“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).
As many have already pointed out, our opening passage is a unique framing of the Creator through the pen of Jesus’ beloved apostle John—who said not that God has love, which he certainly does, but that he is love itself.
We take this to mean that everything God does is from a perspective of love. Every action he takes is motivated from a place of selfless service.
Here at GUTOG, we believe that “God Is love” is the fullness of the gospel message; that is, the good news that Jesus came to give humanity is that God is love. Many say that the gospel is that Jesus died to save us from our sins; this is certainly good news, but it is not the good news. Rather, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the ultimate proofs that God is love.
With the picture that most people have about God, what better news could we ever get?
What Is Love? (Baby, don’t hurt me, no more.)
Let’s now look at what we and many others believe is one of the most beautiful passages in all of religious literature: the apostle Paul’s treatise on love found in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. While the entire chapter is worth a read, for the sake of brevity, we want to examine verses 4 to 8:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
If God is love, and love has all these attributes, then it’s fair to say that God has all these attributes. Right? Let’s do a simple word find-and-replace on this passage and see what we come up with:
[God] is patient and kind; [he] does not envy or boast; [he] is not arrogant or rude. [God] does not insist on [his] own way; [he] is not irritable or resentful; [he] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but [he] rejoices with the truth. [God] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [God] never ends.
Isn’t that beautiful? God is love, so therefore, God is all these things. That’s certainly a God worth getting to know. Right?
You might be wondering, however, why God doesn’t always seem to act in a loving manner. He seems to lose his patience often, especially in the Old Testament, but even in Romans chapter 1 and nearly all of Revelation. You might have heard such answers as, “God’s love must balance justice and mercy.”
Believe us—we find this answer to be dissatisfying and contradictory to the teachings of Scripture.
That’s why the Grand Unified Theory of God website exists. Our purpose is to explore the interplay of an infinite being with his finite creation through the lens of this divine truth: God is love.
We’re glad you’re here. Let’s get started …
God Is Love, Part 2 — Love and Coercion
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