God's Love

TheWordIsOne said:

Greeting
first I would like to say I love you

my interest is the scientific view of the word of God, more towards spiritual events in earthly events, past, present, and future.
Discovery of the mystery of the bible, my favorite acronym B.IB.L.E.

Bible Instruction Before Leaving Earth B.IB.L.E.

My studies where is God is? how, when, and where

I found this very intriguing since I am a science fiction fan, and what is exotic in space, time, and space.
So I love you fans of the word, let see what mysteries lie, ahead for days are unusual, and things are like my science fiction movies but science fiction facts.
To the eye things are invisible, but to the heart all things are visible

View attachment 10707

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Have you ever wondered why within the Spiritual Realms of both God and Satan the human substances of worship, soul, blood, flesh, spoken words, and inner feelings all are some sort of spiritual currency? Each of these is sought by both God and Satan.

TheWordIsOne said:

Greeting
first I would like to say I love you

my interest is the scientific view of the word of God, more towards spiritual events in earthly events, past, present, and future.
Discovery of the mystery of the bible, my favorite acronym B.IB.L.E.

Bible Instruction Before Leaving Earth B.IB.L.E.

My studies where is God is? how, when, and where

I found this very intriguing since I am a science fiction fan, and what is exotic in space, time, and space.
So I love you fans of the word, let see what mysteries lie, ahead for days are unusual, and things are like my science fiction movies but science fiction facts.
To the eye things are invisible, but to the heart all things are visible

View attachment 10707

Click to expand...

Your reminding me of the Futurama episode where Bender finds god in outer space. I like Sci Fi as well. I liked The Adjustment Bureau and The Martian. I don't think God resides in outer space though. I believe He resides on the other side of the "curtain". God is spirit not physical. I don't believe we can hop in a rocket ship and fly to heaven. I don't know if there are other intelligent life forms out there, but if there is and one comes visiting declaring himself God......would you believe him?

Jacob62 said:

Have you ever wondered why within the Spiritual Realms of both God and Satan the human substances of worship, soul, blood, flesh, spoken words, and inner feelings all are some sort of spiritual currency? Each of these is sought by both God and Satan.

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Greeting
Yes in a kind of away a spiritual currency, the Holy Spirit tells us about this spiritual currency.
our inner feeling is our subconscious, our awareness, free will to worship our spiritual inner-self
Your heart is one :halo




love is to all brothers and Sisters

daninthelionsden said:

Your reminding me of the Futurama episode where Bender finds god in outer space. I like Sci Fi as well. I liked The Adjustment Bureau and The Martian. I don't think God resides in outer space though. I believe He resides on the other side of the "curtain". God is spirit not physical. I don't believe we can hop in a rocket ship and fly to heaven. I don't know if there are other intelligent life forms out there, but if there is and one comes visiting declaring himself God......would you believe him?

Click to expand...

The universe is vast and infinite, but also the universe also has windows, each window is into past into the future
our newest satellites try to see deep beyond the universe, piercing through layers of the universe with the eyes of these newest types of satellites to reach the very edge, of our universe it has like a vail where men have tried to see the Kingdom of God. The span of the universe is about 46.5 billion light-years away and expanding.

Our universe has an edge, it is called Euclidian Universe has no boundaries that no man cannot see with his naked eye, and forever expanding.

There is a giant chasm, this great chase calls the Opaque Universes, in the bible is a great gulf fixed, meaning a great Cosmic Rift, a separation between man, the Lord angels, and Satan. This is the edge of the entire Universes, but beyond the Opaque Universe is the very edge of the miraculous
Luke 16:24-26 there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'

Because of the time, it takes light to travel, back farther away an object is, the further back in time we are looking of our beginning, now what is in front of our I suppose that the Our universe is celestial clock like our Milky Way, turning to shape the universe, the density, and shape, always moving like a celestial clock

TheWordIsOne said:

The universe is vast and infinite, but also the universe also has windows, each window is into past into the future
our newest satellites try to see deep beyond the universe, piercing through layers of the universe with the eyes of these newest types of satellites to reach the very edge, of our universe it has like a vail where men have tried to see the Kingdom of God. The span of the universe is about 46.5 billion light-years away and expanding.

