Love: The God of Love - A Theological Exploration PDF

Love: The God of Love ===================== *For the Father loveth the Son* *John 5:20.* *These words spake Jesus* *"Father,... thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world"* *John 17:1,24* *God is love; We love him, because he first loved us.* *1 John 4:16, 19* I still remember the fi...

Love: The God of Love ===================== *For the Father loveth the Son* *John 5:20.* *These words spake Jesus* *"Father,... thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world"* *John 17:1,24* *God is love; We love him, because he first loved us.* *1 John 4:16, 19* I still remember the first time I told my future wife I loved her. It was on a warm Friday evening back in September of 1985. I thought she was the sexiest, sweetest, and smartest girl I had ever met. She was also my best friend, and I could not imagine life without her. I had never loved anyone as much as I loved her, and I thought that I never would. Then came my three beautiful children: Mike, Matthew, and Mie Jean. The love I felt for them was just as real but different, yet it had one crucial similarity. If need be, I would be willing to sacrifice my own life to save theirs (Ephesians 5:25). That is what love is; it is putting others ahead of yourself. Sacrificial love cannot be explained by evolution and survival of the fittest. Sure, lust and the instinct for the species to survive might explain the sexual desire for a spouse and protective care for your offspring. However, *that would not be real love*; it would not be a choice but rather a chemical reaction in the body. Besides, there are times when love goes beyond saving, protecting, and providing for your immediate family. Sometimes, people are willing to sacrifice their lives for those they barely know, even complete strangers. That is what the "Four Chaplains" did when a German submarine fired torpedoes that struck the renovated luxury liner called the *Dorchester* on February 3, 1943.[^1^](#fn1){#fnref1.footnote-ref} Despite orders to the contrary, many military passengers were not wearing their lifejackets when the ship began to go down. The chaplains, who *were* wearing *their* preservers, refused to board the lifeboats so that they could stay and help the wounded. When last seen by the survivors, the chaplains, no longer wearing the lifejackets because they had ordered others to wear them, were locked arm in arm aboard the sinking, burning ship and praying for their fellow Americans. Again, this type of sacrificial love cannot be explained by the survival of the fittest. These men did not survive, nor would they be around to protect their families and promote the survival of their offspring. In other words, no evolutionary theory can explain the sacrificial love of the "Four Chaplains" for total strangers. Furthermore, Christian apologists (*to appear neutral*) sometimes *lean left* and give the skeptical materialist the benefit of the doubt by allowing evolution to redefine *some types of love*; however, it is a stretch to let evolution explain *any* love because you end up with a meaningless love. Even Richard Dawkins admitted as much when he wrote, "Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal *love* and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts that simply do not make evolutionary sense" (*emphasis added*).[^2^](#fn2){#fnref2.footnote-ref} Love goes beyond a Darwinian evolutionary material explanation if it is genuine and not just a cold chemical process. Love is *not* composed of a material substance and cannot be held in your hand. Love is proof that something exists that is not made up of matter. Love is immaterial; therefore, it is spiritual. Consequently, it requires the presence of something supernatural; it requires God (John 4:24). This supernatural, immaterial Being cannot be just any God because love necessitates someone to love. So, who did God love before He created Adam and Eve? Who did this immutable, changeless, loving God love before creation (Mal 3:6; 1 John 4:8)? Jesus said of the Father, "thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, loved God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. Scripture gives us all kinds of biblical names for God, from *Elohim*: Creator (Genesis 5:1), to *Adonai*: the Sovereign Lord (Deuteronomy 10:17), to *Yahweh*: the Living Eternal God (I AM THAT I AM; Exodus 3:14), to *El Shaddai*: God Almighty (Genesis 17:1). I must confess, my favorite name for God the Father before this study (and yes, I am sixty years old and still learning) was *Elohim* or Creator. However, *Elohim* is plural and can refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity. That is hardly a distinct name for the Father. Likewise, all three persons of the Trinity were involved in the creation of the world, so once again, the title, Creator, can describe each person of the Trinity.[^3^](#fn3){#fnref3.footnote-ref} However, even before God created, He was a *Father* (John 17:24). This is such an important point that John 17:24 must be quoted again: Jesus said of the "*Father*,... thou *lovedst* me *before the foundation* of the world" (*emphasis added*, John 17:24). Before *He* was *Creator*, *He* was a loving *Father*. Father is the name that emphasizes the first member of the Trinity more than any other. More importantly, Father emphasizes the *love of God* more than any other name for God. Imagine all the names of God listed above *without* a Trinity and *without* the Father. You would have an Almighty, Eternal, Sovereign, Creator God. You would have a powerful, sovereign ruler that created you, but there would be *no* love. If the Father did not first love the Son in eternity past, then He must have been "lonely, distant, and unapproachable."[^4^](#fn4){#fnref4.footnote-ref} In fact, He would have been so lonely that He *had* to create *us* in order to become a loving God.[^5^](#fn5){#fnref5.footnote-ref} Therefore, as Michael Reeves wrote in *Delighting in the Trinity*, we would feel pity for the Father, and we would think, "Poor old God," He had to create "us in order to be who he is," and "*we* would be giving *him* life" (*italics in the original*).[^6^](#fn6){#fnref6.footnote-ref} But the first member of the Trinity *is* the *Father*. And He did not *become* the Father; He is the Father from eternity past. And in eternity past, He loved the Son (John 17:24). Therefore, love is genuinely eternal because love exists in eternity. In other words, if love is real yet not material, and it is, then it requires a real Immaterial Trinitarian God. Again, love is not something that can be held in your hand, but it is real because God is real. I am not saying that love proves the existence of a Trinitarian God, but that the Trinity proves the existence of love. More specifically, God has given us the most fantastic example of sacrificial love ever witnessed. Some people may be willing to die for their families, a few may be ready to die for their friends, and a very few, like the four chaplains, may be willing to die for strangers. However, Christ willingly laid down his life for us even when we were still in rebellion against him. Love exists because a Trinitarian God exists, "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). The foundation of the Christian faith is built on this type of sacrificial love, often referred to by theologians with the Greek word for love, *agape*. If there is no such thing as *agape* love, then Christianity is a farce; however, if *agape* love exists, and it does, then God the Father is the only explanation, and Christ the Son is the proof. Consequently, Christians do not have to fear Him as an Almighty Powerful Ruler and Judge because we "have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but \[*we*\] have received the Spirit of *adoption*, whereby we cry, Abba, *Father*" (*emphasis added*, Romans 8:15). God the Father *loves* us because we have been *adopted* into His family, and "we are the *children* of God" (Romans 8:16). ::: {.section.footnotes} ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. ::: {#fn1} Paul Lee Tan, *Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations: Signs of the Times* (WORDsearch, 2004), 10768.[↩](#fnref1){.footnote-back} ::: 2. ::: {#fn2} Richard Dawkins, *The Selfish Gene*, 30^th^ Anniversary edition (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006), 2.[↩](#fnref2){.footnote-back} ::: 3. ::: {#fn3} *Father:* Genesis 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; *Son:* John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; *Holy Spirit:* Genesis 1:2; Psalm 33:6--7; 104:30.[↩](#fnref3){.footnote-back} ::: 4. ::: {#fn4} Michael Reeves, *Delighting in the Trinity* (InterVarsity Press: Kindle Edition), 126.[↩](#fnref4){.footnote-back} ::: 5. ::: {#fn5} Ibid., 25.[↩](#fnref5){.footnote-back} ::: 6. ::: {#fn6} Ibid., 25.[↩](#fnref6){.footnote-back} ::: :::