Does God still love people who are in hell?
God is love, and hell is real — Scripture holds both, and the collision of the two is one of the hardest questions anyone can ask. Does love stop at the gate of the lake of fire, or does something of it reach even those shut up there?
Love That Was Never Withheld From Sinners
Before asking what God feels toward the lost, the writers ask what He has already shown toward sinners as such. The proof is not a sentiment but an event.
James McBroomIt is clear that, while hating sin, God loves the sinner. All of it is simply shown at the cross, and it is the result of who He is.
That love was not aimed only at those who would accept it. One writer points to God's own oath as evidence that His goodness toward those who finally perish was sincere:
Frederick W GrantChrist dying for the world, the testimony of God's love to men at large, is no empty thing just because in fact not all are saved by it. It shows us the infinite goodness that men have to break away from — the goodness of which He has sworn, "As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live."
No One Was Made For That Place
If God is love, why does such a place exist at all? The answer given is that hell was never designed as anyone's destiny.
H. B. CoderGod has created no class of beings for the lake of fire. God is love, and everything He creates has perfect love as its destiny. When Satan rebelled against God, and other angels followed him, God prepared a place to shut them up, so that they could not disturb His dominions forever. Either the God of love must remain sovereign, or His rebel creatures become sovereign and drag everything down into misery.
Love Is Not a Rule God Must Obey
A common argument says love makes eternal punishment impossible. One writer answers that this turns love into a law over God rather than a description of God.
J. N. DarbyThe notion of His love that makes it an obligation binding on Him to act in a certain way, without His being able to help it, so that eternal punishment cannot be, is a false, unscriptural, and senseless notion. He is love; but He is God, and He acts freely and holily in His love. God is love; but it is GOD who is love.
The Message of Love Is Not Heard There
Whatever God feels, the commentators are united that nothing of the gospel reaches into hell. The offer belongs to this side of death.
A. J. PollockHis love follows you at this moment; but once you pass the boundary line of time unsaved and unconverted, then a holy God must punish you for eternity. No glad strains of gospel love, no peace-giving messages of redemption, are heard in the dismal depths of hell.
The account of the rich man in torment (Luke 16) is read the same way — not even the smallest relief crosses over.
J T MawsonHe does not pray for release, because he knows that would be useless… One drop of water is all he asks for, and even that is a relief that cannot reach him, for the great gulf is fixed and will never be bridged, not even by almighty mercy.
Where the Writers Differ
Commentators differ on whether any compassion continues toward the lost. Some have argued that God's pity is displayed toward them forever; Grant answers that the barrier is not on God's side but in the hardened will of those who refused Him.
Frederick W GrantIt is not — God forbid — that His compassions fail! They are necessarily held back by the hardness of the evil. That "amazing vision of tender, humble, and infinite love" that Mr. Birks speaks of could not be seen by those for whom nothing less than the never-ending strokes of judgment will do. We dissent from his view…
That distinction matters for how the whole question is framed. God is not described as running out of love; the lost are described as beyond receiving it.
Summary
- Loved. God hates sin and loves the sinner, and the cross is the proof — not a feeling He announced, but a Son He gave.
- Sworn. He has taken an oath that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; the goodness men break away from was real goodness.
- Prepared. The lake of fire was made for Satan and his angels; no one was ever created with that as his destiny.
- Free. Love is who God is, not a rule forcing His hand; He acts freely and holily, so love does not cancel judgment.
- Fixed. The gulf is set, and no message of gospel love is heard on the far side of it — which is why the writers press the offer on the living today.