Uncondemning, uncondoning, perfect love
Martha Olawale
“And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11b
We can’t define love outside of God because “God is love,” 1 John 4:8. If we believe that God is love, we must embrace the subject as defined by Him. God’s love is rooted in truth, neither condemning us nor condoning iniquity. Contesting truth cannot change its fabric because truth is absolute; it may be opposed, but it remains true. It may sting, but it always heals.
Truth helps us accept our wrongs and leads us to change course, but iniquity says, “So what? I can do what I want.” Despite our inevitable human errors, we can live with an uncondemning mentality, knowing that we depend solely on grace, not rules, and that God, not our broken humanity, defines us. When we fall, we don’t sit in defeat; we rise again, viewing things through the lens of truth, not iniquity. However, our need for control makes it easier to see the speck in someone else’s eye while neglecting the plank in our own, which leads to condemnation.
Condemnation is a byproduct of sin and a tug on the human conscience. God does not condemn us when we sin; our conscience does, and how we respond determines God’s role. The choice to surrender to God’s will guarantees an overflow of grace to sustain us even when we falter. However, when we hold on to the reins as the judge of what is right or wrong without reference to godliness, we condemn ourselves by our self-defined rules. Romans 2:1 says, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Many of us sit on our self-created head thrones, where we judge what is right or wrong without affirming God as the only just and sovereign King. God‘s love is unquestionable because it’s who He is and how He is. His love is present as it is eternal. When we don’t embrace this love, we live in bondage because guilt becomes our companion instead of God’s truth. There are two choices: iniquity or truth, and how we experience love rests on our response to either. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says, “Love is not happy with iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
The richness of God’s goodness does not condemn us when we fall, nor does it affirm sin as a lifestyle; rather, it leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). Walking with God means walking in love, and walking in love means living by the truth of God’s Word. Conversely, walking in perpetual sin means living in iniquity, which imposes mental sanctions on us and strays us from God’s intent to lavish us with His eternal love. The uncondemning, uncondoning love is perfected in God because while condemnation is our instinctive response to our brokenness, love is God’s response.
