God is love!

[KV-44-v1]

hi all,

The Bible itself states that God is love in 1 John!
this has Wonderful implications!

NASB (probably 2020 ver.)
7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

thanks for reading,
kv44

 

[Who Me]

Let's remember that God's love is not a fluffy love, but a practical real love.

God's love is seen practically in his giving of laws, enabling a God hating man to worship God.
It is seen today through Jesus, but again as Jesus said in John 3:18 those who do not believe, do not love God are condemned.

 

[Josef]

Hey All,
But I like the fluffy love.

God is agape; the greatest form of love.
Agape is translated as "charity" in 1 Corinthians 13.
Charity is giving when you don't have to.

If we agape, we fulfill the Law.

So go agape someone today.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

 

[Who Me]

Hey All,
But I like the fluffy love.

God is agape; the greatest form of love.
Agape is translated as "charity" in 1 Corinthians 13.
Charity is giving when you don't have to.

If we agape, we fulfill the Law.

So go agape someone today.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

Agape love is not soft and fluffy.
It is a lovely that gives generously, but a love that also speaks the truth.
It does not tell a he'll bound sinner that ' all is well ', rather it will point out that the consequences of rejecting Jesus, regardless of whether the sinner believes in God, results in an eternal separation I hell.

 

[Josef]

Agape love is not soft and fluffy.
It is a lovely that gives generously, but a love that also speaks the truth.
It does not tell a he'll bound sinner that ' all is well ', rather it will point out that the consequences of rejecting Jesus, regardless of whether the sinner believes in God, results in an eternal separation I hell.

Hey All,
Amen Who Me.
Did I offend you?
That was not my intention.
May I ask, where did I say agape means "all is well" to the unsaved person?
I do not know how you got that from what I wrote.

Grace is agape.
God is not obligated to love us as sinners.
But He does.
God saves us through His agape.
I know you would agree with this Who Me.
As believers, what will non-believers know us by?

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

 

[Josef]

Hey All,
Amen Who Me.
Did I offend you?
That was not my intention.
May I ask, where did I say agape means "all is well" to the unsaved person?
I do not know how you got that from what I wrote.

Grace is agape.
God is not obligated to love us as sinners.
But He does.
God saves us through His agape.
I know you would agree with this Who Me.
As believers, what will non-believers know us by?

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

Hey All,
Actually, I made a mistake.
God is obligated to love the sinner.
But He is not obligated to allow him/ger to have eternal life.
Sorry about the mistake.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

 

[Who Me]

May I ask, where did I say agape means "all is well" to the unsaved person

Read again what I wrote.

"It does not tell a he'll bound sinner that ' all is well ', rather it will point out that the consequences..."

 

[Who Me]

Did I offend you?

What gives you that idea?

 

[KV-44-v1]

God is obligated to love the sinne

If this is true, then it is He Who is obligating Himself. right?

 

[miamited]

Hi guys,

As we discuss the definition of 'love', as it relates to God's relationship with what He has created, I believe it is best understood as a deep and complete responsibility to care for another. As someone earlier expressed, acceptance of wickedness, evil, sin as being ok and I still feel good about you, isn't love. Love is a deep and abiding responsibility to care for and about another.

For those who know the truth and how good it is for us, then the greatest love is to tell others that truth. The greatest responsibility that we have, if we really have a deep and abiding sense of responsibility for another is to tell them what is good and what is bad for them.

God is love. He has provided a place for us to live. He has provided all that is necessary that there is food for us to live. He has seen to it that our atmosphere has oxygen for us to live. All the wickedness comes from our choice to use these things, which God gave us in His love to provide all that is necessary for us to have life, to maim and to kill and to hurt one another.

Then God showed His greatest love for us in being the one to offer us rescue from our plight of sin and death.

Love is a deep, abiding responsibility for someone else.

God bless,
Ted

 

[Prycejosh1987]

Gods love is manifest in His Sons ideals.

 

[hishandmaiden]

God's love is the highest form of love, Agape. It is something that we humans can never comprehend. It is sacrificial, unconditional, infinite, deep, practical, real.

 

[christgal33]

God demonstrates His love for us... through practical actions. He actually came down to die on the cross for us while we are sinners. God's love is truly great and unconditional.

 

[miamited]

Hi christgal33

I'm not sure that I can agree that His love is unconditional. The Scriptures do seem to be pretty clear that a day is coming when those who haven't accepted God's 'condition' for their salvation will be cast into the pit. He loves us in that He feels a responsibility to care for us, but the gospel itself is a conditional covenant.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

That is a conditional covenant that God explains to us as HIs very testimony speaks of His great love for us.

 

[Tenchi]

hi all,

The Bible itself states that God is love in 1 John!
this has Wonderful implications!

NASB (probably 2020 ver.)
7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

thanks for reading,
kv44

Is it that God chooses to love us? Or does He love us as a consequence of His essential nature which, in part, is love? In other words, does God approach us with a "default setting" of love that, in a sense, He cannot help but show to us? I've met many Christians who prefer a God of hard and threatening holiness, a God chiefly of wrath and judgment, not love, mercy and grace. Strange, eh?

How many Christians, do you think, are trying to manifest godly love from their own corrupt, human, sin-cursed type of love? Most, in my experience.

How do you think Christians manifest the perfect love of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:23; Romans 5:5) instead of their own corrupt version of his love?

 

[miamited]

I've met many Christians who prefer a God of hard and threatening holiness, a God chiefly of wrath and judgment,

Hi Tenchi

Well, there are examples written to us in the Scriptures that would seem to show God in that light. At one point in time on the face of the earth God killed every man, woman and child in a great flood of His doing that swept over the entire earth. Eight people were saved from that day of God's great wrath and judgment.

