Why does God love us?
God's love is the one thing every anxious heart wants to account for, and the account Scripture gives is not the one we expect. The commentators are agreed on the central answer — the reason lies in God and not in us — but they draw out several sides of it: love as God's nature, love proved at the cross, love measured by the Son, and love that awakens love in return.
The Motive Lies In God Himself
Ask what moved God to love, and the writers refuse to point anywhere outside of Him. One traces the question back to Israel, where God gave His reason and it turned out to be no reason at all beyond Himself:
H J VineWhat, it may be asked, is the motive of such love as has been made known to us? There can be only one answer to the question — Love! It found its motive in itself. He loved because He loved. This is shown in the words of Deuteronomy 7:7, "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set His love on you and chose you… but it is because the LORD loves you." God is love, and His love has been set upon us in Christ Jesus, and nothing can separate us from it. Not only was there no merit or worthiness in us to call out His love, but we were lost sinners. Yet He loved us because He loved us.
That difference between His love and ours is treated as essential, not incidental:
C CrainOur love of Him is the fruit of His love. It is not natural to us; it is produced in us. A power outside of ourselves has acted upon us and caused love for God in us. But love in God was not caused by anything outside Himself: it is in Him permanently; it is His nature. The motive to love is in Himself.
Why This Makes The Love Secure
If the reason sat in us, it could be withdrawn when we changed. One writer draws the practical comfort out of that:
A J PollockIf we set our affection on something we think worthy, and then find we were mistaken, our love is likely to evaporate. What a comfort that God expects nothing from us, and so is never disappointed at not finding what He does not look for. Love is in the very fountain of His own being.
Loved Before We Existed
The choice was not a response to anything the creature had done, because it was made before the creature was there at all:
William KellyIt was a choice of God Himself before there was any creature responsible or dependent. God made known His choice, not when the creature was to be tested, but when it had failed completely; but the choice itself was decided on by God Himself before the creature came into being… Love it is which, so to speak, sets in motion everything that belongs to God. It is not something external acting on God as a motive, but His own love flowing out from Himself according to His holy nature.
The Cross Displays The Love, It Does Not Create It
A common mistake is to think Christ's death persuaded God to love us. The writers reverse the order:
The Bible TreasuryLove caused the cross; the cross did not cause God's love. The cross was needed as the only way by which God's love for a lost world could be known. Sin had barred every other way.
What the cross does give is the measure of a love we could never have calculated:
Norman AndersonBehind the righteousness and the power of God is the love of God… our enjoyment of the love of God is not the measure of it. No! Christ's death is the measure of the love of God, and so, "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The Measure: As He Loves His Son
Asked how much the Father loves a believer, the commentators point to one comparison in Christ's own prayer:
H H SnellBut one of the children of God may ask, "How much does the Father love me?" We are told that the Father loves us as He has loved Jesus (John 17:23)… So the infinite, eternal, unchanging love of the Father to the Son is the measure of His love to us, His children.
A Love That Now Finds Something In Us
Alongside the love that reached us when there was nothing to attract it, one writer distinguishes the Father's delight in those who have come to love His Son:
James BoydGod loved you when there was nothing lovable about you. He loved you because of what was in Himself. But the Father loves you because of what is in you. He has found something in you in which His heart has unbounded delight. What is it? Nothing but the little spark of love for His Son, which He has kindled there for Himself… and the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Him, and have believed that He came from God.
Summary
- Source. The reason for God's love is in God. "He loved because He loved" — no merit in us called it out, and none can call it off.
- Timing. The choice was made before we existed, and the love was active before there was any movement of our hearts toward Him.
- Proof. Love caused the cross; the cross did not cause the love. Calvary is where an eternal love became visible to sinners and enemies.
- Measure. The Father's love for His Son is the measure of His love for us — a standard we would never dare invent for ourselves.
- Response. Because the source is His and not ours, the love it produces in us is a fruit, not a cause: "We love because He first loved us."