Is this teaching biblical?
Steven Furtick's claim that 'God broke the law for love' is a stunning theological error from a seminary-trained pastor. If God broke His own law, then God is a sinner — and the entire foundation of the gospel collapses. Scripture is unambiguous: Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). The cross was not God breaking the law — it was God satisfying the law's righteous demands by punishing sin in His own Son (Romans 8:3-4). As Tim Challies responded: 'We need to be careful that we never put God's love in opposition to God's law.' GotQuestions.org noted: 'Declaring God broke the law is to declare God a sinner.'
What did Steven Furtick say?
"I say it to every sinner: God broke the law for love."
Speaker: Steven Furtick
Source: Sermon 'It Works Both Ways', Elevation Church, July 26, 2015 (1 John 4:7-12)
What does Scripture actually teach?
Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."
— NKJV
Jesus explicitly stated He came to FULFILL the law, not break it. Furtick's claim directly contradicts Christ's own words. The cross was the ultimate fulfillment of the law's demands — not a circumvention of them.
Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
— NKJV
Paul anticipates exactly the kind of error Furtick makes. Faith does not void the law — it establishes it. God's love and God's law are not in conflict. The cross satisfied both simultaneously.
Romans 8:3-4
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.
— NKJV
God did not break the law — He fulfilled its righteous requirement through Christ. Sin was condemned, the law was satisfied, and believers receive Christ's righteousness. This is the beauty of the gospel that Furtick's sloppy theology obscures.
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