The Meaning of Love of God
“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” (1 John 4:9; emphasis added).
A simple phrase—“the love of God”—appears 10 times in the New Testament.
Twice, the phrase comes from the lips of Jesus in the Gospels (Luke 11:42; John 5:42). Four of the occurrences are found in Paul’s letters (Rom. 5:5, 8:39; 2 Cor. 13:13; 2 Thess. 3:5). The remaining four instances are in the first epistle of the beloved Apostle, John (1 John 2:5, 3:17, 4:9, 5:3).
While the phrase is the same in each occurrence, it can refer to one of two realities, and the meaning can only be determined by the immediate context in which the phrase appears.
First, it can be a reference to what I will call the initiating love of God. That is, the love that God shows to His people. Second, “the love of God” may be a reference to the reciprocal love of God—the love with which the redeemed respond to God.[1]
What I would like to do in this article is briefly consider the former sense of the phrase. Dear Christian, I want to show you how the love you have for God is enabled by, established upon, and constantly sustained in the love He has for you. More specifically, I want to help you understand how the initiating love of God is demonstrated in Christ.
The Initiating Love of God
While the phrase “love of God” does not appear, John 3:16 gives us one of the clearest pictures of the initiating love of God found in the New Testament.
After explaining the necessity of the “birth from above” and drawing an analogy between His crucifixion and the lifting up of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, Jesus explains to Nicodemus the initiating love of God.
Many English translations render the Greek adverb houtos as “so”—which is an acceptable translation of the word. However, modern readers can easily misunderstand the force of the word. Typically, when we read the verse: “God so loved the world…” we tend to think of Jesus as describing the greatness or magnitude of God’s love. Some preachers have even gone so far as to paraphrase John 3:16: “For God loved the world so much…”
While it is undoubtedly true that God does have a great love for the world, that is not the point of what Jesus says to Nicodemus. To better capture the main idea, the adverb houtos should be translated “in this way.” The translators of the CSB have decided to go this route and as such, John 3:16 reads: “For God loved the world in this way…”
Do you see the difference a phrase makes? While it is true God does love the world with a great, unfathomable love, the point Jesus is making is not so much about the magnitude of His love (although that concept is clearly present) but about the way in which He shows this love to us. It is hard to improve upon the way the Apostle Paul articulated this point in Romans 5:8–9: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”
It is in the giving of His Son to suffer in the place of sinners that God has shown His love to us. Has there ever been One so dear to the heart of God the Father as His only begotten Son? Have any ever enjoyed such love and fellowship as that which has been eternally enjoyed between the members of the Godhead? And yet, God the Father freely sent His own Son into the world in the likeness of sinful flesh to suffer and die for the sins of His own enemies so that they might live. Can we truly comprehend this love? “If God is for us,” the Apostle asks, “who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31).
John Flavel has expressed this point so wonderfully:
O what a fair One! What an only One! What an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Christ! Put the beauty of ten thousand paradises like the garden of Eden, into one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colors, all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness in one; O what a fair and excellent thing would that be? And yet it should be less to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ, than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths. Christ is heaven’s wonder, and earth’s wonder.
Now, for God to bestow the mercy of mercies, the most precious thing in heaven or earth, upon poor sinners; and, as great, as lovely, as excellent as his Son was, yet not to account him too good to bestow upon us, what manner of love is this![2]
Look to Christ and Rest in God’s Love
Do you find yourself consistently in doubt? Are you unsure if God looks upon you with affection or wrath? Look to the cross! God has shown you the love he has for you if you will just look with the eyes of faith to the God-man hanging upon the tree at Calvary and consider what great love God has for your soul in the giving of His Son.
It is true that the love of God has been shown to us in the giving of temporal blessings; He graciously provides for our every need. However, the love of God has been shown to us preeminently in Christ. There will be seasons of suffering and want in this life in which we may be tempted to doubt God’s love for us. There is no surer anchor for the soul than the initiating love of God shown to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
[1] The grammatical language used to identify these usages is that of subjective (i.e., the initiating love of God) and objective (i.e., the reciprocal love of God) genitives. By subjective genitive, grammarians do not mean love that is based on personal experience (the way “subjective” is often understood) but that the genitive noun is the agent performing the action. Similarly, in an objective genitive construction, the genitive noun is the one receiving the action of the head noun.
[2] John Flavel, The Works of John Flavel, 6 vols. (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), 1:68 (emphasis added).