1 John 4:8, 16 "God Is Love"

         Everything we know about God is revealed by God.  Whatever God desires us to know about Himself, He reveals.   Any opinion of God not based in His own revelation is conjecture and speculation.

         Of course, God has revealed a great deal about Himself through Scriptures –both in what He speaks and in how he relates to people and circumstances.  So, there is a good deal we can know about God.  We know that He is patient, and kind, and gentle, and merciful.  We also know that He is just, and holy, and altogether righteous.  We even know that He is sometimes jealous, and sometimes wrathful, and sometimes vengeful.  We know these things because He tells us directly in Scripture that these are His character qualities.  We can also conclude from Scripture –particularly from the real-life stories found all throughout the Bible -that God is sovereign, and omniscient, and omnipresent and all-powerful.  We see these qualities on display as He interacts with people.  There is a lot we know because there is a lot He has revealed.

I have heard sincere Christians argue over which of these various qualities best defines God.  In general, this is a pointless argument.  We know what God has revealed -nothing more, nothing less.  If we want to pinpoint one characteristic, however, that best defines God, we don’t actually have to argue or speculate because Scripture tells us.  In the book of 1 John, chapter 4, it tells us twice that, “God is love.”

This is an important description because it is different than any other description of God in Scripture.  Other places describe God as being merciful, for instance, but they don’t say that God is mercy.  God is in several places described as being patient, but never does it is say that God is patience.  Many times God is described as being kind and gentle and good, but never as kindness, gentleness or goodness.  Here in 1 John 4:8&16, God is not simply described as loving; rather, He is defined as love.  This is not a minor distinction.

God is merciful and patient, but one day His patience will come to an end, and one day His mercy will also end –there will be a day of judgment.  God is kind and gentle and good –but he is also just, and sometimes His gentleness rightly gives way to judgment and justice. 

Think about this:  if God is loving, as opposed to being love, He might love sometimes and sometimes not.  But if God is love -if this is His essence and not just a description of a particular quality He possesses, His love is unencumbered, unconditional, and unending.  God loves us, not just when we are deserving or when we meet the criteria or even on specific occasions when He chooses.  His love endures forever because He is not only loving, He is love.