07/12/2024
The Apostle John was quite an amazing theologian. In his later years, when the Apostle wrote his first letter to the church during their struggle with the heretical movement of the Gnostics (the Docetists to be more exact), he declared towards the latter end of the letter that “God is love.” This is a profound statement by the Apostle. Notice that John does not say “God is loving,” or that “love is God” but, rather, that “God is love.”
What this statement entails is that YHWH in His very being is love! In other words, if God were to have love but not be love in being and essence, then He could be manipulated by some power that is outside of who He is (or in this case, love.) If God could be manipulated or changed by some force outside of Him, this would demonstrate that YHWH is not God because there would be some element or force that is greater than Him. However, that is not the case because God makes it clear that He alone is God and there is no other like Him in existence (Isaiah 45:22).
The truth is that with God, there is no variation in who He is because of change and all of His attributes are one with His being such as love, hate, mercy, grace, wrath, etc. He is the supreme form of love.....because He is love.
His greatest act of love was taking on the form of a servant to live the perfect life for you and to die on the cross for your sins in order to satisfy His wrath. Receive Him as Lord this day.
