Love is an innate characteristic of God. Love is His nature. We must learn to love; we must grow in love. God is love.

This may not be reversed. That God is love does not mean that love is God. This misconception reduces God to the personification of a virtue. John also says, “God is light” (1 John 1:5). This does not mean that light is God.

'God is love' defines His nature.

In John's first letter he emphasizes God's love for us and how we should respond.

God showed His love by sending His Son.

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10).

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16).

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4, 5).

Nothing external can separate us from God's love: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39).

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).

God's love comforts us and gives us confidence to have a close relationship with Him: “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:16-19).

“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

God deserves our utmost love. Jesus said, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37, 38).

Paul refers to “haters of God” in Romans 1:30.

God has demonstrated His love. He deserves our love. He inspires our love. Yet, each person chooses either to love or to hate God. A neutral attitude to God is not possible. God punishes those who hate Him and blesses those who love Him (Exodus 20:5, 6).

Why would anyone hate God? Because he has more love for something else. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

When we accept the loving grace of God by being baptized, God's Spirit is poured out on us: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

Through the Spirit, the love of God is poured out in our hearts: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are baptized: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

The love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Because we have experienced God's love, we want to love Him and others the way He loves us.

He who loves God must love his brother also.

“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:7-12).

Paul told the Thessalonians: “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).

“This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11).

People ought to recognize us as followers of Christ because of our love for one another. Jesus tells His followers: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34, 35).

It is not enough to say we love our brethren. True love gives practical assistance where needed: “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

“If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20, 21).

He who loves God keeps His commandments.

Jesus says: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:12-14).

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:3-6).

Some misuse the statement, “If we love one another, God abides in us” (1 John 4:12) to claim that what we teach or how we worship is not important as long as we love one another. But John explains: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:2, 3). “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 6).

If our teaching and worship are not according to the word of the Lord, we are liars when we say we love God and we are liars when we say we love the brethren, according to the Apostle John.

What have we learned about God's love and our response?

God showed His love by sending His Son. We love Him because He first loved us. He who loves God must love his brother also. He who loves God keeps His commandments.

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21).

“Be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11). “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Roy Davison

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)