OF THE LOVE OF GOD
John Gill
Next to the attributes which
belong to God, as an intelligent Spirit, to his understanding and will, may be considered,
those which may be called "Affections"; for though, properly
speaking, there are none in God, he being a most pure and simple act, free from
all confusion and disorder; yet there being some things said and done by him,
which are similar to affections in intelligent beings, they are ascribed to
him; as love, pity, hatred, anger, &c. from which must be removed
everything that is carnal, sensual, or has any degree of imperfection in it;
and among these, Love stands in the first place; and this enters so much into
the nature of God, that it is said, "God is love", #1Jo 4:8,16. So
the Shekinah, or the divine majesty and glory, is, by the Jews, {1} called hbha
"Love"; and the heathens give the same name to God; Plato {2}
expressly calls him "Love": and Hesiod {3} speaks of love as the
fairest and most beautiful among the immortal gods. In treating of this divine
attribute, I shall,
1. Consider the objects of it.
And,
1a. The principal object of
the love of God is himself. Self-love is in all intelligent beings; nor is it
discommendable, when it Is not carried to a criminal excess, and to the neglect
of others; none are obliged to love others more than themselves, but as
themselves, #Mt 22:39. God first and chiefly loves himself; and hence he has made
himself, that is, his glory, the ultimate end of all he does in nature,
providence, and grace, #Pr 16:4 Ro 11:36 #Re 4:11 Eph 1:6 and his happiness
lies in contemplating himself, his nature and perfections; in that love,
complacency and delight he has in himself; nor needs he, nor can he have
anything out of himself that can add to his essential happiness.
The three divine Persons in
the Godhead mutually love each other; the Father loves the Son and the Spirit,
the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Father and
the Son. That the Father loves the Son, is more than once said, #Joh 3:35 5:20
and the Son is sometimes called the well beloved and dear Son of God, #Mt 3:17
17:5 Col 1:13 he was from all eternity as "one brought up with him";
and was loved by him before the foundation of the world; and that with a love
of complacency and delight; as he must, since "he is the brightness of his
glory, the express image of his person", and is of the same nature, and
possessed of all the same perfections with him, #Pr 8:30,31 #Joh 17:24 Heb 1:3
Col 2:9 yea, he loved him as his Servant, as the Mediator, in his state of
humiliation, and obedience, and under all his sufferings, and on account of
them; and even while he bore his wrath as the sinner's surety, he was the
object of his love, as his Son, #Isa 42:1 Mt 3:17 Joh 10:17 and now he is at
his right hand, in human nature, he looks upon him with delight, and is well
pleased with his sacrifice, satisfaction, and righteousness. The Father loves the
Spirit; being the very breath of him, from whence he has his name, and
proceeding from him, and possessing the same nature and essence with him, #Job
33:4 Ps 33:6 #Joh 15:26 1Jo 5:7. The Son loves the Father, of whom he is
begotten, with whom he was brought up, in whose bosom he lay from all eternity,
as his own and only begotten Son; and as man, the law of God was in his heart;
the sum of which is to love the Lord God with all the heart and soul; and as
Mediator he showed his love to him by an obedience to his commandment, even
though that was to suffer death for his people, #Ps 40:8 Joh 14:31 10:18 #Php
2:8. The Son also loves the Spirit, since he proceeds from him, as from the
Father, and is called the Spirit of the Son, #Ga 4:6 and Christ often speaks of
him with pleasure and delight, #Isa 48:16 61:1 Joh 14:16,17,26 15:26 16:7,13.
And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son, and sheds abroad the love of them
both in the hearts of his people; he searches into the deep things of God, and
reveals them to them; and takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto
them; and so is both the Comforter of them, and the Glorifier of him, #1Co
2:10-12 Joh 16:14.
1b. All that God has made is
the object of his love; all the works of creation, when he had made them, he
looked over them, and saw that they were good, "very good", #Ge 1:31
he was well pleased, and delighted with them; yea, he is said to "rejoice
in his works", #Ps 104:31 he upholds all creatures in their beings, and is
the Preserver of all, both men and beasts; and is good to all, and his tender
mercies are over all his works, #Ps 36:6 145:9 and particularly, rational
creatures are the objects of his care, love, and delight: he loves the holy
angels, and has shown his love to them in choosing them to happiness; hence
they are called "elect angels", #1Ti 5:21 by making Christ the head
of them, by whom they are confirmed in the estate in which they were created,
#Col 2:10 and by admitting them into his presence, allowing them to stand
before him, and behold his face, #Mt 18:10 yea, even the devils, as they are
the creatures of God, are not hated by him, but as they are apostate spirits
from him: and so he bears a general love to all men, as they are his creatures,
his offspring, and the work of his hands; he supports them, preserves them, and
bestows the bounties of his providence in common upon them, #Ac 17:28 14:17 Mt
5:45 but he bears a special love to elect men in Christ; which is called his
"great love", #Eph 2:4 whom he has chosen and blessed with all
spiritual blessings in him, #Eph 1:3,4 and which love is distinguishing and
discriminating, #Mal 1:1,2 Ro 9:11,12. I go on to,
2. Give some instances of the
love of God, particularly to chosen men in Christ, and who share in the love of
Father, Son, and Spirit.
