Isaiah 1:18 who says "Come let us reason together," but also the God of 1 John 4:8 who tells us that "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Over the next two weeks, we want to address the problems theological and apologetic related to this question. Among the topics we'll be covering: The Problem of Evil, The Problem of Pain, Does God Love Everyone, and What was the point of Jesus death. Today though, we will simply examine the incredible nature of God's love.
Because of the incredible magnitude of the Problem of Evil, etc, we aim to be rather rigorous in our explanation of both our understanding of God's love and the corresponding consistency with it and the presence of evil in the world. This question of a loving and just God has plagued philosophers and thinkers for generations, so this is no small task.
We firmly believe that one cannot absolutely know the truth of God's existence, and can only be ultimately convinced through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To many, the idea of God's existence, let alone a relationship with Him, may seem unprovable, untenable, or unimportant in conception at best. With this in mind, we recognize each person has fundamental assumptions about the worldview to which they subscribe (i.e. Naturalism, Deism, Pantheism, Christianity, etc.). Our contention is that the validity of a worldview is determinable by means of examining the consistency of the deductions that follow from a particular worldview's presuppositions. Through this method we aim to show Christianity's superiority logically, so that each person can experience the love and confirmation of God's presence in their heart. For Christians, our presupposition is the Word of God, or simply, the Bible. Thus to address all problems evil, we must state the Bible's portrayal of God's Love and God's justice. Because Scripture will function as our axioms, we will make continuous reference to this post in the following weeks.
God's love is the most incredible thing in and out of our Universe. It is what gave birth to the Universe and knit us together as beings. God's love is also seen as part of his Justice and vice versa. "Why boast of evil, mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day" (Psalm 52). God's love does more than endure; it's of incredible power:
So we come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:16-21)
This passage is rather self-explanatory about the purpose of and magnitude of God's love. We love because He loves us, and by His love, we can abide in him. There are great examples of His love as well. The (in)famous John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that all who believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
Crash course in resurrection theology: we are all broken - separated from God in our original created nature - by our sin (Romans 5). It is not necessarily a particular sin that separates us from God because all of sinned (Romans 5) and, more precisely, it is our very nature to sin (Romans 1). We are unable to be reconciled by God by means of our works - that is, anything that we do - because of this separation ("but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and
your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear," Isaiah 59:2). If we stopped here, life could not be a more depressing story. There would be no hope. How could a sinful creature look toward his creator? However, this is not the end of the story. His love for us is such that he refused to abandon us, and so by His grace we are saved ("For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them," Ephesians 2:8-10). In order to punish sin, for God is Holy and Just, something needed done. Our sin had to be paid for, but how? In the Old Testament, God placed a symbol of this need. Leviticus 16:6-10 details how a goat must be chosen, and that the High Priest will place upon it all the sins of the people for a year. The goat will then be driven into the Wilderness and left to die. This foreshadowing of our needed sacrifice is incredibly vivid. (For more about Old Testament references, have patience. We'll write on that later.) Jesus is the scapegoat, the intercessor for our sin. As He died on the cross, he carried upon himself all the sin for those would believe. The holy son of God who never sinned was punished for our sin so we could be holy. The theological term used for this is substitution atonement. It is the idea that as Jesus died taking upon himself our sin, we receive his righteousness. Because he was innocent, and died on our behalf, Christ rose again conquering where we never could have. Thus, God's love and justice are both satisfied. God has adopted all those who have faith in Christ's sacrifice as his sons and daughters. This is the story of his glory. We'll be make with more on it in a couple days
Soli Deo Gloria!
Excelsior
Athanasius
P.S. Sorry this post was late. Here are some sea turtles to make up for it.
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