Our universe has an edge, it is called Euclidian Universe has no boundaries that no man cannot see with his naked eye, and forever expanding.

View attachment 10726​

There is a giant chasm, this great chase calls the Opaque Universes, in the bible is a great gulf fixed, meaning a great Cosmic Rift, a separation between man, the Lord angels, and Satan. This is the edge of the entire Universes, but beyond the Opaque Universe is the very edge of the miraculous

a great chasm separate man from God
View attachment 10724View attachment 10727View attachment 10728
The great gulf fixed​

Luke 16:24-26 there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'

Because of the time, it takes light to travel, back farther away an object is, the further back in time we are looking of our beginning, now what is in front of our I suppose that the Our universe is celestial clock like our Milky Way, turning to shape the universe, the density, and shape, always moving like a celestial clock

View attachment 10729
Now about spiritual currency? Mmmm? yes, there is some try of spiritual currency.​

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I believe the closest thing on Earth to there being a "stargate" to Heaven was the Temple Holy of Holies. Though other religions of the Egyptians/Incas/Mayans etc had their own "stargates", I believe theirs only led to hell.
Now Christ is our "stargate" and we have access always and forever right inside us.

for_his_glory said:

Hi TheWordIsOne and welcome to CF

Interesting intro, but me personally not so much a science fiction fan, although I do love digging into the deeper mysteries of the word of God. So many revelations that the Holy Spirit reveals to us as He opens our Spiritual eyes and ears. Enjoy yourself here and looking forward to getting to know you. God bless

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Jeremiah 33:2-3"Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'
Is the Lord in a bottle?

Cross-references
Job 9:5-10 He removes the mountains, and they do not know When He overturns them in His anger;
He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble;
He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars;
He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea;
He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south;
He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number.

Amos 5:8 (He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The LORD is His name.

the Pleiades and Orion



Love is all I know

Most interpret God's love to be like human love, but it is not. God's love is holy, man's is not; God's love is uninfluenced, man's is not; God's love is never capricious, man's is not; God's love is eternal, man's is not; God’s love is selfless, man’s is not, God’s love is free to choose, man’s is not ... etc. etc.

Love is that in God which moves Him to give Himself and His gifts spontaneously, voluntarily, righteously, and eternally, for the good of personal beings, regardless of their merit or response. His love is uncaused (uninfluenced) as God is independent (Ephesians 1:4). Since God loves His people because they are in Christ, it is not regulated by their fruitfulness and it is the same at all times. Because He loves them in Christ, the Father loves them as Christ. The time will come when His prayer will be answered, “that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23).

Love is a subset of goodness which includes mercy, faithfulness, long-suffering, patience, verity (Romans 2:4a; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20; James 1:19) and grace (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8). Goodness may be defined as God’s benevolent concern for His creatures (Acts 14:17).

God’s love is an intellectual (passionless) disposition to favor according to the ‘divine likeness’ of the object (God himself and those “in Christ” being the most lovely); this is God’s “love of complacency”.

Since God is impassable -- his mind cannot be emotionally disturbed -- this means that divine love is not emotional; rather, God’s love is an immutable emotion, a volition. Since God is holy He is separate from all that is unclean and evil. Thus, God’s love is an intellectual disposition of favor based on moral perfection (God is holy/light).

As pertaining to the elect, the absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy. And that way has been provided in the merits of Jesus Christ. Hate is a disposition of disassociation, disfavor and judgment (darkness).

