What exactly is the love of God? Some think godly love is a warm, fuzzy feeling. Others think it’s doing good to others. What the Bible says may surprise you!
What is the love of God?
Love starts with God. The love of God was demonstrated by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to be forgiven and to become children of God. As children of God, we will also be growing in the love of God—loving as God loves.
The Bible emphasizes the central role that love plays in our lives. One of the descriptions of God Himself is that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). In other places we are urged to become perfected in the love of God (1 John 2:5).
How much does God love me?
Consider these Bible verses where God tells us how much He loves us!
- “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
- “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).
- “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
- “Yet in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Agape love
The English word love in these verses is translated from the Greek word agape.
Vine’s definition includes: “Christian love has God for its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments, John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1 John 2:5; 5:3; 2 John 6. Self-will, that is, self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God.
“Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all, Rom. 15:2, and works no ill to any, 13:8-10; love seeks opportunity to do good to ‘all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith,’ Gal. 6:10” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, p. 382).
Learning to love
Do you know how to love like God loves? How do you achieve this kind of godly love? Is it even possible to love like God does?
A term frequently used to describe the highest form of unselfish love is altruistic love. Is altruistic love godly love?
What is the source of godly love?
Love is a uniquely human trait that cannot be explained away as the end result of an evolutionary process. This trait comes from the Creator God. Genesis 1:26 tells us God’s words at the creation of humanity: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Since human beings have the capability to love, and since we are made in the likeness of God, He must be the source of love.
Jesus Christ, who came and dwelt on earth as God in the flesh, exemplified the love of God for us. On the evening before Jesus faced a brutal scourging and death by crucifixion, He reflected on the ultimate in love from a human perspective: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
But notice that God’s love goes even further. Early in Jesus’ ministry, He taught that loving your friends was not enough.
The depth of God’s love
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?” (Matthew 5:43-46).
Jesus practiced what He preached! Since Jesus led a sinless life, He did not have to die. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). He could have rightly reclaimed eternal life.
But rather, Jesus’ love was displayed as He stood in the gap and said to His Father that He would take the death penalty for the sins of His friends—and, more significantly, for the sins of His enemies.
This attitude is an essential part of understanding the love of God. Even in the agony of the crucifixion, Jesus Christ spoke this way of His enemies who were killing Him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Do you have this kind of godly love? It is one of the hardest things to have—but the rewards are worth it! Yet there is even more to your development of godly love.