Why love is not God

From Joseph Mattera on Christian Post.com (June 3, 2023):

Today’s preaching from Christian pulpits is filled with compromise, often because of the wrong presentation of biblical love. Since love is a powerful motivating force that can drive people to the limits of their abilities and existence, it needs to be defined correctly in the Church lest believers fall into grave error regarding our teaching and ethical standards (John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son.” This illustrates the power of divine love!)

In this article, I will attempt to demonstrate why love does not define God, but God defines love.

As background, some ancient writers identified various forms of love:

• Familial love (in Greek, Storge)
• Friendly or platonic love (Philia)
• Romantic or erotic love (Eros)
• Divine or unconditional love (Agape)

The contemporary world frequently reduces love to an erotic feeling between humans concerning selfish sexual fulfillment. This raw, erotic, transactional, sexual experience between two people (hookup) does not remotely resemble the biblical definition of love. Also, a feeling-centered understanding of love (Philia), whereby people connect emotionally, liking each other as friends, limits our understanding of this powerful word, Love. The apostle John says God is love (1 John 4:8).

Unfortunately, many interpret this verse to mean that God has no standards except an emotional feeling of love, compassion, and empathy (philia) toward the plight of others. However, our subjective, “feeling centered” understanding of the word does not fully comport with the biblical understanding of love. There is a reason why Scripture says “God is love” and not “love is God.” This is because God is the One who frames and defines love, derived from the character and holiness of His divine nature. Consequently, we cannot separate one attribute of God (love) from other significant attributes of God, such as righteousness and justice, which are the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14).

Love without holiness and righteousness has no real foundation. Conversely, without the framework of God’s character, love in and of itself is not anchored by any standard and is only defined by subjective, mercurial human feelings, personal desires, and opinions. [read more]