Love hates moral evil and clings to righteousness. It is also an error to interpret “God is love” to mean God is only love…using love as a paring knife to cut away his power, justice, and wrath against sin, leaving only unconditional acceptance and positive regard, which is mere “amiable weakness” and “sentiment.” Christians become imbalanced if they teach that God is primarily love, as if love trumped all other attributes of God. Without God’s love, none of his other attributes would be beautiful, but love sweetens all of his attributes. Hebrews 1:9 “You have loved righteousness [integrity, virtue, uprightness in purpose] and have hated lawlessness [injustice, sin]

Charnock, MacArthur, Edwards, Thiessen

Fastfredy0 said:

Most interpret God's love to be like human love, but it is not. God's love is holy, man's is not; God's love is uninfluenced, man's is not; God's love is never capricious, man's is not; God's love is eternal, man's is not; God’s love is selfless, man’s is not, God’s love is free to choose, man’s is not ... etc. etc.

Love is that in God which moves Him to give Himself and His gifts spontaneously, voluntarily, righteously, and eternally, for the good of personal beings, regardless of their merit or response. His love is uncaused (uninfluenced) as God is independent (Ephesians 1:4). Since God loves His people because they are in Christ, it is not regulated by their fruitfulness and it is the same at all times. Because He loves them in Christ, the Father loves them as Christ. The time will come when His prayer will be answered, “that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23).

Love is a subset of goodness which includes mercy, faithfulness, long-suffering, patience, verity (Romans 2:4a; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20; James 1:19) and grace (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8). Goodness may be defined as God’s benevolent concern for His creatures (Acts 14:17).

God’s love is an intellectual (passionless) disposition to favor according to the ‘divine likeness’ of the object (God himself and those “in Christ” being the most lovely); this is God’s “love of complacency”.

Since God is impassable -- his mind cannot be emotionally disturbed -- this means that divine love is not emotional; rather, God’s love is an immutable emotion, a volition. Since God is holy He is separate from all that is unclean and evil. Thus, God’s love is an intellectual disposition of favor based on moral perfection (God is holy/light).

As pertaining to the elect, the absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy. And that way has been provided in the merits of Jesus Christ. Hate is a disposition of disassociation, disfavor and judgment (darkness).

Love hates moral evil and clings to righteousness. It is also an error to interpret “God is love” to mean God is only love…using love as a paring knife to cut away his power, justice, and wrath against sin, leaving only unconditional acceptance and positive regard, which is mere “amiable weakness” and “sentiment.” Christians become imbalanced if they teach that God is primarily love, as if love trumped all other attributes of God. Without God’s love, none of his other attributes would be beautiful, but love sweetens all of his attributes. Hebrews 1:9 “You have loved righteousness [integrity, virtue, uprightness in purpose] and have hated lawlessness [injustice, sin]

Charnock, MacArthur, Edwards, Thiessen

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Yes God is Holy
I only can give you these words
I John 4:17-18 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have baldness in the day of judgment; as he is, so are in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord you God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it; that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that the days may be prolonged.

Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and fear him.

II Kings 17:36-39 But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great authority and a stretched out arm, he shall ye fear, and he shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandments, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. But the Lord your God ye shall fear, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

I Chronicles 16:29-30 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; bring an offering, and come before him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him, all the earth; the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of thee world stand in awe of him.

Daniel 6:26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my6 kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

Luke 12:4-5 And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more than they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; Fear him which after he hath killed, hath authority and power to cast into hell; yea I say unto you, fear him.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding has all they that do his commandments; his praise endure forever.

Proverbs 14:26-27 In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Isaiah 33:5-6 The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high; he hath Zion with judgment and righteousness, and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation; fear of the Lord is his treasure.

Jeremiah 46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Proverbs 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh.

1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.



Love is all I know

The Essence of Love



1 John 4:7-21 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
By this, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
We love Him because He first loved us.
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

for_his_glory said:

TheWordIsOne maybe you would like to start a new thread on God's love maybe in the Bible Study forum for all to take part in. This is good stuff.

