Reading: Love - A Part of God's Character

There are different kinds of love: erotic love, familial love, friendship love, and sacrificial love. (For a good discussion of these, see C.S. Lewis’s book The Four Loves.) The Bible teaches that all of these forms of love, when they are true and right, are grounded in God himself. God is love.

First, God is love within himself. Perfect love characterizes the relationships of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All true forms and acts of love stem from the nature of God’s love within himself.

Then, God is love beyond himself in creation. From the incomparable greatness of his love and goodness, God decided to make the universe and care for all within it. As God’s creatures, we are meant to enjoy, reflect, and express God’s love. In imitation of God, we are to live in love through a right and good enjoyment of and care for others and even ourselves.

Some contrast the character of God revealed in the Old Testament with the character of God revealed in the New Testament. In this view, the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgment and wrath. The God of the New Testament, revealed and incarnated in Jesus, is a God of mercy and love.

This contrast cannot really be supported from Scripture. From the beginning, God acted in love in creating the universe and human beings. When we rebelled against him, God continued to love his creation and his people. God’s covenant with Israel before Jesus and then with the church stems from God’s steadfast love. The witness of Scripture from beginning to end is that God is love.

At the same time, to say that God loves is not to say that God is always pleased with us. In that God knows, desires, and seeks what is truly and perfectly good for us, he is displeased when we do not know, desire, and seek the same, whether for others or for ourselves. God hates all desires, actions, and effects which fall short of or war against the good.

Nevertheless, God, in the perfection of his love, continues to desire and seek good for us even when we do not desire and seek good for ourselves or others. We see this in God’s covenantal love. God acts to redeem people and does this by establishing a relational bond first with Israel and then the church in the form of a covenant or binding agreement.

This covenantal relationship consists of a commitment between God and his people to care for and honor each other. In love God initiates the covenantal relationship. He pledges to direct his love and faithfulness to people for their good. In turn, people pledge of their love and faithfulness to him. Both God and people fulfill their covenantal relationship by meeting the terms of the agreement.

Even when we fail to meet our covenantal pledge, God persists in fulfilling his commitment to the covenantal relationship. He does this out of love. In the psalms and the prophets, we find ample testimony to God’s steadfast love for those to whom he has committed himself.

In Jesus, as we will explore in our next study, we see the very essence – indeed the actual incarnation – of what it means for God to show steadfast love in our sinful world.

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