Topical Encyclopedia
The concept of God's love is central to Christian theology and is woven throughout the narrative of the Bible. God's love is depicted as both an intrinsic attribute of His nature and a dynamic force in His relationship with humanity. The love of God is foundational to understanding His actions, commands, and the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.
Nature of God's LoveGod's love is described as eternal, unchanging, and unconditional. In 1
John 4:8, the apostle John succinctly states, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." This declaration emphasizes that love is not merely an action God performs but is essential to His very being. God's love is not contingent upon human actions or worthiness; rather, it is a steadfast commitment to His creation.
Manifestation of God's Love1.
Creation and Sustenance: God's love is evident from the very act of creation. In Genesis, God creates the world and humanity, declaring His creation "very good" (
Genesis 1:31). His ongoing provision and care for creation reflect His loving nature.
2.
Covenantal Love: Throughout the Old Testament, God's love is expressed through His covenants with His people. In
Deuteronomy 7:9, it is written, "Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." This covenantal love is characterized by faithfulness and mercy.
3.
Redemptive Love: The ultimate demonstration of God's love is found in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
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." This sacrificial love is the cornerstone of Christian faith, offering salvation and reconciliation with God.
4.
Disciplinary Love: God's love also includes discipline, aimed at guiding His children towards righteousness.
Hebrews 12:6 states, "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives." This aspect of God's love is corrective and nurturing, intended for the spiritual growth of believers.
Responses to God's Love1.
Love for God: The appropriate response to God's love is to love Him in return. The greatest commandment, as stated by Jesus, is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (
Matthew 22:37). This love is expressed through obedience, worship, and devotion.
2.
Love for Others: God's love compels believers to love others. 1
John 4:11 exhorts, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." This love is to be selfless, sacrificial, and reflective of the love God has shown.
3.
Confidence and Assurance: The love of God provides believers with confidence and assurance in their faith.
Romans 8:38-39 affirms, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
ConclusionThe love of God is a profound and transformative truth that permeates the entirety of Scripture. It is a love that initiates, sustains, redeems, and disciplines, calling for a response of love and devotion from those who receive it. Through understanding and experiencing God's love, believers are empowered to live lives that reflect His character and purpose.
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Deuteronomy 4:37And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
Nave's Topical IndexDeuteronomy 7:7,8,13
The LORD did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people:
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Deuteronomy 9:29
Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your mighty power and by your stretched out arm.
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Deuteronomy 10:15,18
Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
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Deuteronomy 23:5
Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the LORD your God loved you.
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Deuteronomy 33:3,12
Yes, he loved the people; all his saints are in your hand: and they sat down at your feet; every one shall receive of your words.
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2 Samuel 12:24
And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her: and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
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1 Kings 8:51-53
For they be your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the middle of the furnace of iron:
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Nehemiah 13:26
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
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Job 7:17
What is man, that you should magnify him? and that you should set your heart on him?
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Psalm 42:8
Yet the LORD will command his loving kindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer to the God of my life.
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Psalm 47:4
He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
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Psalm 63:3
Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
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Psalm 78:61,62,65,68
And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.
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Psalm 89:33
Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
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Psalm 103:13
Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him.
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Psalm 146:8
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind: the LORD raises them that are bowed down: the LORD loves the righteous:
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Proverbs 15:9
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but he loves him that follows after righteousness.
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Isaiah 38:17
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
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Isaiah 43:4
Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your life.
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Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.
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Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
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Malachi 1:2
I have loved you, said the LORD. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? said the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
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John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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John 5:20
For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that himself does: and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
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John 14:21,23
He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
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John 16:27
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
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John 17:10,23,26
And all my are yours, and your are mine; and I am glorified in them.
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John 20:17
Jesus said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brothers, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
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Romans 1:7
To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Romans 5:8
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Romans 9:13
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
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Romans 11:28
As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.
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2 Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.
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2 Corinthians 13:11
Finally, brothers, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
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Ephesians 2:4,5
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
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2 Thessalonians 2:16
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
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Titus 3:4,5
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
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Hebrews 12:6
For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and whips every son whom he receives.
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1 John 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
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1 John 4:8-10,12,13,15,16,19
He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.
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Jude 1:21
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
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Revelation 3:12
Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write on him my new name.