Click to expand...

I'll try, this I do know, the Love of Christ's is the chastisement of our affliction, a time for Love and affliction

Isaiah 53: 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed.


please bear with me

Fastfredy0 said:

Most interpret God's love to be like human love, but it is not. God's love is holy, man's is not; God's love is uninfluenced, man's is not; God's love is never capricious, man's is not; God's love is eternal, man's is not; God’s love is selfless, man’s is not, God’s love is free to choose, man’s is not ... etc. etc.

Love is that in God which moves Him to give Himself and His gifts spontaneously, voluntarily, righteously, and eternally, for the good of personal beings, regardless of their merit or response. His love is uncaused (uninfluenced) as God is independent (Ephesians 1:4). Since God loves His people because they are in Christ, it is not regulated by their fruitfulness and it is the same at all times. Because He loves them in Christ, the Father loves them as Christ. The time will come when His prayer will be answered, “that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23).

Love is a subset of goodness which includes mercy, faithfulness, long-suffering, patience, verity (Romans 2:4a; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20; James 1:19) and grace (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8). Goodness may be defined as God’s benevolent concern for His creatures (Acts 14:17).

God’s love is an intellectual (passionless) disposition to favor according to the ‘divine likeness’ of the object (God himself and those “in Christ” being the most lovely); this is God’s “love of complacency”.

Since God is impassable -- his mind cannot be emotionally disturbed -- this means that divine love is not emotional; rather, God’s love is an immutable emotion, a volition. Since God is holy He is separate from all that is unclean and evil. Thus, God’s love is an intellectual disposition of favor based on moral perfection (God is holy/light).

As pertaining to the elect, the absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy. And that way has been provided in the merits of Jesus Christ. Hate is a disposition of disassociation, disfavor and judgment (darkness).

Love hates moral evil and clings to righteousness. It is also an error to interpret “God is love” to mean God is only love…using love as a paring knife to cut away his power, justice, and wrath against sin, leaving only unconditional acceptance and positive regard, which is mere “amiable weakness” and “sentiment.” Christians become imbalanced if they teach that God is primarily love, as if love trumped all other attributes of God. Without God’s love, none of his other attributes would be beautiful, but love sweetens all of his attributes. Hebrews 1:9 “You have loved righteousness [integrity, virtue, uprightness in purpose] and have hated lawlessness [injustice, sin]

Charnock, MacArthur, Edwards, Thiessen

Click to expand...

I haven't read the verses you provided yet, but I believe it's the other way around and that these other attributes are a subset of love. Which verse is it that says "And the greatest of these is Love?"
God has indeed apparently been swayed in administering His love throughout the Bible. Lazarus being one such example. This was an emotional response on God's part.
Only God's emotional responses are Holy though as we are largely incapable of discerning our own emotions appropriately in our encounters. We are instructed to tame all emotions except one......love.
As far as some teachings overplaying God's unconditional love, yes, as this is often used in Grace heavy beliefs at the expense of obedience.

for_his_glory said:

TheWordIsOne maybe you would like to start a new thread on God's love maybe in the Bible Study forum for all to take part in. This is good stuff.

Click to expand...

a question, to understand the Lord's love, first as a people we need to know the gravity of our situation, to appreciate the Love of the Father through Christ our Lord.
we need to see our truth, to know the Love Christ

Numbers 23:19-20 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

“Love” and “hate” in the Bible - Definitions guide understanding!!​

When the Bible speaks of God’s loving someone, it means He has chosen to favor (accept) them and to be merciful. This is according to the loveliness (divine likeness – Colossians 3:14) of the object; when it speaks of God’s hating someone, it means He has chosen not to favor (reject) them and to judge. Thus, we are to favor Christ and not favor the members of our families (Luke 14:26). Thus, God favored Jacob and did not favor Esau. Thus, we favor God’s friends and we do not favor God’s enemies (Psalm 139). This is further demonstrated by Christ who refused to pray for the every person, but only for his elect. "I pray for them," saith he: John 17:9 "I pray not for the world, but for them thou hast given me,"

Simply put, God's Love is a Volition to Favor, God's Hate is a Volition to Disfavor.

