If God loves us, why does He punish people who don’t believe in Him?

One commenter put it like this: God “created us... to check on our species through a book and punish us if we don’t believe in him but he says he loves us.” It sounds like a trap. Either God is loving and doesn’t punish, or He punishes and isn’t loving. But that’s not the picture the Bible gives at all.

God doesn’t want anyone to be lost

Start with God’s heart. “The Lord is... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). Jesus grieved over the people who rejected Him: “how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37). That’s not a God looking for a reason to punish.

Unbelief is turning down the cure

Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). We were already on the road to judgment. Jesus didn’t come to put us there. He came to pull us off it: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already” (John 3:17-18).

Think of a doctor with the only cure for a disease you already have. If you refuse it, the doctor didn’t give you the disease. You just turned down the cure. And Jesus says why people do: “light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

The love already happened

God didn’t say He loves us and then wait to see. He proved it first. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The punishment the commenter is worried about is the very thing Jesus took on Himself so we wouldn’t have to.

A loving God has to be just

Would you call a judge loving if he let a murderer walk free because he “loves everyone”? Love that never deals with evil isn’t love for the victims. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). Hell is God giving people what they chose: life without Him. The Bible describes it as being shut out “from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). God doesn’t drag anyone away from Himself. People who spent their life saying “leave me alone” finally get their answer.

He’s still knocking

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20). The door is open right now. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). For what happens to people who never heard, see Question 17. For how to come to Him, see Question 26.

Say it like this

“God doesn’t punish people for not believing in Him like a jealous ex. We’re all already sick with sin, and He’s the One holding the only cure. He loved us enough to die for us before we ever believed. If someone refuses the cure, God gives them what they asked for, a life without Him. He doesn’t want that for anybody. That’s why He’s still knocking.”

Keep reading: Question 17 (never heard of Jesus) · Question 26 (how do I get saved) · Question 2 (why suffering)