What is love?
Scripture declares that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16) — not merely that God has love, or that love is one of His attributes, but that love is what He is. This distinction runs deep through the biblical writings, and opens up an inexhaustible subject.
Love Is God's Very Nature
The deepest answer to "What is love?" is that love is not, in the first instance, a human feeling or a virtue to be cultivated — it is the essential nature of God Himself.
J. N. Darby draws a remarkable distinction in his exposition of 1 John 4:
J. N. Darby"He is not holiness, He is holy; but He is love. He is not righteousness; He is righteous. Righteousness and holiness suppose reference to other things; thus, evil to be known, rejection of evil, and judgment. Love, though exercised towards others, is what He is in Himself."
In his paper Divine Perfectness of Love, Darby presses this further:
17009E"Righteousness and love are the two great characteristic traits of the divine life, but the latter is what God is. I do not say God is righteousness, though He is righteous; but I do say He is love. Righteousness refers to others. Love is what He is in Himself."
Hamilton Smith arrives at the same conclusion through the apostles' encounter with Christ:
Hamilton Smith"The Apostles, as they looked upon Christ, saw the perfect revelation of all that God is. They saw the perfect purity of Christ, and they realised that God is light — absolute holiness. They saw the perfect love of Christ, and they realised that God is love. These are the great truths that the Apostle presses in the course of the Epistle — God is light and God is love."
Love Without Motive
One of the most striking features of divine love is that it originates entirely in God, not in the attractiveness of the one loved. Human love needs something to draw it out; God's love does not.
J. N. Darby writes:
J. N. Darby"God's love in contrast to man's love is distinguished by this, that while man must have something to draw out his love, as it is said, 'For a good man some would even dare to die; but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.' God's love is without motive, there being nothing attractive in the object that calls it out. 'In due time Christ died for the ungodly.' God's love sees no good in us."
And from his Synopsis:
1john4"Herein is love, not that we have loved God (that was the principle of the law), but in that He has loved us, and has given His Son to make propitiation for our sins. Here, then, it is that we have learnt that which love is. It was perfect in Him when we had no love for Him; perfect in Him in that He exercised it towards us when we were in our sins."
Hamilton Smith echoes this:
Hamilton Smith"We have not only a statement that God is love, however true, but we have the manifestation of God's love toward us. In our unregenerate days we were dead to God and in our sins. In order that we might live and have our sins forgiven, God manifested His love toward us by sending 'His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him' and, further, He 'sent His Son a propitiation for our sins.'"
Love Manifested at the Cross
If love is what God is, the cross of Christ is where that love was supremely displayed.
J. N. Darby:
J. N. Darby"The brightest proof of God's love and man's enmity was seen in the cross. They met there, and the superiority of God's love was manifested."
"The proof of God's love is, He has given His Son; the perfection of His love is, that He has brought us into His presence."
F. B. Hole adds a necessary caution against sentimentalizing the idea:
F. B. Hole"We all know how common it is for men to descant on God as love, even to an extreme exaggeration in effect, not merely that God is love, but that love is God. Much less do we hear of the message that He is light... If it be a truth that God is love, He is a great deal more than love."
Love as Constraining Power
Love is not passive or merely sentimental — it is a force that compels, transforms, and reorients an entire life.
Norman Anderson develops this theme from 2 Corinthians 5:
Norman Anderson"There is a constraint — a compelling power — in the love of Christ. Under that constraint there is a spontaneity of progress and response. We have experienced the compassionate love of Christ. Our hearts have been touched by it and we are Christians because it has laid hold of us."
This constraining love produces a total reorientation:
CONSTRAI"Where that constraining love is known there is deliverance from self-occupation. The Christian, in the drawing power of that love which 'passeth knowledge,' is Christ centred... We shall love, we shall serve, we shall live to Him because we cannot help it. The constraint of His love which on the one hand reduces us to the lowest level, so blesses us that we respond to Him as the flower opens to the rising sun."
Love Made Perfect — From Fear to Confidence
Divine love does not merely reach sinners; it brings them into the very presence of God with boldness. This is what Scripture calls love being "made perfect."
J. N. Darby:
J. N. Darby"If my heart has seized the truth that God as a Father is acting in grace towards me, there is no place for fear. In all my need, and even in that with which I ought to have nothing to do, in all my sin, I fly to Him. I could not in my sin fly to my judge, but I have confidence in my Father's love and I fly to Him without fear; for 'perfect love casteth out fear.'"
Hamilton Smith traces three movements of this perfected love:
Hamilton Smith"The Apostle presents the love of God in a threefold way. Firstly, in verses 7 to 11, he speaks of the love of God toward us, settling every question of our past. Secondly, in verses 12 to 16, he presents the love of God in us, governing our present life of testimony. Thirdly, in verses 17 to 19, he speaks of the love of God with us, in view of the future."
Love as the Bond Between Believers
Because love is God's nature and believers share in that nature, love among God's people is the spontaneous expression of the life they have received.
W. W. Fereday draws attention to love as the unmistakable proof of new birth:
W. W. Fereday"He that does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother. Here we get a rapid transition from righteousness to love. Is it possible we may be mistaken as to the first test? We may, because of our imperfect discernment, mistake at times moral uprightness for the righteousness which is the result of being born of God; but we can scarcely err as to love. Find a man merely morally upright, and does he love the brethren? Far from it. But the man born of God does."
Hamilton Smith captures the experience simply:
Hamilton Smith"We meet a child of God, who hitherto has been a perfect stranger to us, one perhaps who may be socially far above us or, on the contrary, in a much more humble sphere of life, or who may be of another land and speak a different tongue, but at once our love goes out the one to the other and we are on more intimate terms than with our relations after the flesh. The reason is simple; we have the same life — eternal life — with the same Object, Christ."
To ask "What is love?" is ultimately to ask "Who is God?" Love is not an abstract principle or a human emotion elevated to the divine — it is the very nature of God Himself, revealed supremely in the gift of His Son at the cross. This love asks nothing of its object; it flows out to sinners who are dead and guilty, giving life and making propitiation. Having reached us in our ruin, it does not stop there: it brings us into the same relationship with the Father that Christ Himself enjoys, casts out all fear, and constrains us to live no longer for ourselves but for Him. And because this love is God's own nature shared with those who are born of Him, it creates among believers a bond deeper than blood, language, or culture — the fellowship of those who possess the same life and love the same Christ.