One of the most basic and well known facts about God is His omnibenevolence. This is such a well-established fact that many assume it spans across all religions. We know God loves us, and the Bible is quite explicit about how far this goes. Scripture even tells us God is love (1 John 4:8).
But there is another thing Scripture describes that seems, to us, to be the antithesis of this. When we read about Hell, most of us start getting rather uncomfortable. It is a place of pain and torment that literally never ends. We hate the very idea of it, and we are supposed to hate the idea of it. It is a truly brutal concept.
We seem to have a contradiction here. God loves us, yet depending on how literally you take the descriptions, it seems He has no issue setting us on fire for all eternity without even granting us the mercy of an eventual end. Can this apparent contradiction be resolved? If so, how?
First, it's essential to note that God is not a man. In fact, He chastises us when we assume He is like us. As we read in the latter half of Psalm 50: "But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”" (Psalm 50:16-23, emphasis mine).
This is one of many places in which God tells us He is a very different kind of being. We are made in His image, but He is the reality on which our very existence is founded. But now note who God is speaking to. He is speaking to "the wicked". Those who do things He finds abhorrent, of which He lists a few. Deliberate ignorance, thievery, adultery, deceit, and family strife. This, He follows up with a stern warning: "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!"
Now, what does this imply? It implies that God isn't automatically wrathful, even towards those who have earned that wrath. The wicked may receive it. It is entirely possible that God will tear them apart, and there be none to deliver. But the very existence of the warning implies there is a way out of it. Furthermore, we know that this is God's preferred outcome. As we read elsewhere in Scripture, "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?" (Ezekiel 18:23).
And again, "For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “So repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:32).
And again, "Tell them: As I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:11).
Yet again, "The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).
And one more time, "This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
All of these make it quite clear, God has absolutely no desire for even one person to perish. As I like to say, "there is no one in Heaven who isn't supposed to be there, and no one in Hell who is".
But I could perhaps add an exception clause to my little saying. Speaking of the final judgment, Jesus tells us "Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" (Matthew 25:41, emphasis added). There are no people who are supposed to go to Hell, but in this one statement, Jesus tells us Hell was quite intentionally designed for Satan.
To be clear, not as its ruler, as pop culture commonly depicts him. He isn't a scary red thing wandering around looking for people to torture. Rather, Hell is designed to punish the devil and his forces. Hell is his prison, and when he finally goes there, he will suffer more than anyone else. So, why do people go there, if we're not supposed to? Well, if Hell is designed for the devil and his angels, what is God supposed to do with those of us - and that's all of us - who ultimately do what the devil did?
The obvious answer is that the same justice dealt against the devil and his angels must be dealt against us. And we even understand this in our flawed, human minds. We expect judges to recuse themselves from cases into which bias may creep. What would we think if a criminal was judged by their own father? Similarly, in the U.S., the president has the power to hand out presidential pardons, but if his son is guilty of a crime, a good president will not use that power. We understand that human bias is not an excuse for human injustice. Why, then, do we expect God, whose eyes are far too Holy to even behold evil (Habakkuk 1:13), to pardon a sinner based on love alone?
But in spite of all this, God's love does prompt Him to search for a solution. And long before we even did the crime, that solution was set in stone. As we read in Romans 5, "For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him." (Romans 5:6-11).
Thus, rather than the existence of Hell proving God doesn't love us, His love is proven in the lengths He went to so we don't have to go. Scripture tells us "He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is a very unique gift. It's not one God offers to angels (Hebrews 2:16), but in His love, He literally opens His arms for us.
But only if we receive it willingly. The criteria for receiving the grace of salvation is to receive it by faith (Ephesians 2:8-10), without which it is actually impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Thus, Hell is still an option. But it is now an option. In His love, God has given us a way out. But we don't have to take it. We may even guide others down our own delusional path. But that's not a lack of love God has for us, that's a lack of love we have for God, for ourselves, and for each other. Ultimately, therefore, there is no actual contradiction between God's love for us and His love for justice.