The word "unconditional" doesn't need to be there when the implication of it is thoroughly present.
St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans writes that God, "demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Notice that God's love for us wasn't after we did X, Y, and Z in order to merit or win over God's affections, it was while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of God (Romans 5:10) that we were reconciled to Him.
I agree with Scripture. But, I have never said anything to the contrary. I have never said we have to meet the Law in order to be loved by God. We cannot earn God's love.
The conditions I have continually spoken of are AFTER God has shown his necessarily prevenient (loving first) love. So read Romans 5:8-10 again. Consider this: If that means EVERY man, then ALL are saved from His wrath no matter what they do. If EVERY man was to receive what Jesus did, regardless of anything they did--including whether they chose to believe God's testimony about His Son or not--then NONE would be left to suffer the wrath of God. And, if that was the case, it would be unconditional love shown to ALL men. But, that is not what Scripture says has happened or will happen.
Was there something about us that made God love us?
No outside force makes the Sovereign God do anything. He does it out of the integrity of who He is. And, if God lacked integrity, then we couldn't trust anything He said. I am sure God that when He says something, it will come to pass. It is based on that, that we can trust Him.
God chooses to love us, because we are His creation. And, in His eyes, we are a special creation.
No, not as St. Paul says it, God had love for us and on that account, Christ died for us and God reconciled us--sinners and enemies--to Himself.
See above discussion.
And consistently throughout Scripture that's the theme of God's love.
Agreed.
God loves us, not because there's something that we did to win His affection, or because we did anything righteous to merit His favor; but just the opposite we've done nothing of worthwhile to win Him over to us, and in fact, we have done everything possible to stand opposed to God.
I would disagree that everyone did everything possible to stand opposed to God. Enoch walked with God; Noah "found grace in the eyes of the LORD....Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God (Gen 6:8-9), so God spared him and his family while killing the rest of those people. Job "was a perfect (good) and upright man, one who fears God and eschews evil" according to God. There was a reason God chose Abram. There was a reason God chose Moses. There was a reason God chose David--and that is spoken of in 1 Sam 16:7--even if you don't believe that applies to others God has chosen. God says it to Samuel specifically about David. And, the list goes on.
What did Paul say in Romans 3? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and "There is no one righteous, not even one. No one has understanding, there is no one who seeks God." (Romans 3:10-11).
I agree. Sinning and falling short, which all who I mentioned above had also done, only means that no one deserves God's love or favor. We clearly deserve to die (not to live any longer). God's wrath takes it a step further. There is a place God created called hell. That is a place of eternal (permanent) torment and suffering and separation from the God whose love the people (who will end up there) rejected. But God provided a way (JESUS) for any who will love GOD back to be rescued from that eternal punishment.
So what condition was there that triggered God's love for us? There wasn't one.
There is NO condition outside of God that causes God to do anything. He is truly sovereign. In His sovereignty, He created us. He loves us (as an entity--man), because He created us and He created us in His image. He chose to have a relationship with Adam, in the first place. He wants a relationship with ALL MEN WHO WANT TO have a relationship with Him. He does not want to have a relationship with ALL MEN. There are some He will cut off. There are some He will subject to permanent punishment with no chance of repentance, according to the Scriptures.
God loved us, because that's who God is. What does St. John write? "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and what else does he say, does he say, "God loved us because we loved Him?" No, just the opposite, "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19).
EXACTLY!!!!! We love, because He FIRST loved us. Not because He unconditionally loves us no matter what we do or what we choose after He has extended that love to us. HE LOVED US FIRST. When the Sovereign God chooses to extend that love, there is an expected response, BELIEVE. If you don't show that response, there are consequences--just like there were consequences for lucifer.
The occasion of God's love is that He is love, and He has purposed to redeem and rescue His creation out of His love for what He has made,
Agreed and yet lucifer, the fallen angels who followed him, and all men who don't truly believe in God, and therefore remain in His love, were also His creation. And, they will find themselves in the Lake of Fire, the everlasting and torturous second death.
and that means coming down to meet us sinners, acting in all our blood-thirsty hatred of Him, suffering at our hands in love, and dying for us that we might be reconciled to God, redeemed, saved. Because that's who God is, the One who throws Himself away in love for the unloving and the unlovely. While we were enemies of God, even while our fists were balled up, shaking them furiously at God because of our own hatred of all that is good,
I agree God is Love. But, this emotional theatrical paragraph above is not Scriptural. It is the picture you receive from people trying to manipulate you.
He wrapped us up in the robes of His righteousness, in Jesus, and declared us to be His own beloved children. That's who God is.
Does He do that for all men--according to Scripture? If we are all wrapped in Jesus, then none go to hell. That is not what Jesus said. That is not what Peter said. That is not what Revelation, Jude, John, James or Paul say.
-CryptoLutheran