This is indeed a commonly asked question by those who do not have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Unbelievers don’t find it so difficult to believe that God is love, yet they often refuse to also acknowledge His holiness as well as His justice. Proverbs 28:5 says, “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.” And teachings throughout the Bible show us that His love, holiness, and justice cannot be separated one from the other.
Jesus, in Luke 11:42 reprimanded the Pharisees for trying to do just that. He said, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.”
Yes, “God is love,” as the Bible says in 1 John 4:8. But listen to verses 8 and 9 that follow: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
The words: “He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” are the key to understanding the above question. The Bible teaches “the LORD our God is holy” (Ps. 99:9). And it says in Psalm 9:7-8, “The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.”
Therefore, in light of God’s holiness and justice, He must judge sin. Look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:25-26: “God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Quite honestly, the answer to the question is that God (who is love) must judge the sinfulness of mankind because of His additional character traits of holiness and justice. But because of His great love for us, He has made a way to escape hell. He sent His Son to die for our sins—to pay the price for our sinfulness—so that we don’t have to pay it ourselves. So, in actuality, the only ones who will go to hell will be those who have rejected His love in Christ Jesus, by not receiving Him through faith and by refusing to acknowledge His payment for their sins on the Cross.