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What the Gospel is NOT?
"God is Love"
- "God is love" is commonly misinterpreted and therefore misused.
It is increasingly popular today to trot out 1 John 4:8, "God is love," and then
assume that God's love is the only divine attribute that has any functional
significance in the way He relatesto people.
- Simplistically equating God with love leads to error.
- Mathematically, if God = love, then love = God. If God becomes
equated with love, then love has become God.
- Theologically, we know that many other things characterize God besides
love - the Bible presents God as holy, sovereign, and a whole host of other things.
- So to reduce God or His gospel to just love is crass idolatry that
caricatures the King of Kings.
- It would not actually be good news for sinners to learn that the only
attribute out of which God acts towards His created people is love. If
God were so singularly amiable, from whom would we seek retributive justice
for wrongs suffered? Is it really good news to learn that Judge of all the
universe is willing to forgive sin without punishing it? The gospel is NOT
simply that God is love.
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