God is Love

Recently I saw that the band Chicago would be playing a show in Missoula this coming September. My mind instantly traveled back to the numerous love songs they released in the eighties and nineties that made my heart swoon imagining that kind of love. Although the group started out with a different sound in the sixties, love ballads became their thing in the eighties. I was trying to figure out how to convince my husband to go with me, but alas, the cheap tickets are almost two hundred dollars each.

Love songs have been a dominant theme in music, with one study in 2018 determining that 67% of Top 40 songs between 1960 and 2010 focused on romantic relationships. I queried how many love songs had been recorded since 1970, and the result suggested over 100 million love songs throughout history, with a significant surge since 1970. Interestingly, another AI statistic stated there was a decrease of roughly 70% in songs with love in the title from 1980 to 2010. Love songs span the genres of rock, pop, country, and soul music, and the topics of waiting for love, falling in love, troubles in love, breaking up, and general negative feelings about love. Some are sweet. Some are not. Some shouldn’t be allowed on the air.

I would dare say that only a handful of love songs reflect love within marriage, a lasting marriage, or a Biblical view of marriage. Thankfully, hit love songs are not our only or the best way to define and understand love. 1 John 4:8 tells us: “God is love.” Since God is love, any effort to define, understand, or love God or another should be rooted in God and His Word.

Love is God’s nature. It is necessary to who He is as we read in 1 John 4:8 and observe in Exodus when God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands” (Exodus 34:6-7a).

We know that God is triune. Although it may sound strange to our human ears, God’s love is first towards Himself. Love naturally and necessarily exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God’s love is defined by the relationships among the Trinity, not by God’s relationships with mankind.

Both at Jesus’ baptism and the transfiguration, the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5).

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand” (John 3:35).

“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing…” (John 5:20, see also John 17:23-26).

Likewise, Jesus, the Son, loves the Father: “But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father…” (John 14:31a).

God is love, and the members of the Trinity necessarily love each other because this is God’s nature. Mark Jones describes God’s love in this way: “An affection, a love that arises inwardly and extends outward. His love in not a passion, as if something causes God to love. His love to others is caused by himself.”^[1]

You may be aware that there are two Greek words for love used in the New Testament – philia (a brotherly love or friendship) and agape (typically used of God’s love or the love between believers). We tend to get caught up in the word agape, but we would be wise to follow John Frame’s direction:

“The self-giving nature of God’s love is not found so much in the word agapē as in the teaching of Scripture about God’s love. The main reason, I think, that the New Testament writers chose the unusual word agapē to refer to God’s love is that the Septuagint translators used this word to translate the Hebrew ahavah.Therefore, the New Testament use of agapē reiterates and expands the concept of the love of God in the Old Testament. Its nuances, therefore, are best discovered through Bible study, rather than a study of Greek lexical stock.”^[2] 

With that in mind, let’s consider seven specific aspects of God’s nature of love^[3] that extend outward. We began this study back in September with “God is Simple” – all of His attributes, all of the time. Most of the seven aspects are one of God’s attributes or related to an attribute.

1.    God’s love is uncaused. Human love whether for another person or something in creation is caused, meaning there is something beautiful or pleasing about the object of our love. I can tell you many reasons why I love my husband. He makes me laugh. He’s patient with me. He challenges me to grow. He supports me. We can talk about anything. He travels with me. He works hard to provide for us, and my list could go on. These are causes for me to love him.

A good share of the time, we operate as if we are loveable. We are not amazed by God’s love towards us in the day-to-day, but let’s peer into who we were apart from Christ.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:8, 10). Paul says God showed us His love while we were still sinners and His enemies. We will come back to how He showed this love in a bit.

Let’s look at Ephesians 2:1-5: “¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

“²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:21-22).

We went through this in “God is Gracious”, but it is good for us spend time in these two passages again. What descriptions do you see of who we were apart from Christ? Dead in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world and Satan, living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and mind, children of wrath destined for hell, alienated, hostile in mind, and doing evil deeds. Everything that should repel a holy God.

Do you think anything about that kind of person would cause you to love them? What would cause a holy God to choose to love His enemies, sinners, rebellious people following Satan?

