God is love

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"God is love" is one of the most quoted biblical phrases. But do we really know what it means? The truth is that few know it. Let's see what the Bible says about it.
"God is love" is a direct quote from two different biblical passages: 1 John 4: 8 and 1 John 4:16. However, there are many other Scriptures that express this truth-which describes the essence of God's nature-in a different way.

Some examples are John 3:16 (another much quoted verse): "For God so loved the world ..."; John 16:27: "for the Father himself loves you" and 1 John 3: 1, where the apostle John also tells us about God's love saying: "Look at what love the Father has given us".

And these are just a small sample of many Scriptures that reiterate this fundamental characteristic of the nature of God. God is love, and expresses his love for us in different ways.

What does "God is love" mean? Experts have tried to explain it by describing God as "pure goodness" (Barnes Biblical Commentary). Or, as we read in the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: "God is fundamental and essentially LOVE: not simply loving."
However, no expert tells us about God's purpose - what his nature, love, has motivated him to do. And, in fact, the purpose for which he created us is the greatest expression of his love for humanity.

The purpose of God

The incredible truth of what God is doing for the love he feels for us is revealed in one of the verses above. In 1 John 3: 1, the apostle John tells us: "See what love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God." God created humanity with the purpose that we be his children and conform his family and wants a family with sons and daughters to share his nature. Let us pause for a moment to reflect on this wonderful reality.

In 2 Corinthians 6: 17-18, Paul also tells us about this incredible fact when he writes: "Wherefore, 'Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean; and I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. '"

The plan of salvation that God has for humanity is to offer each human being the opportunity to become his son in his family and to have his nature.
God is love. Love is the fundamental essence of his character - he defines his whole Being. His love is perfect and manifests in his absolutely pure desire to protect, give and share.

For now, the family of God is composed of two Beings: the Most High God (whom we know as God the Father) and the Word (who became a human being to become Jesus Christ, John 1: 1-2, 14). Both are members of Elohim, the first word translated as "God" in the Bible (Genesis 1: 1). Elohim is the plural form of Eloha and we could say that it is the surname of the family of God.

In other words, God created mankind so that eventually we all would become his heirs with Jesus Christ; so that we may be members of the ruling family of God, his sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Christ (Romans 8: 14-17, Hebrews 2: 9-11, Titus 3: 7).

In 1 John 3: 2, the author continues: "Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we are to be is not yet revealed; But we know that when he [Jesus Christ] manifests, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is. " Although God considers us his children since we received the Holy Spirit, each of us must go through a process of spiritual development before being able to be part of the family of God.

If we obey God and go through the process of conversion, our destiny will be to be part of his family, just like his firstborn. And, if we reach that goal, we will come to have the nature of God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is why God (Elohim) created us the way He did.

In Genesis 1:26 we read: "Then said God [Elohim]: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness". We were made in the image and likeness of God (of Elohim) because Elohim, in his love, wants us to be part of his family. (See our sections on "What is the meaning of life?" And "The plan of salvation.")

But all the power and authority that implies being part of the family of God has a requirement: that everything be done in love, without selfishness, pride, greed or arrogance. In other words, if we want to be like God, we must behave like Him!

The love of the Father and the Son

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"God is love" not only describes the nature of God the Father, it also describes that of his Son, Jesus Christ; both members of the divine family love each other deeply and-love is their nature.

As we read in John 3:35 and John 5:20: "The Father loves the Son." And Jesus also loves the Father, as confirmed in John 14:31, saying, "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, so I do."

This verse also indicates that Christ's love for the Father leads him to action. Since they love each other, Jesus Christ always seeks to please the Father, as we see in John 8:29: "He who sent me is with me; the Father has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him. "

In addition, the love between the Father and the Son unites them in such a way that they are considered as one Being; This is why Jesus says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

Love: motivating force of salvation

As we have seen, the ultimate purpose of salvation is for us to become children of God. In their love, the Most High God and the Word want to share their way of living, all that they are and have, with their peers.

For this, they developed a plan and created the human being with the aim of giving him the incredible opportunity to become a member of his family. This is the plan of salvation.

The requirement to be saved
The only thing that God expects from us to give us the incredible gift of living eternally as part of his family, is that we learn to love him as he loves us. How does God want us to show him love? He himself gives us the answer in 1 John 5: 3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome. "

This connection between "loving God" and "keeping his commandments" is reiterated in many parts of the Bible, as we shall see below:

"These, then, are the commandments, statutes, and decrees which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going to take it ... And you shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, and of all your soul, and with all your strength "(Deuteronomy 2: 1-5).

"Now, Israel, what does the Eternal your God ask of you, but fear the Eternal your God, walk in all his ways, and love him, and serve the Eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul; that you keep the commandments of the Eternal and his statutes, which I prescribe for you today, so that you may have prosperity? "(Deuteronomy 10: 12-13).

"It will happen when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you repent in the midst of all the nations where the Eternal your God has thrown you ... And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart , and the heart of your offspring, that you may love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

"... To the heavens and to the earth I call for witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; Choose, then, life, so that you and your offspring may live; loving the Eternal your God, attending to his voice, and following him; because he is life to you, and prolongation of your days; that you may dwell on the land which the Eternal swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give them "(Deuteronomy 30: 1, 6, 19-20).

"And I prayed to the Eternal my God and I made confession saying: Now, Lord, great God, worthy to be feared, who keep covenant and mercy with those who love you and keep your commandments" (Daniel 9: 4).

"Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is similar: You will love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets "(Matthew 22: 36-40).

"If you love me, keep my commandments ... He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him ... He who loves me will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him "(John 14:15, 21, 23).

"And in this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says: I know him, and he does not keep his commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but he who keeps his word, in this truly the love of God has been perfected; by this we know that we are in it. He who says he abides in him must walk as he walked "(1 John 2: 3-6).

And these are just some of the many Scriptures that demonstrate the connection between obedience and love.

What does "God is love" mean?
God is love. And in his love, he wants to make us part of his family as sons and daughters. The only thing we must do to be his children - to be one with God - is to learn to love him, his family and his creation as he loves us.

"The glory that you gave me, I have given them, so that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, so that they may be perfect in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me, and that you have loved them as you have loved me "(John 17: 22-23).

This is the meaning of "God is love."