Love Not Loving:1 John 4:7-12

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him” (Col. 1:16, NASB).

God is love. God loves us, but God is not an “all loving God.” I know that this may be difficult for many people to grasp and understand. It is my purpose in writing this article to clarify the difference between stating that “God is love” and asking the question, “how can an all loving God allow” such and such. I am motivated to write this article because I have heard the question asked often and seldom heard people recite the statement “God is love.” It seems to me that when people see something happen that they do not understand they question God’s motives, His character, and His abilities. For example, a tornado sweeps through the town and there is damage to property and the landscape worth millions of dollars. People are grateful that God prevented them from getting hurt and they are still alive. The same tornado snatches up a three year old kid, the winds slaps the child against a tree and the child dies. People ask, “How could an all loving God allow an innocent child to die?” I want to explore these two different assessments of the same situation. This will require us to look more closely into the scriptures.

The fact that people ask any question at all about God shows that the person does not understand God. They are trying to understand God from their own point of view. They want God to conform to this world when in fact Paul tells us that instead of trying to get God to conform to this world, but those that are in the world must be transformed by renewing our minds (Rom. 12:1-3). This means that we are to think like God so that we can see things from God’s point of view? You see, it really means that we understand the difference between the justice of man and the justice of God. It is a question of God’s existence. Does God really exist? So, let us look at what the scriptures say about these matters.

The first verse in the bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The second verse says, “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (v. 2). Now, we need to look at this phrase “formless and void.” Now you can read commentaries and bible dictionaries and read a lot of information that you really don’t understand. Let me help you. The word “formless” is often associated with the word “chaos.” This simply means that God creates everything that He need to make a world in the form that He desires. He creates all the chemical elements that are needed for structure and life. In this form the earth is void. The earth is barren. This word “barren” is used in the Old Testament to mean “unable to produce.” Sarah and Hannah are barren. They cannot produce or as we nicely say, they cannot bear children or they cannot give birth to a child even though they can still engage in sexual activity.

In verse two we read that the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. God is about to make something happen. The earth that was created cannot produce anything of its own ability. It cannot produce life. Of its own ability the earth can do nothing. God reserves this ability for Himself. God is about to take all this stuff that he had created and organize it to be as He desires it to be. So, the Spirit moves, the ability of God becomes active. No power exist that can challenge and prevent the power of God from doing whatever God wants to do. So, in verse three God speaks and things begin to happen. The raw material that God created began to take on the form that God wants and life begins. So what does this have to do with God is love, but God is not an all loving God?

The word “love” comes from a Greek word “Agapao” a verb and “agape” the corresponding noun. Love describes the attitude of God toward His Son and everything that He creates through the Son (John 1:1-5). The bible does not ever say that God is loving. The word loving describes actions of endearment and affection toward another person to make them feel good. The word loving would mean that God does things that please man. It would mean that God does for man what man wants God to do for man’s purposes and pleasures. It means that God will do things from man’s point of view. The bible does not ever say that God does anything for the purposes of the human race. Instead, God does what god does for His own purposes and His glorification. The scriptures do tell us that God is love.

As stated above, the love of God describes the attitude of God toward everything that exists. So let us look at the passage written at the beginning of this article. We can summarize this word to say God created everything. God created everything for Himself; to satisfy God’s own self and to satisfy His own purpose. When we look at the first chapter of Genesis we see that God creates things in stages or in days. As God creates, God periodically assesses things to see if He is satisfied with His work. He said “that’s good,” meaning that God is satisfied that things are taking place just as he planned. Everything is in order.

On the sixth day God creates humankind male and female. He first creates the man and gives him a job. God sees that the man needs help to do all the work that God creates him to do. God first lets the man look at all the animals so that the man can see that none of the animals are suitable to help him. And guess what, the man cannot produce for himself a helper. Therefore, God puts the man to sleep. The man will have nothing to do with what God is about to do. God creates the woman out of the same stuff that He creates the man. She has the same responsibilities that the man has (Gen. 1:26-28), and they are to work together in the service of God. Things work out for some time until the serpent (the devil) tempts them by attacking them from the weak point of their union. The couple eats the apple, the fruit from the tree that God commands them not to eat or they will suffer the consequences. They will die. Immediately, the Spirit in them leaves them and only a physical body that will die remains. Yet God has a plan to make things work out. You see God is omniscient. He knows everything from the beginning to the end. God is never surprised and caught off God. It’s like a mechanic that has everything that he needs in his toolbox.

God will not allow the human beings to be reconciled to Him until a redeemer comes and die as a substitute for the human beings. God does this because God is love. God is a principles and God works according to His laws. God has an attitude. He does not give up on His world because doing so means that God is surrendering His power to the power of the devil; His enemy. God will follow His strategic plans to bring things back to the way he first creates. The heavens and the earth now out of order will be brought back into order. The sin of the man and the woman causes the creation to become out of order. The man and the woman are to be brought back into their proper relationship with God before the creation is restored to its intended function and purpose (Rom. 8:19-23).

God is love. God sends His Son to die on the cross because God is love. God has an attitude toward us and all that is in the world. God works for our good; not for our comfort. Some things are not pleasant but they are good for God’s own purpose. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose”. The goal is the purpose of God. On the other hand, if God is an all loving God, God is about the business of satisfying us. God is doing work for our purpose. The fact is that the human race is a divided people with many goals and purposes. When the man and the woman first sins the human family becomes a divided people. God is one. “Hear O Israel, The LORD is our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4, (NASB)! “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30, NASB).

If God is an all loving God this means that God relinquishes His sovereignty. God is no longer be able to do what God wants to do, when He wants to do, where and how he wants to do, and for His own purpose. Instead God is working so that our flesh is satisfied. This is not in our best interest because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. These bodies that we have are going to die. Jesus is not coming back for our bodies. He is going to give us new bodies and He is going to put His spirit into our new bodies. We are reconciled to God so that we can get a new start of being who God creates us to be. This is God’s attitude toward us. God is love.