The Bible teaches Christians to love unbelievers as neighbors, even loving enemies and praying for persecutors (Matthew 5:44-46), showing kindness and being the "light of the world" (Matthew 5:14-16) through actions, but also warns against being "unequally yoked" with them in partnerships (2 Corinthians 6:14), meaning avoiding relationships (especially marriage/close spiritual alliances) where faith values are compromised, while still extending God's general love and mercy to all humanity.
God's Electing Love
And Matthew 5:44–45 says, “Love your enemies . . . so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good.” So there are numerous places where God's universal love is spoken of, so it is not wrong to say to people, “God loves you.”
Christians are commanded not to be in any kind of close relationship with unbelievers:This prohibition is most succinctly expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:14 - ``Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers''. The imagery used here is of two incompatible animals being put together under the same yoke.
Yet in John 12:47, Jesus says that he won't judge the unbelievers, and that he came to save them.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ's passion, death, and resurrection are the basis of salvation for those in heaven. It doesn't necessarily require explicit faith in Jesus before death. God's judgment on individual souls, believers or not, is ultimately God's to decide.
God proved His love by saving us when we were undeserving. He certainly isn't going to abandon you and I now. For clarity, God isn't punishing unbelievers either– but unless they repent and receive Jesus as their Savior, they will one day be eternally separated from the love of God.
The Bible teaches in Hebrews 1:3 that “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being…” Jesus reveals who God the Father is. Jesus would say to an atheist just what He said in John 8:19, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
Let Christ's love shine through in our actions and our words; our kindness and our works. Be prepared to answer questions unbelievers may have to the best of your ability. Show kindness and love, but do not force your beliefs upon people and understand they do not hold them.
The Bible indicates that after death, non-Christians enter a temporary place of conscious existence, often referred to as Hades, where they await final judgment. Hades is described as a realm of the dead, distinct from the final destination of hell, and is a place of torment and separation from God.
11 Bible verses for nonbelievers and atheist friends
In Proverbs 17:9, we read: “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” In this short verse, we are given keys to handling interpersonal conflict among friends, including what to do—and what not to do—when someone we trust wrongs us.
The most common bible verse that addresses whether Christians can date nonbelievers or non-Christians is from 2 Corinthians 6:14-15. This verse is where the term “unequally yoked” comes from, and in the ESV translation, it modifies it slightly to say “do not be yoked together with unbelievers.”
God doesn't call us to live in fear, so don't be afraid of building friendships with “unbelievers.” Yes, you're wise to consider how close you choose to become with people who don't follow Jesus Christ.
Christians need a believing spouse. So, you can cultivate a friendship and pray that the Lord would bring the non-believer you're interested in to faith in Christ. But don't begin a romantic relationship if this person doesn't share your faith.
He loves us in spite of who we are and what we have done. God's love for the non-believer is the same. He does not love them because they will respond – He loves them in spite of their response. That is what makes His love so amazing and so great!
ESV Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Matthew 21:22 isn't saying we can just pray for anything and everything and God will give it so long as we believe He will. The idea is that if we come to God in prayer, we must believe He will give us what we are asking before we ask. That is, we must ask in faith.
He saw them as desperately lost, and His heart was broken because of that. His compassionate purpose for their well-being was deep-rooted, and He showed this concern specifically in the way He met them where they lived, fed them, taught them, and healed them (Matthew 9:9-11; Mark 1:33-34; 6:30-42; Luke 5:1-11).
Much of the Christian world believes that if someone doesn't accept Jesus as Lord and Savior today—in this life—he or she will go to hell. This doctrine has launched thousands of Christian missionaries (and even crusades) with the goal of getting as many people as possible to accept the name of Jesus Christ.
Paul's words remind us that, regardless of our station in life, God is the one ultimately judging all we do, so all of our service is really for Him. From the most mistreated slave to the highest-paid leader, every person is called to work for God's honor.
We cannot judge or condemn nonbelievers as inherently unethical because Paul himself refused to do so. “For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside” (1 Cor.
The Bible teaches us that God blesses both believers and nonbelievers in various ways. We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God... No one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).
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