The love of the Father has
appeared in thinking of them, thoughts of peace; in contriving and forming the
scheme of their peace and reconciliation in Christ, from eternity, #2Co 5:18,19
in choosing them in him from the beginning, even from everlasting, to
salvation, by him, #2Th 2:13 in putting their persons into the hands of Christ,
and securing and preserving them in him, #De 33:3 Jude 1:1 in laying up all
blessings in him for them, and blessing them with them so early, #Eph 1:3,4 in
appointing Christ to be the Saviour of them; in providing, promising, and
sending him into the world, to work out their salvation, #Joh 3:16 1Jo 4:9,10
Tit 3:4,5 in the pardon of their sins through the blood of Christ, #Isa 38:17
Eph 1:7 in their adoption, #1Jo 3:1 in their regeneration and conversion, #Jer
31:3 Eph 2:4,5 and in the gift of eternal life unto them, #Ro 6:23.
The love of the Son of God
appears in espousing the persons of the elect, those sons of men, in whom his
delights were before the world was, #Pr 8:31 Ho 2:19 in becoming their Surety
for good, undertaking their cause, engaging to do the will of God with that
cheerfulness he did; which was to work out their salvation, #Ps 40:6-8 Heb 7:22
in assuming their nature, in the fulness of time, to redeem them, work out a
righteousness, and make reconciliation for them, #Ga 4:4,5 Ro 8:3,4 Heb 2:14,17
by giving himself a Sacrifice for them; laying down his life on their account;
and shedding his blood for the cleansing of their souls, and the remission of their
sins, #Eph 5:2,25 Tit 2:14 1Jo 3:16 Re 1:5.
The love of the Spirit, of
which mention is made in #Ro 15:30 appears in his coming into the hearts of
God's elect, to convince them of sin and righteousness, and to comfort them; by
showing the grace of the covenant, and the blessings of it to them; by opening
and applying the promises of it; and by shedding abroad the love of God and
Christ in their hearts; by implanting every grace in them, and drawing them
forth into exercise; by witnessing to their spirits their adoption; by
assisting them in every duty, particularly in prayer, making intercession for
them, according to the will of God; and in being the earnest, pledge, and seal
of them to the day of redemption, #Joh 16:7,8 Ro 8:15,16,26,27 Eph 1:13,14.
3. It may be proper next to
consider the properties of the love of God towards chosen men, which will lead
more into the nature of it. And,
3a. There is no cause of it
out of God; there is no motive or inducement to it in them, no loveliness in them
to excite it; all men by nature are corrupt and abominable; rather to be
loathed than loved; and those that are loved, are no better than others, all
being under sin; and are, "by nature, children of wrath, as others";
as deserving of that as those that are not loved, #Ro 3:9 Eph 2:3 what
loveliness or beauty is in saints, is owing to the righteousness of Christ,
imputed to them; which is that comeliness that is put upon them, whereby they
are made perfectly comely; and to the sanctifying grace of the Spirit, whereby
they are all glorious within, and appear in the beauties of holiness: so that
all this is the fruit of the love of God, and not the cause of it. Nor can it
be any love in them to God, that is the cause of his to them; for they had no
love in them when Christ died for them; nor until regenerated by the Spirit of
God; and when they love him, it is because he first loved them, #1Jo 4:10,19
and though Christ is said to love them that love him, and the Father is said to
love them too; yet this must not be understood of the first love of God and
Christ, unto them, nor of the first display of it; but of further and larger
manifestations of it to them; and is descriptive of the persons who are most
certainly and evidently the objects of their love; but not as being the cause
of it, #Pr 8:17 Joh 14:21,23 16:27. Nor are good works the cause of this love;
for this, at least, in one instance of it, was before either good or evil were
done, #Ro 9:11,12 and in other instances it broke forth towards them, and broke
in upon them while they were yet in their sins, and before they were capable of
performing good works, #Ro 5:8 Tit 3:3,4 Eph 2:2-4 and how can it be thought,
that since the best works of men are so impure and imperfect as to be reckoned
as filthy rags, that these should be the cause of God's love to men? no, even
faith itself is not; that "is the gift of God", and flows from
electing love, and is a fruit and evidence of it, #Eph 2:8 Ac 13:48 #Tit 1:1.
