The Attributes of God: Love
(part of this list is taken from web site: https://www.josh.org/resources/spiritual-growth/attributes-of-god/? A free Bible study site by Josh McDowell)
- as a father, God corrects His beloved children (Prov. 3:12) Discipline is proof of his love. Discipline - yakach, reproves, corrects. In Hebrews 12:11 it says that the displine of God is painful, but produces a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who are willing to be trained by it. Similiar to the idea of in Romans 5:3-5 where it says that suffering produces perseverance, endurance and character and eventually builds hope.
- Believers should imitate God’s universal love (Matt. 5:44-45) this comes right before where Jesus says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Then he gives the example of God who sends his rain upon the good and the evil.
- eternal plans are motivated by His love (Eph. 1:4-5) God chose us in Him before the world was even created. His motivation was love to adopt us as sons through Jesus Christ.
- God loves and preserves His godly people (Ps. 37:28) The Lord loves those who are just and won’t forsake those who are faithful. Love is the word ‘ahab which is the word used to describe God’s love for people.
- God loves His people, even when they are faithless (Hos. 3:1) God tells Hosea to go love his wife even though she is an adulteress just as God loves Israel even though Israel was not faithful and had turned to other gods.
- God deserves thanks because of His perpetual love (Ps. 100:5) says that the Lord is good and his love is something that endures forever. This word for love is checed which can be translated lovingkindness. It can mean goodness, faithfulness, kindness.
- God loved the world enough to send His Son to die (John 3:16) God’s love motivated him to give His only son that the one who believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life
- God loves those who love His Son (and obey Him) (John 14:21) Jesus says the one who loves him is the one who has his commands and obeys them. The Father will also love this person and Jesus promises to show himself to this person.
- His love is poured into believers’ hearts (Rom. 5:5) God has poured out his love to the believer through the Holy Spirit.
- God is love, and those who know God love others (I John 4:7-8, 20-21) Love is from God and the person who loves has been born of God and this is evidence that he knows Him because God is love. True is is not that we loved God first, but rather that he loved us and sent Jesus to be a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins and make atonement for us.
- nothing can separate the believer from His love (Rom. 8:38-39) Through the one who loves us we are more than conquerors and nothing can separate us from His love. Paul goes on to mention many things that cannot separate us like life and death, angels and demons, present nor future, nothing else in all creation because love is greater than all of these.
- to love enemies and the wicked is to be like God (Luke 6:35)- similar to what was said in Matthew 5:44-45 that we are to love our enemies just as God is kind to those who are good and those who are evil.
- (Romans 13:10) says that love is the fulfillment of the law.
- (John 15:9) Jesus repeatedly tells them to love each other as he has loved them. He says that if they obey his commands they will remain in his love. Jesus love for the believer is similar to the Father’s love for the Son.
