The deepest possible expression of God's character. Though God loves all people, he is especially committed to sacrificial, loyal relationships with his people.
God's nature is love
1 John 4:8 See also 1 John 4:16
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
His love is perfectly expressed within the Trinity
Mark 1:10–11 parallels Matthew 3:16–17, Luke 3:21–22 See also John 5:20, John 10:17, John 14:23; Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 1:13
As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Characteristics of God's love
It is eternal
Jeremiah 31:3 See also Psalm 103:17, Psalm 136:1–26; Isaiah 49:15–16, Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 54:10
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
It is a covenant love
Deuteronomy 7:9 See also Exodus 20:6 parallel Deuteronomy 5:10; Deuteronomy 7:12; 1 Kings 8:23 parallel 2 Chronicles 6:14; Psalm 106:45; Daniel 9:4
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
It is lavish
Exodus 34:6–7 See also Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; 1 John 3:1
Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
It is holy and just
Psalm 33:5 See also Psalm 37:28, Psalm 99:4; Isaiah 61:8
The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His loving devotion.
Images of God's love
God as a father: Deuteronomy 1:31; Hosea 11:1–4; Luke 15:11–32; Hebrews 12:6; Proverbs 3:12; Jeremiah 31:32; Hosea 2:14–20; Revelation 21:2
God's loving actions
The gift of God's Son is a unique act of love
1 John 4:9–10 See also John 3:16, John 15:13; Romans 5:7–8
This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God sets his love on the unlovely
Deuteronomy 7:7–8 See also Ezekiel 16:1–14; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:4–5
The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God always acts in love towards believers
Romans 8:38–39 See also 2 Corinthians 13:14; 2 John 1:3
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God's love for his people
Israel
Isaiah 43:4 See also Deuteronomy 10:15; 2 Chronicles 9:8; Matthew 15:24; Romans 9:15–16; Exodus 33:19; Romans 11:28
Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
The church
Revelation 1:5 See also John 16:27, John 17:23
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,
God's love for the world
Deuteronomy 10:18; John 3:16–17 See also Psalm 145:9, Psalm 145:17; Matthew 5:45; Acts 14:17, Acts 17:25
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
God's love for individuals
2 Samuel 12:24–25 “Jedidiah” means “loved by the LORD”. See also Deuteronomy 33:12 Benjamin2 Samuel 7:15 parallel 1 Chronicles 17:13; Isaiah 55:3 Ezra 7:28 Ezra; Nehemiah 13:26 Solomon
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah because the LORD loved him.
God's love transforms human love
Human love must respond to God's love
1 John 4:19 See also Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 30:6; Ephesians 5:1; Colossians 3:12–14
We love because He first loved us.
Human love must be modelled on God's love
Matthew 5:44–45 See also Hosea 3:1; 1 John 2:15, 1 John 4:7–8, 1 John 4:11–12
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.