Hate not an Emotion of God
If he doth whatsoever he pleaseth, nothing can make him miserable, since misery consists in those things which happen against our will. Stephen Charnock

Since God is impassable -- he cannot be emotionally disturbed -- this means that divine love is not emotional and not the effect of any cause; rather, God’s love is an immutable emotion and impartial volition to favor the morally perfect.


A person is the aggregate of his thoughts and actions, and the thoughts and actions of the reprobate are continuously evil, so the totality of his life is evil … thus it is nonsense to say that we should love the sinner and hate the sin, since one cannot be considered apart from the other. Christ’s command tells us only to do good to those who hate us. It is like the natural benevolence that God shows toward all men (Matthew 5:43-45). But we should have “nothing but hatred” (Psalm 139:21-22) toward non-Christians in the sense that we oppose what they believe, and what they do. We strive to diminish their influence and undermine their agenda by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, we are even to rejoice over God’s punishments upon the non-Christians. (Leviticus 20:23; Deuteronomy 18:12; Deuteronomy 25:16; Psalm 5:5; Psalm 11:4-5,6; Psalm 11:5; Psalm 58:10a; Proverbs 3:32a; Proverbs 6:16–19; Nahum 1:2; Hosea 9:15; John 3:36b; Romans 9:13; Romans 9:22; Romans 12:9; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 14:10, 11; Revelation 18:20).

To regard the Christian faith as false is to hate a believer at the deepest level possible, since the content of the Christian faith permeates all of my thinking and behavior. Therefore, for a person who regards Christianity as false, there is nothing in me for him to love. He cannot love me and hate my beliefs—I am my beliefs; I am a Christian.

Likewise, I may treat a non-Christian with kindness in speech and action, but if I regard his entire worldview as stupid and his whole lifestyle as sinful, and if it is my mission from God to arrange all aspects of my life in opposition to the non-Christian’s worldview and lifestyle, then I indeed hate him (volition to disfavor) at the deepest level possible.

The reason we do good to the non-Christians even though God has “nothing but hatred” (Psalm 139:21-22) for them is that God has reserved for himself the right to avenge his own honor and to avenge his chosen ones. (Romans 12:19)
J.Jules

Our Love or Hatred of God does not Affect God
Job 35:7 “If you are righteous, what do you give God, Or what does He receive from your hand? 8 “Your wickedness affects only a man such as you, And your righteousness affects only a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign, immutable and in whom there is no succession of moments]”

Fastfredy0 said:

“Love” and “hate” in the Bible - Definitions guide understanding!!​

When the Bible speaks of God’s loving someone, it means He has chosen to favor (accept) them and to be merciful. This is according to the loveliness (divine likeness – Colossians 3:14) of the object; when it speaks of God’s hating someone, it means He has chosen not to favor (reject) them and to judge. Thus, we are to favor Christ and not favor the members of our families (Luke 14:26). Thus, God favored Jacob and did not favor Esau. Thus, we favor God’s friends and we do not favor God’s enemies (Psalm 139). This is further demonstrated by Christ who refused to pray for the every person, but only for his elect. "I pray for them," saith he: John 17:9 "I pray not for the world, but for them thou hast given me,"

Simply put, God's Love is a Volition to Favor, God's Hate is a Volition to Disfavor.

Hate not an Emotion of God
If he doth whatsoever he pleaseth, nothing can make him miserable, since misery consists in those things which happen against our will. Stephen Charnock

Since God is impassable -- he cannot be emotionally disturbed -- this means that divine love is not emotional and not the effect of any cause; rather, God’s love is an immutable emotion and impartial volition to favor the morally perfect.


