“God is Love”
(1 John 4:8)

God is love must be understood in its context. We read in verse 9, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” With a similarity of predication, we are told in verse 10, “In this is love not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” The love of God is God’s act in sending Jesus Christ. God’s loving is concerned about our salvation and receiving us into fellowship with Himself. In loving us God gave us Himself, and in giving us Himself, He has given us the greatest blessing, because God has nothing higher or greater to give than Himself, and in giving us Himself, He has given us every blessing.

God’s loving is not, however, contingent upon our love for Him, or any reciprocity of love to Him. God’s loving is also not conditioned by any worthiness on our part. “We love God [only] because he first loved us” (1 Jo. 4:19). God loves because He loves. Loving is His being, His very nature.   God loves us out of His good pleasure.   “Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1Jo. 4:11). “By this we know love that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? [L] et us not love in word or in speech but in deed and in truth” (1 Jo. 3: 16-18).

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