Verse 4 gives us the answer: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us.” This is where Mark Jones’ description of God’s love is anchored. The cause of God’s love is not in us. It is in Himself. Because His nature is rich in mercy and great love, He loves us.

As Moses was giving the Law to the Israelites, God through Moses reminded them: “⁷It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

Israel had done nothing deserving of God’s love. For that matter, when God called Abram and promised to make a great nation from him and bless him, Abram hadn’t done anything (Genesis 12:1).

John states it simply in his first epistle: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God didn’t love us because we loved Him. He set His love on us first.

This is humbling. Almighty, holy God, out of His own nature, sets His love on us.

2.    God’s love is eternal. God is eternal. God is love. Since these are both true, then God’s love is eternal.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God declared to Israel: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3b). Note the connection between God’s eternal love and His faithfulness.

Paul wrote to the Ephesian church: “⁴Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). From before the foundation of the world… in love, God predestined us for adoption.

The theological reality of God’s eternal love is deeply comforting. Because God’s love is eternal, it is not subject to time. God loved us even before He created the world, and His love will never end.

3.    God’s love is sovereign. We know God is sovereign, but how is His love sovereign?

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). We already read Ephesians 1:5 that God chose and predestined us in love according to the purpose of His will.

I know I may step on some toes here, but we need to prayerfully weigh what Scripture says. If God does all that he pleases, He can set His love on whom He pleases. Before we go further, remember, we all deserve hell. None of us are deserving of God’s love. God is God, and He has all authority to place His love on whom He chooses.

We should also remember God’s words through Isaiah: “⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are  my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

There is a vast difference between God’s wisdom and our finite understanding. There are things we will not understand this side of heaven like why God said: “²’I have loved you,’ says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob ³but Esau I have hated’” (Malachi 1:2-3b, see also Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:13).

Jacob’s name means deceiver, and he lived up to that name. But God, in His sovereignty, chose to set His love on Jacob not on Esau. The nation God promised to bring from Abraham was to come through Jacob, the younger son not the older.

We don’t have time to dive too deep into this, but there are pages written about the scope or degrees of “one and the same love” God shows towards the world. Some attribute it to God’s goodness not His love, but God’s love and goodness are closely connected as we will see in the next lesson. Nothing He has done, is doing, or ever will do is apart from His nature of love.

Other theologians split it into three degrees or expressions. We will briefly look at it now, but I will put a more in-depth explanation at the end of your notes for you to look at later.

a)     God’s shows love toward all things in creation. “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9). God created this world and everything in it. It is natural for God to have a degree of love for His creation. Although, the word love is not in this verse it is linked with His goodness.

b)    God has a degree of love toward all mankind, the elect and the unbeliever. “⁴³You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45).

Jesus instructs us to love even our enemies, so that we may be sons/daughters of our heavenly Father. It stands to reason, then, that the Father has a degree of love for the unbeliever. Jesus goes on to say that God shows goodness and love to the believer and unbeliever in that they both are recipients of the sun and the rain. When we want to squirm at the thought of God setting His love on the elect, we should be grateful for the ways God does show love to even those who are evil and unjust (Psalm 145:9 and Matthew 5:43-35 above).

c)     God sets a special love on His people. We saw this already in the example of Jacob. The love God set on Jacob is related to the special love He set on Israel: “’For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10).

In Romans, we have a beautiful picture of God’s love for those in Christ: “³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword?... ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor ruler, nor things present nor things to come, nor power, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39).

You may need to prayerfully, humbly chew on God’s sovereign love for a bit. Even when we don’t understand, we can trust that God’s Word is true. We can be grateful that God shows degrees of His one and same love to all, and we can be grateful for the special love that He sets on His people.

4.    God’s love is infinite. It is without limit. It endures beyond time. It will not cease. He doesn’t have a storage of love that can run out. He doesn’t give us an allotted quota of love each day that we could use up.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4, emphasis added). God’s love towards us is great.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, emphasis added). In both John and Ephesians, the words so and greatindicate a love that cannot be estimated.