God loves men, not because they have faith; but they have faith given them,
because God loves them; it is true indeed, that "without faith it is
impossible to please God"; that is, to do those things which are pleasing
in his sight; but then the persons of God's elect, may be, and are, well pleasing
to God, in Christ, before faith, and without it. In short, the love of God
purely flows from his good will and pleasure; who "is gracious to whom he
will be gracious", #Ex 33:19 it is that pure river that proceeds out of
the throne of God, and of the Lamb, as an emblem of sovereignty, #Re 22:1 as
God loved the people of Israel because he loved them, or would love them; and
for no other reason, #De 7:7,8 in like manner he loves his spiritual and
mystical Israel.
3b. The love of God is
eternal, it does not commence in time, it is without beginning, it is from
eternity: this is evident from the love of God to Christ, which was before the
foundation of the world; and with the same love he loved him, he loved his
people also, and as early, #Joh 17:23,24 and from various acts of love to them
in eternity; as the election of them in Christ, which supposes the love of
them, #Eph 1:4 the covenant of grace made with them, in which, grants of grace,
and promises of glory, were made before the world began; and Christ was set up
as the Mediator of it from everlasting: all which are strong proofs of love to
them, #2Ti 1:9 Tit 1:2 Pr 8:22,23.
3c. The love of God is
immutable, unalterable, and invariable; it is like himself, "the same
today, yesterday, and for ever": and, indeed, God is love; it is his
nature; it is himself; and therefore must be without any variableness, or
shadow of turning. It admits of no distinctions, by which it appears to alter
and vary. Some talk of a love of benevolence, by which God wishes or wills good
to men; and then comes on a love of beneficence, and he does good to them, and
works good in them: and then a love of complacency and delight takes place, and
not till then. But this is to make God changeable, as we are: the love of God
admits of no degrees, it neither increases nor decreases; it is the same from
the instant in eternity it was, without any change: it is needless to ask
whether it is the same before as after conversion, since there were as great,
if not greater gifts of love, bestowed on the object loved, before conversion,
as after; such as the gift of God himself, in the everlasting covenant; the
gift of his Son to die for them when in their sins; and the gift of the Spirit
to them, in order to regenerate, quicken, and convert them; heaven itself,
eternal life, is not a greater gift than these; and yet they were all before
conversion. There never were any stops, lets, or impediments to this love; not
the fall of Adam, nor the sad effects of it; nor the actual sins and
transgressions of God's people, in a state of nature; nor all their
backslidings, after called by grace; for still he loves them freely, #Ho 14:4
for God foreknew that they would fall in Adam, with others, that they would be
transgressors from the womb, and do as evil as they could; yet this hindered
not his taking up thoughts of love towards them, his choice of them, and
covenant with them. Conversion makes a change in them; brings them from the
power of Satan to God, from darkness to light, from bondage to liberty; from fellowship
with evil men to communion with God: but it makes no change in the love of God;
God changes his dispensations and dealings with them, but never changes his
love; he sometimes rebukes and chastises them, but still he loves them; he
sometimes hides his face from them, but his love continues the same, #Ps
89:29-33 Isa 54:7-10 the manifestations of his love are various; to some they
are greater, to others less; and so to the same persons, at different times;
but love in his own heart is invariable and unchangeable.
3d. The love of God endures
for ever; it is an everlasting love, in that sense, #Jer 31:3 it is the bond of
union between God and Christ, and the elect; and it can never be dissolved;
nothing can separate it, nor separate from it, #Ro 8:35,38,39. The union it is
the bond of, is next to that, and like it, which is between the three divine
persons, #Joh 17:21,23. The union between soul and body, may be, and is
dissolved, at death; but neither death nor life can separate from this; this
lovingkindness of God never departs; though health, and wealth, and friends,
and life itself may depart, this never will, #Isa 54:10 whatever God takes
away, as all the said things may be taken away by him, he will never take away
this, #Ps 89:33 having loved his own which were in the world, he loves them to
the end, to the end of their lives, to the end of time, and to all eternity,
#Joh 13:1.
{1} Shirhashirim Rabba, fol.
15. l. & Lex. Cabal. p. 43, 44.
{2} Theogonia, v. 120.
{3} "Praeclarum illud est
et si quaeris rectum quoque et verum, ut eos qui nobis carissimi esse debeant,
aeque ac nosmetipsos amemus; at vero plus fieri nulio facto potest, ne optaedum
quidem est in amicitia, ut me ille plus quam se amet", Cicero. Tusc.
Quaest. l. 3.