God is love, Love is not God

By Pastor Chris Centola

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16

This verse of Scripture has been familiar to me for some time. I think in fact is there is one thing everyone knows today, one thing that the church has made abundantly clear to people, it's that God loves them. That God is love, and that His love is great and massive and amazing, that nothing can ever compare to the love of God. (In fact I think that what the church needs to make more clear is the wrath of God toward sinners, but thats a blog for another day!)
In spite of all of this teaching on God's love, there is a problem I have noticed that seems to be arising out of all of this teaching about the love of God. This problem has to do with God, His attributes and the sloppiness of many in teaching the truth of God's word. The problem I see is a reversal of what John tells us in the passage above. What do I mean?
God is love, but love is not God! "Now what is that supposed to mean" you say? It means simply this: God, as He presents Himself in His word defines what love is. "Well ok, what's your point?" The point is, many, and I mean many, Christians today develop their view of God's nature, particularly His attribute of love, by taking their understanding of human concepts of love and with those ideas in mind say "that is what God is like!"
Now the problems that arise out of this are many, but one of the most obvious is such people will have a very hard time with passages of scripture in which God tells us of how He is or of things He does that seem contrary to the "love is God" version of God.

For instance:
Ps 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. (refer to Rom 3:10)

Is 45:7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

These are just a few verses that many if they are honest really don't know what to do with! Most often they are just ignored and downplayed as though they really aren't important. But the fact is such verses, challenging as they are, are important if we are to really understand what God is really like, and what His love is really like. We need to let the whole Bible speak and not just a few select verses (and many times even those taken out of context) to instruct us about the nature of God.

I found myself struggling with various parts of scripture like this some time ago, and what I realized was that I had formed a concept of what God was like based on my own feelings and reason. I had heard certain things from various pastors and teachers over and over so many times I just took for granted it was true. I fear that many God-loving Christians today are stuck in the same place. Because rather than having God as the definition of love, and receiving the whole counsel of His word concerning His nature and attributes, they attempt to make love into God, resulting in a God who is far removed from the Sovereign Lord of scripture.
God is love, but let's make sure our understanding of love flows from Him, and not vice versa.
Is 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.Is 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In His love!
Pastor Chris