full understanding of the Christian faith, we must begin with who God is. He is the living God who is the creator of all. The greatest (largest) miracle in the Bible is the creation of the universe from nothing outlined in the first ten words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) If God can do this, then all the other miracles of the Bible are child’s play in comparison.
The Attributes of God
The attributes of God are not just descriptive characteristics about Him. They are intrinsic and unchanging qualities of God. They are not just a description of what He is like, but who He is. He is perfect and complete in His attributes. That means that it is in Him through which these attributes exist and are understood. Man’s ideas and capacities for love, justice, righteousness, etc. originate with God. He is the standard by which we understand these attributes (The Moral Argument for God, 9/3/23).
God is Holy & Righteous (1 Sam. 2:2, Is. 6:3, 1 Pet. 1:15-16).
The first aspect of God’s holiness is that He is set apart, unique and separate from all else. There is nothing nor anyone like Him. The second aspect is that He is pure and good. God’s righteousness is an expression of upright behavior toward others. He acts in accordance with His perfect law & commands (Ps. 19:7-9, Gen. 18:25). Goodness, at its perfection, is the very essence of God’s nature.
Love vs. Justice
A key point of understanding in Christianity is the relationship between God’s attribute of love (1 Jn. 4:16) and God’s attribute of justice (Is. 61:8, Is. 30:18, Job 34:12). The “God is love” passage (1 John 4:8) is all the rage in Christian churches today. This is in part due to some of the past problems with the way churches have behaved in unjustly condemning believers and unbelievers alike. To atone for this, we have attempted to restore the Christian image by creating a different God whose only meaningful attribute is love. In doing so, we completely neglect His attribute of justice. “Not only does God himself act in conformity with his law [Righteousness], but he also administers his kingdom in accordance with it. That is, He requires those He has created to conform to His law [Justice]. (The Roman Road to Salvation 8/20/23)
Our Purpose
We were made in the image of God so that we could glorify Him by displaying His glorious attributes in the world. We were to exercise dominion over the earth in a way that reflected God’s righteous rule over His kingdom. We were also made to be in relationship with Him (1 Jn. 1:3-6). So, in the beginning, everything God made, including man and woman, was good. It all functioned the way it was supposed to according to His sovereign purpose and design.
Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil in the garden?
God, in His sovereignty, decided to give us a choice. The choice was not which fruit we would like to eat. The nature and effect of the tree of knowledge of good and evil seems to indicate that God was giving us the freedom to choose His definition and boundaries of good or to reject it to try to seek our own definition and boundaries. He gave us the choice to accept His created order or to reject it so we could try to forge our own path. He gave us the opportunity to choose Him or to reject Him and try to become gods unto ourselves. Although the Bible does not tell us directly in this passage, the totality of scripture seems to indicate that God, in His sovereignty, decided He wanted us to love Him. However, love cannot be forced. It must be freely given, or it is not truly love. God loved us so much that He made us in His image and gave us paradise. He also gave us a choice so that we would have the capacity to love Him back. Unfortunately, this also gave us the capacity to decide not to love Him. Due to our own selfish ambition and desire, we rejected God, His love, and His creation order. This was our “original sin”, and it is this sin that we still continually struggle with today.
What did Jesus Accomplish for us?
Because God is perfect in His justice, He couldn’t just let our sin go unpunished. Our choice to rebel and reject God and His created order meant that we were guilty before God and we deserved destruction as we no longer fulfilled the purpose for which we were made (The Roman Road to Salvation, 8/29/23). James 2:10-11 tells us that once we have broken the law, we are guilty and without hope because the Law could only reveal our sin. Since we cannot unbreak the Law we are powerless to help ourselves. However, Jesus, who was both human and divine, took our punishment for us (What is the Gospel, 8/14/23). Therefore, He covered our sin once and for all. But Jesus’ gracious gift did not automatically reconcile all back to God. With our sin dealt with, we still have the same dilemma. God wants us to love Him (Matt. 22:37-38) and love, by definition, must be freely given. John 3:36 states, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” Therefore, we conclude that Jesus atoning work restored our choice whether or not to love God and to be reconciled back to Him.
The Choice: Heaven or Hell
God gave Adam and Eve paradise. But what He offered was not just a nice place to live. He offered them His presence from which all love, goodness, justice, and life flows. That’s what heaven is. The very presence of God (Rev. 21:3). Hell, in contrast, is complete and eternal separation from God. God didn’t force Adam and Eve to love Him and to remain in His presence. He gave them the choice. Jesus has restored that choice back to us. Christian Apologists Frank Turek and the late C.S. Lewis put it this way:
“If you want to be with God, you will seek Him out and be with Him. But God loves you too much to force you into His presence against your will.”
― Frank Turek
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
What about those who never hear the name Jesus?
This is a tough question because there is not just one Bible verse that gives us the answer. However, when we consider the character of God and the entire Biblical testimony, I believe we can arrive at the correct answer. First, we know there is no salvation without Jesus. He is the only way (Acts 4:12, Matt. 14:6). Second, we know God’s character is righteous and just (Ps. 89:14, Deut. 32:4); therefore, no one is going to be cheated at the time of judgment. Everyone will be dealt with justly.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:18-25, through what we call general revelation, that the existence of God is obvious to us from what we see that He has made, but we suppress the truth. In other words, we choose not to believe it and therefore we are without excuse. Paul also tells us in Acts 17:26-27 that God has appointed the time and places that all people live so that we who want God can seek Him out and find Him. In other words, God knows the end from the beginning and He knows who will choose Him and who will not. Therefore, I believe that all who would accept God will be given the opportunity to. In fact, there are reports of some Muslims living where the gospel can’t be preached receiving visions of Jesus and converting to Christianity. However, God is under no obligation to get the Word to those whom He already knows will not accept Him. Therefore, He gives them up to their own desires (Rom. 1:24a).
Blessings
2 thoughts on “WILL A LOVING GOD SEND ANYONE TO HELL?”
Thank you for the post. It is informative and I enjoyed reading it.
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