Topical Bible: The Love of God: The Source of Our Love to Him

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The love of God is a central theme in Christian theology, serving as the foundation for the believer's love towards God. This divine love is both the source and the sustainer of the believer's relationship with the Creator. The Scriptures reveal God's love as an intrinsic attribute of His nature, manifesting in His actions and commands.

God's Love Revealed in Scripture

The Bible consistently portrays God's love as unconditional, sacrificial, and eternal. In 1 John 4:8, we read, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." This passage underscores that love is not merely an action of God but is essential to His very being. God's love is further demonstrated in the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, as an atoning sacrifice for humanity's sins. John 3:16 declares, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The Nature of God's Love

God's love is characterized by its steadfastness and faithfulness. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "hesed" often describes God's covenantal love, emphasizing His loyalty and mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 states, "Because of the LORD’s loving devotion we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!" This enduring love is not contingent upon human merit but is rooted in God's unchanging character.

The Source of Our Love for God

The believer's love for God is a response to His initiating love. 1 John 4:19 affirms, "We love because He first loved us." This verse highlights that our capacity to love God is derived from His prior love for us. The Holy Spirit, dwelling within believers, enables them to love God and others genuinely. Romans 5:5 explains, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Expressions of Love for God

Loving God involves more than mere emotion; it encompasses obedience, worship, and devotion. Jesus emphasized the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37-38: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment." This holistic love requires the believer to prioritize God above all else, aligning their will with His.

The Transformative Power of God's Love

God's love not only initiates a relationship with Him but also transforms the believer's life. As recipients of divine love, Christians are called to reflect this love in their interactions with others. 1 John 4:11 exhorts, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." The love of God compels believers to live selflessly, mirroring the sacrificial love demonstrated by Christ.

Conclusion

The love of God is the wellspring from which the believer's love for Him flows. It is a love that is eternal, unchanging, and transformative, calling believers to a life of devotion and obedience. Through the Holy Spirit, Christians are empowered to love God and others, fulfilling the greatest commandments and reflecting the divine love that first reached out to them.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

Love and Forgiveness
... 'He frankly forgave them both.' If you seek the source of divine love, you must
go high up into the mountains of God, and learn that it, as all other ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture e/love and forgiveness.htm

Of the Incomparable Love which the Mother of God, Our Blessed Lady ...
... But as to the Blessed Virgin,"O God, with what ... sweet, humble, pure body, obedient
to divine love, and wholly ... but also because it was the living source of Our ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter viii of the incomparable.htm

How Our Lord Practised all the Most Excellent Acts of Love.
... form and figure of our littleness, whence he is styled a source of living ... shall be
for all eternity man too: so has the love of man ravished God, and drawn ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter xvii how our lord.htm

The Love which Withers.
... But if we confess that of all beings God is the Source, to whom therefore the
conception of creaturely love can not be applied, for then He would cease ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xxxii the love which withers.htm

God's Love for Man
... Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. ... Only He who knew
the height and depth of the love of God could make it manifest. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/white/steps to christ/chapter 1 gods love for.htm

Love Makes Suns
... Only because the love is cold is the light feeble ... what we know, that solar energy
is the source of all ... spiritual analysis 'there is no power but of God,' so in ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/love makes suns.htm

Love and Peace.
... Romans 5:5). The one is the source of the other, and "we love Him because He first
loved us." Love from God begets love to God, and when once the soul ...
//christianbookshelf.org/thomas/the prayers of st paul/iv love and peace.htm

A Dialogue with God
... There has been a breach of love. ... the going away in heart and spirit from our Father
God which describes ... of our true condition, and is itself the source of all ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture a/a dialogue with god 3.htm

John Chapter xv. 8-10.
... love." Here, then, you see, is the source of our ... the same evangelist in his epistle:
"We love God because He ... the grace whereby the Mediator between God and men ...
/.../augustine/homilies on the gospel of john/tractate lxxxii john chapter xv.htm

The Divine Love
... Thy love from our hearts outflowing,. Its source in the Heavens above,. ... Eternal love.
O God, with Thy love we love Him,. And thus are our praises sweet,. ...
/.../bevan/hymns of ter steegen suso and others/the divine love.htm