Returning to Ephesians, Paul prays for the Ephesians: “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Mankind will all too quickly and easily “end” love with another person. People walk away from a spouse, their children, family members, or friends because love has died. I dare say it is most likely because of selfishness. In contrast, God’s love will never end. God is self-giving not selfish. God’s love towards us is caused by His own nature not by our merit, thus it can be and is infinite.

5.    God’s love is immutable. It doesn’t change, fluctuate, or diminish. It’s constant. If we think back to Jacob, there were many ways, particularly in his earlier years, that he sinned and didn’t follow after God, but his sin did not change the love with which God loved him. David is another example. God didn’t abandon David or His covenant to David even after David sinned with Bathsheba, and killed Uriah, sacrificing other soldiers in the process.

Jesus knew that one disciple would betray him. One would deny him. One would doubt. All would dessert Him. But Jesus immutable love displayed itself in washing the disciple’s feet (John 13:1).

Because God’s love is immutable, there is nothing those in Christ can ever do to make God love them more, and there is no sin we can commit that could ever make Him love us less.

6.    God’s love is holy. A.W. Pink explains: “God’s love is not regulated by whim, passion, or sentiment, but by principle.”^[4] God’s love towards those in Christ does not mean He overlooks their sin. God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). Psalm 94:12 says: “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord.” Even God’s discipline of His children is an expression of His love.

The truth that God’s love is holy is where we most clearly see the “how” of God’s love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:21-22).

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

God’s greatest demonstration of love towards us was that He sent Jesus to suffer and die in our place, for our sins. Jesus willingly suffered and died in our place because He loved us. It is just for a holy God to punish sin, but that punishment and God’s wrath isn’t poured out on those who by faith are in Christ. The punishment for our sin and His wrath were poured out on Jesus because God loved us. The love of the Father and Son was sacrificial. It was costly. It is holy.

7.    God’s love is gracious. It gives. Like God’s goodness, His grace is also closely connected to His love. Consider John 3:16 again. God loved, so He gave. God loves His children, so He gave the Holy Spirit to indwell believers. He’s given us His Word. He’s given us forgiveness, new life, eternal life, adoption, peace with God, other believers, and every spiritual blessing.

These seven aspects are a good overview of God’s love. Although we cannot cover every nuance of God’s love in one session, there are a couple more thoughts I want to add before we move to application.

John Frame, in his book The Doctrine of God: A Theology of Lordship Volume 2, quoted Jack Cottrell’s definition of God’s love: “his self-giving affection for his image-bearing creatures and his unselfish concern for their well-being, that leads him to act on their behalf and for their happiness and welfare.”^[5] This definition reflects many of the verses we have examined.

God’s love created us, redeemed us, and keeps us. For those in Christ, God loves us as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). As we saturate our minds with all we’ve contemplated about the love of God, we should be overwhelmed by it. We should be motivated to respond.

A.W. Pink observed: “How little real love there is for God [sadly evident everywhere among professing Christians]. One chief reason for this is that our hearts are so little occupied with His wondrous love for His people. The better we are acquainted with His love – its character, fullness, blessedness – the more our hearts will be drawn out in love to Him.”^[6]

Where do we go from here? When asked what the most important commandment was, Jesus answered: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Jesus helped us understand what it means to love God: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). We love by obeying Him. We obey in our thoughts, motivations, words, and actions. We don’t obey half-heartedly or when we feel like it. We obey for God’s glory. We obey with the freedom of knowing it is Jesus’ righteousness not our own that we stand in. God’s wondrous, undeserved love towards us deserves complete heart, soul, mind, and strength obedience.

Jesus tells us a second way we respond to God’s love toward us: “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31). We are to love others, including, as we noted earlier, our enemies. Our love towards unbelievers seeks to “win them… to the love of God in Christ.”^[7]

God didn’t give us only commands to love and a model in Jesus. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Christ’s love towards us, most clearly seen in His sacrificial atonement, controls us in the sense that it increasingly enables and motivates us to love other believers who have the same Spirit indwelling them that we do.

We love as God has loved us (John 13:34-35; 15:12). God chose to love us when we deserved hell. We make a choice to love others. Love might involve a feeling of affection, but as we’ve seen with God’s love, it primarily involves action. God’s love gave and served sacrificially. We are to love even when it is difficult, even when it is costly. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Love encompasses other commands of how we are to treat others: “¹²Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:12-14).

