1 John 4:8 He that loves not knows not God; for God is love. There is singular force in the expression "God is love." He does not say that God is benevolent, or kind, or merciful, or compassionate, or affectionate: he does not say that God is a Being of infinite goodness, or mercy, or loving kindness: but, as if he intended to magnify above measure this most adorable of the Divine attributes, he pronounces Him to be the quality in the abstract, and thus, as it were, identifies the Godhead with love. I. With respect to THAT BEING WHOM WE CALL GOD, infinite as He is in all His perfections, our limited understandings can comprehend only a very small portion of His excellence. "The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him": still less can His nature be compassed by the little span of the human mind. Yet of this much we are assured, that His power is such, as to be incapable of being controlled, and that His happiness is such, that nothing can enhance or augment it. And these are two of the Divine attributes which, when we reflect on the Godhead by Himself, tend most satisfactorily to prove His benevolence in condescending to interfere for the salvation of mankind. II. From the Sender, let us turn our thoughts to HIM WHO WAS SENT. "God sent His only begotten Son." The greatest trial which human nature can sustain is perhaps the loss of a son, of an only son. III. AND WHITHER WAS HE SENT? He was sent into a world which was altogether "lying in wickedness." How unbounded, in this respect again, how great, how disinterested appears the love of God! IV. Let us not forget THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH HE WAS SENT, as a farther testimony that God is love. "He was sent that we might live through Him": for us men, and for our salvation He came down from heaven. And as the love of God is thus manifested, in that we were His enemies, for whose salvation His Son was sent, so is it, more over, manifested by the greatness of the salvation, which was wrought by His coming: a salvation great in every particular respect; great in respect to its extent; great in respect of the deliverance which it affords; great in respect to the means of grace which it now affords us, and of the all-sufficient aid of Christ's Holy Spirit to overcome our natural weakness and corruption; and great in respect of the hope of everlasting glory which it reveals to those who shall hereafter be admitted into His presence. (Bp. Mant.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. |
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