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John 3:35
“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”
Divine love is an expression of divine goodness, and as we have seen, love seeks to communicate goodness to another, to give to an object of affection. Because God is love (1 John 4:8), therefore, He seeks to give of Himself to others, to share His goodness with them. There are different ways that He does this, and as we think about the love of God, we need to consider the various aspects of His love to have a full-orbed biblical understanding of His love. When studying what the Bible says about divine love, there is no better place to start than God’s love for Himself.
Scripture abounds with descriptions of our Creator’s love for Himself and tells us that this love occurs in a Trinitarian context. Since God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three distinct persons who all possess the same divine essence—love flows from each person to the others and each person receives the love of the others. For example, John 3:35 explains that “the Father loves the Son.” In turn, the Son loves the Father so perfectly that He seeks to do only the Father’s will (John 5:30), which is ultimately the same will as the Son’s and the Holy Spirit’s. The Spirit is so identified with the love of God that He is the means by which God pours His love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), and there is a long tradition in the Western church exemplified in theologians such as Augustine of Hippo that refers to the Holy Spirit as the bond of love between Father and Son. The love between Father and Son is so real, so lively, that it comes to expression as the third divine person proceeding from the Father and the Son. Moreover, we know that the Spirit loves the Father and the Son because He draws people to honor the Son and thereby to honor the Father (John 3:5). Such a work could not occur if the Spirit did not love the Father and the Son.
The three persons of the Godhead necessarily love one another, for God is supremely lovely and it would be a sin not to love that which is supremely lovely. Theologians such as Jonathan Edwards have recognized this, reminding us that the Lord does all things out of a love for His own glory, a glory that He will not give to another (Isa. 48:11). Our salvation, in fact, is at its root motivated by God’s love for Himself and for His glory. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want to make the glory of one another known because They love one another perfectly, and thus They engage in the work of redemption to show forth God as Savior, to the praise of His love and glory.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
God’s love for His people is free because He is not obligated to love us and He would still be God even if He never loved us. Yet we are not surprised that God does love us. The love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is so rich and full that its overflow into love for us makes perfect sense even though such an overflow is an entirely free decision on God’s part. Knowing God’s perfect love for Himself enriches our understanding of His love for us.
For further study
- John 5:20
- 2 Timothy 1:7
The bible in a year
- 2 Samuel 13–14
- Luke 20:1–26
- 2 Samuel 15–18
- Luke 20:27–21:19