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Every action executed by God is derived from this essential principle that He is love. Love is the lens though which we understand and interpret all of God's actions.
The love of God is described by the use of the word agape in the Epistle of John. Agape love is unique to God, and proceeds from God to others. "Love is God's essence" (Kreeft 95) Thus to state that God is agape is to speak of God in terms that are the most accurate representation of the divine. The New Testament employs other words to express the tender bonds between human beings, (philla, and eros) that are translated love. However, they do not assume the same immensity and generosity of person, as agape.
"God is love." is the center of doctrine and faith for the Christian (Encyclical letter). The recorded actions of God in the biblical narratives are to be interpreted through a framework of love. Christians are believers in the love of God, and that God is love. Additionally, the diverse branches to theology depend on the love of God to resolve seeming intractable theological issues (Kreeft 98). The Christian worldview depends on God being love to become reasonable. God is love melds the confusion of the world into a harmony that is discovered by applying the motif of God's love to the ensuing chaos.
God is the subject of love. He is the first lover. It is from Him that love derives its genesis and it is through his action that love is sustained. As the first lover, his is uninfluenced by the subject of that love. The human family is the subject of God's love, and receives that love without having to prompt God to give it (Evans 575). He is by nature love and is incapable of acting in ways that are not love. No actions by humans can increase or decrease the love that God is demonstrating because it comes from him unsolicited. God is the sole determinant of the nature of that love.
The love of God is an active force that produces objects that are the natural derivatives of that love (Ting 123). The things that are observed must therefore...
He creates objects to be beneficiaries of the love. The creative act is an outworking of love. To love as God does is to bring into existence creatures that can experience and delight in that love. Creation is not an arbitrary or indeterminate act it is the most complete expression of divine love.
The love of God is consequently relational in its dimensions. The love of God as articulated within the trinity is the deepest relational love that can occur. Each member of the Trinity is love, and the love shared with each other is the most satisfying and complete exhibition of agape. Aspects of this love are replicated in the human family but it is never duplicated in its completeness by human relationships.
In His essence, God knows no improvement or modification. To suggest that is to suggest imperfection or immaturity. Similarly, because He is love, this love cannot change either qualitatively or quantitatively. He could not love more or less, than He loves at present. The quality of God's love is the highest and most supreme demonstration of generosity available in the universe. He loves at the fullest and most complete extent at all times.
That God is love is not merely a maxim but it is a potent creative and relational force. This love is supremely different from the love between humans no matter how noble that love may be. God is capable of loving without demanding or desiring love in return. The independent nature of His love ensures that His actions spring from a deliberate and dispassionate desire to do good to humanity.
Works Cited
"Encyclical Letter." Benedict XVI Encyclicals. 2005. Web. 28 Sept. 2010.
Evans, Luther D. "Two Intellectually Respectable Conceptions of God." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 10.4 (1950): 572-577.
Kreeft, Peter. The God Who Loves You: "Loves Divine, all Loves Excelling." Michigan:
Servant Books, 2004.
Ting, Bishop K.H. God is Love. England: Kingsway Communication, 2005.
Works Cited
"Encyclical Letter." Benedict XVI Encyclicals. 2005. Web. 28 Sept. 2010.
Evans, Luther D. "Two Intellectually Respectable Conceptions of God." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 10.4 (1950): 572-577.
Kreeft, Peter. The God Who Loves You: "Loves Divine, all Loves Excelling." Michigan:
Servant Books, 2004.
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