Then we read that God, by His own doing, killed every first born of both man and cattle in one night in Egypt. Supposedly as a result of God's anger over how His people had been enslaved in Egypt and were refused their freedom.

But, as believers, we know that there was also a day lived upon the earth that after Jesus' body was laid in the tomb, he went to the grave to preach to those very people the same gospel that was being proclaimed upon the earth. So that every man was without excuse. That is God's mercy that is shown to them even though they were sent to their graves by the very hand of God. I think that's probably the part that those followers who want to latch onto God being some wrathful and judgmental God, forget.

And of course, according to the Revelation of Jesus, there is coming a day that Jesus will gather those whose names are written in his book of life, and everyone left behind will be thrown in the winepress of God's wrath. Even Jesus said that the one we should fear is the one who, after killing the body, had the power to cast us into the pit. So, I think there is evidence to believe that God, at times is seen as wrathful and judgmental, but that must also be juxtaposed to His merciful and compassionate nature. He can be both, as I understand the Scriptures.

But I would agree that for a believer to 'prefer' that, is probably not a good understanding of Him.

 

[Tenchi]

Hi @Tenchi

Well, there are examples written to us in the Scriptures that would seem to show God in that light. At one point in time on the face of the earth God killed every man, woman and child in a great flood of His doing that swept over the entire earth. Eight people were saved from that day of God's great wrath and judgment.

I'm aware. How do you square this wrathful God with the God described in the passage in the OP?

Then we read that God, by His own doing, killed every first born of both man and cattle in one night in Egypt. Supposedly as a result of God's anger over how His people had been enslaved in Egypt and were refused their freedom.

Same question as above.

But, as believers, we know that there was also a day lived upon the earth that after Jesus' body was laid in the tomb, he went to the grave to preach to those very people the same gospel that was being proclaimed upon the earth. So that every man was without excuse. That is God's mercy that is shown to them even though they were sent to their graves by the very hand of God. I think that's probably the part that those followers who want to latch onto God being some wrathful and judgmental God, forget.

Possibly. In my experience, part of the reason has to do with these folks finding a craven fear of God more motivating than a love for Him.

And of course, according to the Revelation of Jesus, there is coming a day that Jesus will gather those whose names are written in his book of life, and everyone left behind will be thrown in the winepress of God's wrath. Even Jesus said that the one we should fear is the one who, after killing the body, had the power to cast us into the pit. So, I think there is evidence to believe that God, at times is seen as wrathful and judgmental, but that must also be juxtaposed to His merciful and compassionate nature. He can be both, as I understand the Scriptures.

Yes, right. God's holy wrath and love are not mutually-exclusive but are complementary aspects of His nature. How, though, do you think?

 

[miamited]

Hi Tenchi

I'm aware. How do you square this wrathful God with the God described in the passage in the OP?

I'm not sure that anything needs to be squared here. God is love. The passage in question states that and then immediately states that His love is represented to us in the life of His Son and that we might live through His Son. That's a conditional covenant. We gain life by walking as Jesus walked. Loving one another as Jesus loved us. Here it is expressed in a song.

In my experience, part of the reason has to do with these folks finding a craven fear of God more motivating than a love for Him.

Yes, but didn't Jesus say to a group of people in his own words that we are to fear the one who can, after killing our body, cast us into the pit? Would that not be one of Jesus' commands? But, as believers, we shouldn't allow that fear to be the ultimate reason that we seek God's salvation. So I do agree that while we should have a healthy fear of the power and wrath of our Creator, we should be more inclined to seek His salvation because we love Him. That is also a command from Jesus. Love the Lord your God with all that is in you. I don't find it to be an either/or position.

Yes, right. God's holy wrath and love are not mutually-exclusive but are complementary aspects of His nature. How, though, do you think?

I agree. I concur. God bless you and I hope you are enjoying a healthy new year of worshipping and serving God along with the one who showed his love to you by dying for you. We, who believe, are to be co-heirs with Jesus when God's promise is fully revealed after His judgment upon all mankind. We can be like Jesus and that's what God asks of us. Jesus is God's testimony of how He wants us to live our lives... if we love Him.

 

[Tenchi]

I'm not sure that anything needs to be squared here. God is love. The passage in question states that and then immediately states that His love is represented to us in the life of His Son and that we might live through His Son. That's a conditional covenant. We gain life by walking as Jesus walked. Loving one another as Jesus loved us.

Well, I ask, because Christians often hold these two aspects of God's nature in tension - a directly contradictory tension, actually - rather than working to understand them as complementary (which they are).

 

[deepfaithpraise]

hi all,

The Bible itself states that God is love in 1 John!
this has Wonderful implications!

NASB (probably 2020 ver.)
7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

thanks for reading,
kv44

I find this passage fascinating. The Johannine letters (written around 90-110 AD) really captured something powerful about both divine and human nature. When the author says "God is love," it's not just poetic - it's defining God's very essence.

Psychologically this text shows remarkable insight into how love transforms people. Notice how it describes a cycle: God loves us and that enables us to love others. This mirrors what we now know about human development - children who receive love become more capable of giving it.

Historically, this understanding of God as love (rather than just power or judgment) was revolutionary in the ancient world. It helped shape the early Church's emphasis on charity and community care.

What strikes me most is how practical the passage is - it's not abstract theology links divine love directly to how we treat each other. That's powerful stuff.