The Love of God

God’s love was undeserved, yet He gave it even when it was unwanted, yet He made us realize the need; it was even unappreciated, yet He gave it freely. How thankful we should be for His love, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Here are seven important Bible facts to consider about God’s love:

  • Love is part of God’s nature.

Love is not only one of God’s attributes; it is also an essential part of His nature, “God is love.”  Such love surpasses our understanding according to Ephesians 3:19: “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

1 John 4:8-9, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Verse 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”

1 John 3:16-17, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he Laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

  • God’s love is an adventure because it is the greatest among faith, hope, and love according to 1 Corinthians 13:13: “The greatest of these is love,” and it is evidence of being Christ’s disciple.
  • God’s love is the greatest love.
  • God’s love means service.
  • God’s love is of the Holy Spirit.
  • God’s love is among the brethren.
  • God’s love is truth.

John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

  • Love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22.
  • Love is the first thing Paul mentioned concerning Christian living. Please read Ephesians 4:1-6.
  • True Christian love cannot be separated from truth, holiness, and obedience.

Philemon 1:9, “Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.”

1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

2 John 1:3, “Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”

3 John 1:1-4, “The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoice greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

By “An Adventure in the Love of Christ,” I mean that it truly is an adventure to realize the love that God has for His children and the high regard we, in turn, ought to have for Him and our brethren. Hundreds of references to love in the Bible certainly prove it to be the most remarkable book of love in the world. The Bible records the greatest love story ever written—God’s unconditional love that sent His Son to die on the cross: 1 John 4:10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

  • His love is everlasting.

Jeremiah 31:3,  “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

  • His love is undeserved.

Hosea 14:4, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”

  • His love endures forever.

John 13:1, “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”

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Hans Nikoley, GSBC Staff

Bro. Nikoley emigrated from Germany to the United States with his family at age 13. He served full time in the Nevada Air National Guard for six years. At age 32, He was saved, and in 1977, he graduated from Bible College. He pastored for over 31 years, 27 of them at Pomerado Road Baptist Church in Poway, California. Bro. Nikoley has served at Golden State Baptist College in the Bible Department and also as the Student Employment Director since 2007. He and his wife Mary have two children and have been married for 58 years.