A person is the aggregate of his thoughts and actions, and the thoughts and actions of the reprobate are continuously evil, so the totality of his life is evil … thus it is nonsense to say that we should love the sinner and hate the sin, since one cannot be considered apart from the other. Christ’s command tells us only to do good to those who hate us. It is like the natural benevolence that God shows toward all men (Matthew 5:43-45). But we should have “nothing but hatred” (Psalm 139:21-22) toward non-Christians in the sense that we oppose what they believe, and what they do. We strive to diminish their influence and undermine their agenda by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, we are even to rejoice over God’s punishments upon the non-Christians. (Leviticus 20:23; Deuteronomy 18:12; Deuteronomy 25:16; Psalm 5:5; Psalm 11:4-5,6; Psalm 11:5; Psalm 58:10a; Proverbs 3:32a; Proverbs 6:16–19; Nahum 1:2; Hosea 9:15; John 3:36b; Romans 9:13; Romans 9:22; Romans 12:9; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 14:10, 11; Revelation 18:20).

To regard the Christian faith as false is to hate a believer at the deepest level possible, since the content of the Christian faith permeates all of my thinking and behavior. Therefore, for a person who regards Christianity as false, there is nothing in me for him to love. He cannot love me and hate my beliefs—I am my beliefs; I am a Christian.

Likewise, I may treat a non-Christian with kindness in speech and action, but if I regard his entire worldview as stupid and his whole lifestyle as sinful, and if it is my mission from God to arrange all aspects of my life in opposition to the non-Christian’s worldview and lifestyle, then I indeed hate him (volition to disfavor) at the deepest level possible.

The reason we do good to the non-Christians even though God has “nothing but hatred” (Psalm 139:21-22) for them is that God has reserved for himself the right to avenge his own honor and to avenge his chosen ones. (Romans 12:19)
J.Jules

Our Love or Hatred of God does not Affect God
Job 35:7 “If you are righteous, what do you give God, Or what does He receive from your hand? 8 “Your wickedness affects only a man such as you, And your righteousness affects only a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign, immutable and in whom there is no succession of moments]”

Click to expand...

Acts 10:34-35 And Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness is acceptable to him.

meaning He sees all things
no respecter of persons
bad or good,



Nahum 1:13 For now I will break off his yoke(Satan) from you, And burst your bonds apart."
Psalm 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Romans 9:13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."
see Malachi 1:2-3

All I know is Love

Who does God Love ... Why

Definition: When the Bible speaks of God’s loving someone, it means He has chosen to favor (accept) them and to be merciful. This is according to the loveliness (divine likeness – Colossians 3:14) of the object; when it speaks of God’s hating someone, it means He has chosen not to favor (reject) them and to judge.

Who does God Love - He loves Himself most of all
Vos describes God’s holiness “as that attribute of God by which He seeks and loves Himself as the highest good and demands as reasonable goodness from the creature to be consecrated to Him.”

Why Does God Love
If he loves himself, he cannot but love the resemblance of himself, and the image of his own goodness. He loves himself, because he is the highest goodness and excellency; and loves everything as it resembles himself, because it is an efflux [outflowing] of his own goodness; and as he doth necessarily love himself, and his own excellency, so he doth necessarily love anything that resembles that excellency, which is the primary object of his esteem. Charnock, Stephen

Who Does God Love, Not Love and Why
As God necessarily loves himself, so he must necessarily hate everything that is against himself: and as he loves himself for his own excellency and holiness, he must necessarily detest whatsoever is repugnant to his holiness, because of the evil of it. Since he is infinitely good, he cannot but love goodness Psalm 11:7 “The righteous Lord loveth righteousness,” as it is a resemblance to himself, and cannot but abhor unrighteousness Psalm 11:6A Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire, as being most distant from him, and contrary to him. If he have any esteem for his own perfections, he must needs have an implacable aversion to all that is so repugnant to him, that would, if it were possible, destroy him, and is a point directed, not only against his glory, but against his life. If he did not hate it, he would hate himself: for since righteousness is his image, and sin would deface his image; if he did not love his image, and loathe what is against his image, he would loathe himself, he would be an enemy to his own nature. Charnock

