UNDERSTANDING GOD’S MOTIVATION IN MAN’S SALVATION

One profound question that the Bible’s revelation of redemption throws up is, “What moved God to save man?” The question is pertinent in the light of the truth that man’s afflictions are self-inflicted—we brought the agony of sin upon ourselves.

In this article, we will examine God’s motivation in man’s salvation, highlighting key biblical truths that reveal His love and goodness, mercy, grace, long-suffering, etc., as they came into play in man’s salvation.

A Betrayal That Changed Everything

From the beginning, God had displayed His goodness to man. Before man was made, God had put all that he would need for life— a home filled with all kinds of precious things—in place. One would expect that with such generosity should come a list of laws for man to keep. But only one law was given to man—“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:16-17).

Some have judged God harshly for setting such a temptation before man, knowing our frailty and likelihood to fall. Let’s set the records straight. Firstly, God does not tempt with evil. There is no evil in Him. Sin comes through man’s lust. God’s Spirit taught this truth in James 1:13-16. This was the case in man’s fall. God didn’t cause Adam’s fall. Adam fell through his lust.

Two, originally, Adam differed in many ways from post-fall humans. He was God’s image (Genesis 1:26). It is God’s nature to give of Himself. In making Adam in His image, God shared aspects of His qualities with man, like righteousness, justice, wisdom, and love, as the crown of His work. Adam had the capacity for a sinless life. The theologian Augustine described man’s original state in Latin as posse non peccare, meaning able to not sin. It was the state we all should have come into through Adam. But something went wrong!

Another vital attribute of man is the will. Adam was made with the ability to make choices. God wants us to love and obey Him. But He wouldn’t force us. He wants a relationship that comes by our choice at realizing His great love for us. The sincerity of love is best known where there are options. So, Adam had options—to be loyal to God or to rebel. This was the point of Genesis 2:16-17—giving man an occasion to exercise his will. And the chance to do that eventually came, as Genesis 3 recorded. 

Satan—God’s archenemy—sold man the idea of equality with God, as against God’s design. Man had rulership power over the earth from the start. But that power flowed from God and only worked as man stayed under God. But satan perverted man’s views of God so that he no longer saw God as the good Father but as a selfish God who did not want him to reach His full potential of becoming a god too. 

Genesis 3:4-5:

“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

The idea of becoming a god ate the man up. Then, he broke God’s law. It was not for inability, but choice. And that changed everything. It brought consequences upon our race, which humanity still grapples with even today.

What Moved God to Save Us

If humanity will ever escape its miseries, then God must save us. We are utterly incapacitated to save ourselves. But why should God care, since we brought the miseries on ourselves, and particularly when saving us would cost the life of a member of the Godhead? What moved God to save is God Himself! Salvation is an outflow of His character and results in His glory. God took delight in saving us because it is who He is. He did not save us grudgingly. Apostle Paul captures this beautiful truth in Ephesians 1:3-7.

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (Ephesians 1:5, NLT)

Saving rebellious humanity is His will, and it pleases Him to do it. Salvation flows from God’s character! God saves, in consistency with His character. Let’s see a few of these characters that came into play in our salvation.

Love & Goodness

At the root of salvation is God’s love and goodness. John 3:16, probably the most well-known Bible text, conveys this truth. 

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Romans 2:4 says:

“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

God is love, and He is good. The two have been the impetus for His dealings with us from creation. Love moves Him to share Himself with us, while goodness moves Him to deal kindly with us. We have never gotten anything from God by merit. God has always dealt with us through His love and goodness, which He has demonstrated in two ways. 

• Generally—through material generosity (Matthew 5:45). Even when humanity was in rebellion, God kept His goodness and love toward us going (Acts 14:16-17). 
• Especially—through redemption. Providing salvation for us by His Son is God’s greatest act of love and goodness to us (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10, 16).

God’s love is not conditional, nor is it based on man’s performance. Rather, it is self-giving, sacrificial, and eternal. God did not wait for us to become good before offering us salvation. His love reached out even when humanity was in rebellion. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Mercy

Mercy is God’s tenderness toward those afflicted by sin. Sin put the sinner in a sickly and miserable state. But mercy is the aspect of the personality of God that moves Him to reach out to and rescue the sinner from the affliction of sin (Psalm 86:5).

Ephesians 2:4-5:

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

Mercy reveals God’s compassionate nature. He looks at us not only with the eyes of a righteous judge but also with the heart of a father. 

Grace 

Ephesians 2.8-9:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; 9 it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Grace is the aspect of God’s character that moves Him to acquit the sinner, therefore freeing him from the punishments that he justly deserves. God doesn’t judge unjustly. But even when He has judged according to the severity of His justice, there is a side of Him that pities the sinner and wants to save him from his punishment. Grace means that God does not give man what we deserve. Grace is God’s unmerited favor shown to those who rightly deserve judgment.

God’s Desire for Relationship with Us 

God made the first man in His image. This is because He wanted us to have a relationship with Him, enjoy His presence, and reflect His glory. But sin disrupted this plan, bringing separation and enmity between us and God (Isaiah 59:2; Colossians 1:21). But even in our sinful state, God never changed His mind—never ceased wanting us for Himself. And saving us is the only way in which He could restore us to His fellowship.

When Jesus—the incarnate God—came to the earth, His message included an invitation for people to come to Him. In Matthew 11:28, He proclaimed, “Come to Me…” Being saved is not about escaping hell; it is about entering into a restored, blissful relationship with God. The Apostle Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” All who have trusted in Christ have entered into fellowship with Him and the Father (1 John 1:1-3). 

Long-suffering

God is long-suffering! This means that He demonstrates patience toward sinners who, despite the love and goodness that He showers upon them, keep rejecting His offer of pardon and relationship with Him. The patience of God holds Him back from destroying sinners while giving them an extended opportunity to come to repentance and salvation in Him. The Apostle Peter wrote about this aspect of God’s character in 2 Peter 3:9:

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The motivation of God in our salvation flows from His own character—love and goodness, mercy, grace, and long-suffering, all of which worked together to reveal His glory. Salvation is undeserved. It is the gracious gift of God, given through the benevolence of God. This should inspire worship in our hearts, strengthen our faith, and move us to live for God’s glory.