We see many of these same things in 1 Corinthians 13: “⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never ends” (vs 4-8a).

“⁹Let love be genuine… ¹⁰Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:9a, 10). Written in the context of the church, our love should be an authentic expression of goodwill.

We read these truths in Scripture, but how can we reflect God’s love specifically in our own lives, in our homes, with spouses, children, family, or roommates. We are to love other believers particularly those in our local church body. We also show love to unbelievers, seeking to win them to the love of God in Christ.

We love with our words. Proverbs 31:26 states that the godly woman “opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Are we speaking with kindness and humility? Are we patient with our words in that we aren’t dominating conversations or jumping in before we listen or consider our response? Are we rejoicing with others? Do our words build up and encourage? Are we speaking truth in love? Love won’t shirk from speaking truth, but it speaks truth in such a way as to encourage another to repentance and reconciliation.

My dad told me once that his parents never said “I love you” to him growing up. My dad was purposeful in regularly telling us he loved us, especially when saying good-bye. Yes, our actions should demonstrate our love, but we shouldn’t neglect the words. If you are married, when was the last time you told your husband you loved him? Wives may find it easier to tell their children these three words than their husband. When was the last time you told your parents, a sibling, or other family member you loved them? It may feel uncomfortable to say it to a friend, but Jesus verbally expressed His love. We should too.

We love faithfully. We don’t withdraw or walk away when things get messy or hard. We keep loving even when we are weary.

We reflect God’s love when we are quick both to repent and forgive.

We love with our actions. The two things that characterized Jesus’ loving actions were service and sacrifice. Proverbs 31:10-31 provides many examples of how a godly woman serves sacrificially. She does good to her husband, and he trusts her (vs 11-12). She provides food and clothing for her household and looks well to the ways of her household (vs 15, 21, 27).

The godly woman of Proverbs also loves beyond her household: “She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy” (vs 20). From Proverbs 31, we learn principles of a godly woman who loves her family and others in practical ways. Her love isn’t self-centered. It isn’t even people-centered but God-centered (vs 30). Because she is sacrificially loved by God, she can love by giving sacrificially of her time and talents, getting up early, staying up late, and not being idle (vs 15, 18, 27).

We love God and others because God has first loved us, without cause, eternally, sovereignly, infinitely, immutably, graciously, sacrificially.

Reflection Questions

1.    Do you live as though God’s love for you is constant, or do you treat it as something that rises and falls with your performance? What truth can you trust and obey instead?

2.    How does the eternal, sovereign, infinite, and immutable nature of God’s love strengthen your faith during seasons of suffering or uncertainty?

3.    In what specific situations do you struggle to serve with joy, and what desires might be ruling you in those moments?

4.    How does meditating on Christ’s sacrificial love for you reshape the way you love your spouse, family, church family, co-workers, or neighbors today? What is one specific thing you can say or do this week to show Christ’s love.

For Further Study

1.    When you feel unloved or unappreciated, how do you typically respond—and what does that reveal about what you are seeking? What truth do you need to trust and obey instead?

2.    Are your words in the home more often life-giving or critical? What does this say about your heart? How will you cultivate speaking words that build up?

3.    Where is God calling you to persevere in love right now, even when it is costly?

4.    Read 1 Corinthians 13. Use the attached sheet to help you meditate on, trust, and obey what you learn. Go slowly through one or two at a time, so you can actually put them into practice in specific ways.

5.    Pray Ephesians 3:14-19 for yourself and someone else. Text her how you prayed for her as an encouragement.

6.    Read the lyrics or listen to: “Magnificent, Marvelous, Matchless Love” and “My Savior’s Love (What Tongue Could Tell)” by Matt Boswell & Matt Papa, “At the Cross (Love Ran Red) by Chris Tomlin, “Greatest Love I’ve Ever Known”, “How Awesome is Your Love”, “Jesus Loves Me”, “Psalm 90 (Satisfy Us With Your Love)” and “Steadfast Love” by Shane & Shane, “The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” (hymn), “Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)” by Phillips, Craig & Dean, “How Great is Your Love” by Mercy Me, or “Jesus Lover of My Soul” by Chris Eaton“