Who God Loves and Why
Love is a “bond of unity” Colossians 3:14 Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others] and therefore God loves those like himself; those that are morally perfect. The love of God is the infinite and eternal bond of fellowship that is based upon the ethical perfection and holiness of the divine nature, and that subsists between the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity and the elect because He loves them in Christ, the Father loves them as Christ. John 17:23 “that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me”.

Who God Does Not Love and Why
God hates sin and sinners because He is holy
A. God is holy, and His absolutely holy nature requires that He hate sin wherever He finds it.
B. The definition of true holiness and righteousness includes hatred for sin (Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:9).
C. Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You cannot look favorably on wickedness.
D. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is holy ... undefiled ... and separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26).
E. God is so pure in His holiness that angelic sin was not accepted in His sight (Job 15:15-16).
F. Any man who truly fears and loves God will hate sin with Him (Proverbs 8:13; Psalm 45:7; Hebrews 1:9).
G. God’s holiness requires that He hate sin (Psalm 5:5; Psalm 73:20b; Proverbs 6:16-19; Zechariah 8:17).
H. God is holy, and this character trait of God cannot be neglected (Isaiah 6:1-7; Revelation 4:8).
I. There is no place in heaven for anything that defiles, for God and heaven are holy (Revelation 21:27).
J. Consider how the holiness and justice of God poured out wrath on Jesus for the elect’s sins.
K. If He forsook His Son and took pleasure in bruising Him ... because of our sins ... how much more shall He forsake, bruise, and hate those without faith, who continue in rabid rebellion?

What Is God's Hate
Strictly speaking, wrath is not an attribute of God’s nature, but is his “holy justice against sin”. Joel Beeke

If he doth whatsoever he pleaseth, nothing can make him miserable, since misery consists in those things which happen against our will. Stephen Charnock

Strictly speaking, wrath is not an attribute of God. It would be more appropriate to say that the wrath of God is the manifestation of the holiness of God in the context of sinfulness of man. So, within the trinitarian fellowship that holiness is expressed amongst the members of the trinity but not wrath. Sinclair Ferguson

In the Bible, hatred is not an emotion primarily, but rather a covenant action to disfavor. Gotquestions.org

‘Love’ and ‘hate’ are not emotions that God feels but actions that he carries out.” Tom Constable (God is eternal (no succession of moments), immutable and impassible, so any emotion he has does not vary and thus does not fit our definition of hate.)

Fastfredy0 said:

Most interpret God's love to be like human love, but it is not. God's love is holy, man's is not; God's love is uninfluenced, man's is not; God's love is never capricious, man's is not; God's love is eternal, man's is not; God’s love is selfless, man’s is not, God’s love is free to choose, man’s is not ... etc. etc.

Love is that in God which moves Him to give Himself and His gifts spontaneously, voluntarily, righteously, and eternally, for the good of personal beings, regardless of their merit or response. His love is uncaused (uninfluenced) as God is independent (Ephesians 1:4). Since God loves His people because they are in Christ, it is not regulated by their fruitfulness and it is the same at all times. Because He loves them in Christ, the Father loves them as Christ. The time will come when His prayer will be answered, “that the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23).

etc
Charnock, MacArthur, Edwards, Thiessen

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Your summing up is hefty. I'm going to chomp on that for a while, thanks.

Fastfredy0 said:

As pertaining to the elect, the absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy. And that way has been provided in the merits of Jesus Christ.