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Revelation 14:1
And I looked, and, see, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
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Greek
865. aphilagathos -- withoutlove of good... of
God -- ie an active opponent (enemy) of
God's kingdom (good). Word Origin from
alpha (as a neg. prefix) and philagathos Definition without
love of good NASB
...25. agapao -- tolove
... 1 Jn 4:9,10), ie embracingGod's will (choosing His choices) and obeying them through
His power. 25 () preeminently refers to what as He "islove" (1 Jn 4:8,16...
5363. philanthropia --love for mankind, kindness
... respect (benevolence) that befits each one being created in the image ofGod.... Word
Origin from philos and anthropos Definitionlove for mankind, kindness NASB...
5385. philosophia -- thelove or pursuit of wisdom
... Such 5385 () is ()God's Word (true wisdom).... Word Origin from philosophos Definition
thelove or pursuit of wisdom NASB Word Usage philosophy (1). philosophy....
27. agapetos -- beloved
... another. 27 (a verbal adjective, derived from 26 , "love") -- properly, ; ("
byGod"), ie personally experiencing "-love.". K. Wuest...
4102. pistis -- faith, faithfulness
...God" (). 7" But just as you abound in everything, in (4102). and utterance
and knowledge and in all earnestness and in thelove. we...
5362. philandros -- loving men, (of a wife) loving her husband
... stewardship) fromGod (used only in Tit 2:4). Word Origin from philos and aner
Definition loving men, (of a wife) loving her husband NASB Word Usagelove their...
5358. philagathos -- loving that which is good
... 5358 ("a lover ofGod's good") only occurs in Tit 1:8 where it is listed
as an essential quality for the elder-overseer....love of good....
5250. huperpleonazo -- to abound exceedingly
... ("makes ") expresses the wayGod will inbirth faith, through divinelove, in the
yielded believer to a frequency that exceeds all description and expectation!...
3852. paraggelia -- an instruction, a command
... Accordingly, 3852 () and faith (4102 , "God's inworked ") are directly connected.
See 3853 (). 1 Tim 1:5: "But the goal of our (3852 ) islove from a pure...
Strong's Hebrew
449. Elidad -- "God has loved," an Israelite name... name NASB Word Usage Elidad (1). Elidad. From the same as 'Eldad;
God of (his)
love;
Elidad, an Israelite -- Elidad. see HEBREW 'Eldad. 448, 449. Elidad. 450
...Library
Whether theLove of Charity Stops atGod, or Extends to Our...
... For as we oweGod love, so do we owe Him fear, according Dt.10:12: "And now Israel,
what doth the Lord thyGod require of thee, but that thou fear . . ....
What ProvesGod's Love
... ROMANS WHAT PROVESGOD'S LOVE.... Now, there is a second question that I wish to ask,
and that is". II. How does Christ's death 'commend'God's love?...
ThatGod's Love is to be Mingled with Ilk Time and Deed nor Fails...
... BOOK II CHAPTER X THATGOD'S LOVE IS TO BE MINGLED WITH ILK TIME AND DEED NOR FAILS
NOT FOR WEAL OR WOE, AND OF THE WORTHINESS AND THE GAINING THEREOF: AND OF...
God's Love Commended to Us.
... XVIII.GOD'S LOVE COMMENDED TO US. "ButGod... Saving faith receives the death
of Christ as an expression ofGod's love to us. No other...
God's Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of...
... Chapter IX."God's Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of
Christ Towards It. The Flesh the Best Means of Displaying...
God's Love for a Sinning World
... I.GOD'S LOVE FOR A SINNING WORLD.... But in saying this we do not exclude all emotion
from thelove of benevolence, nor fromGod's love for a lost world....
God isLove. PM Praise forGod's Love.
... 93God isLove. PM Praise forGod's Love. Praise forGod's Love.... Ref."God islove,
God islove. Come, let us all unite to sing ThatGod islove....
God's Love (Four Articles)
...GOD'S LOVE (FOUR ARTICLES).... Hence we shall first consider thelove ofGod, and secondly
His justice and mercy. About the first there are four points of inquiry:...
December the Twenty-Ninth theLove ofGod
... 1 John 4:7-14. Let me more assiduously think ofGod's love. Let me sit down to
it. In... unsearchable!". AndGod's love is the creator of mylove....
God's Love Magnified in Christ's Death.
... XXII.GOD'S LOVE MAGNIFIED IN CHRIST'S DEATH. (Good Friday, 1832.) TEXT:
Romans 5:7, 8. IN the whole passage from which these words...
Resources
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