Appendix A – Three Degrees of One and the Same Love

“A threefold love of God is commonly held; or rather there are three degrees of one and the same love. First, there is the love of benevolence by which God willed good to the creature from eternity; second, the love of beneficence by which he does good to the creature in time according to his good will; third, the love of complacency by which he delights himself in the creature on account of the rays of his image seen in them. The two former precede every act of the creature; the latter follows (not as an effect its cause, but as a consequent its antecedent). By the love of benevolence, he loved us before we were; by the love of beneficence he loves us as we are; and by the love of complacency, he loves us when we are (viz., renewed after his image). By the first, he elects us; by the second, he redeems and sanctifies us; but by the third, he gratuitously rewards us as holy and just. John 3:16 refers to the first; Ephesians 5:25 and Revelation 1:5 to the second; Isaiah 62:3 and Hebrews 11:6 to the third.”^[8]

Appendix B – Love is… (Excerpts taken from Ligonier Ministries, learn.ligonier.org)

Patient	God is patient means He is not quick to anger. He delays for a time carrying out the punishment sinners deserve often to give them time to repent (in the story of Jonah). For us, we will not be quick to anger, but quick to forgive. Trust God in the waiting.
Kind	Kindness does not respond to maltreatment with maltreatment. Opposite of rude, mean, being harsh.
Doesn’t envy	Love that does not envy refuses to be jealous of others who are blessed in ways that we are not. It is content with the Lord’s provision in any circumstance.
Doesn’t boast	Love does not call attention to itself or seek the acclaim of others.
Not arrogant	Arrogance goes one step further than boasting and promotes an inflated view of one’s self, exaggerating accomplishments. Love is humble.
Not rude	Love observes proper manners and enables people to understand their place, to know when to act and when to do nothing, to understand when to speak and when to remain silent. Doesn’t stick your nose into other’s business. Doesn’t gossip.
Doesn’t insist on own way	Selfishness
Not irritable	Overlaps with patience. love trains us to keep our anger in check and to respond appropriately to the various annoyances and frustrations that attend life in a fallen world.
Not resentful	Doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. Love is quick to forgive and forget, not in the sense that the wrongs we have suffered pass away completely from our minds but that we no longer hold them against those whom we have forgiven.
Doesn’t rejoice with wrong but with truth	First, love does not approve of moral evil, and it does not find joy in inflicting harm on others. Not finding happiness in condemning others. Second, love celebrates God’s moral law and the full truth of the gospel, being ready to speak against sin but also to show mercy where the Lord shows mercy.
Bears all things	(Matthew Henry) love “will pass by and put up with injuries, without indulging anger or cherishing revenge, will be patient upon provocation, and long patient.” Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). In the present.
Believes all things	The sense here seems to be that love is not unduly suspicious of others. It does not question motivations or assume the worst about people unless there is good reason to do so. Love believes the best about others. In the present.
Hopes all things	Future orientation. we never stop hoping for the conversion of those who have not yet died. We do not cease praying for the Lord to bring them to faith or to return a formerly professing but backslidden Christian to the church. Love makes us into believers who never stop praying for others.
Endures all things	Perseveres in seeking the good of an enemy. It does not mean putting up with grievous sin or even failing to bring people to justice when it is deserved, but it does mean continuing to long for their transformation into citizens of heaven even when they have caused us to suffer greatly.

^[1] Jones, Mark. God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 127.

^[2] Frame, John. The Doctrine of God: A Theology of Lordship Volume 2 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 415.

^[3] Pink, A.W. The Attributes of GOD In Modern English. (Dolores Kimball, 2020), 96-100.

^[4] Pink, A.W. The Attributes of GOD In Modern English. (Dolores Kimball, 2020), 100.

^[5] Frame, John. The Doctrine of God: A Theology of Lordship Volume 2 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 414.

^[6] Pink, A.W. The Attributes of GOD In Modern English. (Dolores Kimball, 2020), 96.

^[7] Jones, Mark. God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 132.

^[8] Turretin, Francis. Institutes of Elenctic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992), 1.242. Cited in Frame, John. The Doctrine of God: A Theology of Lordship Volume 2 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 415-416.