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yesterday three of our pastors held a public discussion following a preaching about Genesis 4, Cain and Abel. God found favour in Abel's offering, but He rejected Cain's. In essence, in order for us to be atoned with God, blood needs to flow. Life is in the blood. There is evidence for this throughout the whole of scripture (Genesis 3, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves, but "the Lord made tunics of skin, and clothed them"). Jesus' blood was without disease. That's why He is our healer. God loves us, with HIS love. It's so high, and wide and deep, only with all the saints together we would be able to fathom (Ephesians 3, 14-21)

FYI Jacob62 did not start this thread even though it shows his name. The thread was started by TheWordIsOne over in the New Member forum and I moved it here for further discussion. Thank you.

Definition: Love in God is a volition of favor, hate/wrath is a volition to disfavor.
Exegesis of John 3:16 (the most abused verse in Scripture today)
God so loved the world”. Many suppose that this means, ‘The entire human race.’ But “the entire human race,” includes all mankind from Adam till the close of the earth’s history! Consider, the history of mankind before Christ was born. Unnumbered millions lived and died before the Savior came to the earth, Ephesians 2:12 “having no hope and without God in the world”, and therefore went to hell. If God “loved” them (or those today that have not heard the salvific gospel), where is the slightest proof? “Who (God) in times past (from the tower of Babel till after Pentecost) suffered all nations to walk in their own ways” (Acts 14:16). God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive (Romans 1:28). To Israel God said, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). (Aside: God speaks to KNOWING people, not plan or events). Thus, how can one insist that God in the past loved all mankind! Read the 20th chapter of the Revelation, the great white throne judgment, and see if you can discover there the slightest trace of love (agape LOVE is defined as "a volition to favor". These people spend 99.99% of their lives (pre and post death) in hell .. how could this be an illustration of God's volition to favor (love). (To put it in the vernacular, with friends like that, who needs enemies .)

A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God, than there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy, He hates all sin; and because He hates all sin, His anger burns against the sinner (Psalm 7:11; Matthew 3:7).

What of John 3:16. John 3:16 and says, “World means world”. True, but that “the world” does not mean the whole human family." The world” is used in a general way. When the brethren of Christ said, “Shew Thyself to the world” (John 7:4), did they mean “shew Thyself to all mankind” (ridiculous)? When the Pharisees said, “Behold, the world is gone after Him” (John 12:19), did they mean that “all the human family” were flocking after Him (ridiculous)? When the apostle wrote, “Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8), did he mean that the faith of the saints at Rome was the subject of conversation by every man, woman, and child on the earth (ridiculous)? These, and other passages (John 14:17; John 15:19; John 16:20; John 17:14; etc.) which might be quoted, show that the term “the world” often has a relative rather than an absolute force.

World is a nonspecific term for humanity in a general sense. The statement in verse 17, “that the world might be saved through Him,” proves that it does not mean everyone who has ever lived, since all will not be saved. Verse 16 clearly cannot be teaching universal salvation, since the context promises that unbelievers will perish in eternal judgment (vv. 16–18). John MacArthur – New Testament Commentary


Does God love everyone without exception. Yes and no.

YES … The New Testament is replete with references of God’s good will to all humanity even in our fallenness (Matthew 5:43-48). Called the love of benevolence, it includes no spiritual benefit, and none of that concern that a father would have for his children. God provide natural benefits to the reprobates. See Romans 9:13-26; Psalm 145:8–9 “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

No.. God does not favor (the definition of love is “volition to favor”) everyone to the same extent. He loves those in Christ as He loves Christ. (John 17:23) To those God adopts He loves most and perfectly. There is NO hate (volition to disfavor) in God for those IN CHRIST; whereas, the wrath (volition of disfavor) of God is eternal for those not IN CHRIST.

So, God accepts us through Christ. Then I have a question: if all humans, the way we are made (come from God) we all have a desire to get to know our Creator. How come many people tend to rather choose against Him? Why is that other force so strong, that many perish, instead of becoming His children, too? Our own 'free' will? Lack of knowledge?