Love To God

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

To serve and obey God on the conviction that it is right to serve and obey him, is in Christianity joined with that love to God which gives life and animation to service, and renders it the means of exalting our pleasures, at the same time that it accords with our convictions. The supreme love of God is the chief, therefore, of what have sometimes been called our theopathetic affections. It is the sum and the end of the law; and though it has been lost by us in Adam, it is restored to us by Christ. When it regards God absolutely, and in himself, as a Being of infinite and harmonious perfections and moral beauties, it is that movement of the soul toward him which is produced by admiration, approval, and delight. When it regards him relatively, it fixes upon the ceaseless emanations of his goodness to us all in the continuance of the existence which he at first bestowed; the circumstances which render that existence felicitous; and, above all, upon that "great love wherewith he loved us," manifested in the gift of his Son for our redemption, and in saving us by his grace; or, in the forcible language of St. Paul, upon "the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us through Christ Jesus." Under all these views an unbounded gratitude overflows the heart which is influenced by this spiritual affection. But the love of God is more than a sentiment of gratitude: it rejoices in his perfections and glories, and devoutly contemplates them as the highest and most interesting subjects of thought; it keeps the idea of this supremely beloved object constantly present to the mind; it turns to it with adoring ardour from the business and distractions of life; it connects it with every scene of majesty and beauty in nature, and with every event of general and particular providence; it brings the soul into fellowship with God, real and sensible, because vital; it moulds the other affections into conformity with what God himself wills or prohibits, loves or hates; it produces an unbounded desire to please him, and to be accepted of him in all things; it is jealous of his honour, unwearied in his service, quick to prompt to every sacrifice in the cause of truth and his church; and it renders all such sacrifices, even when carried to the extent of suffering and death, unreluctant and cheerful. It chooses God as the chief good of the soul, the enjoyment of which assures its perfect and eternal interest and happiness: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee," is the language of every heart, when its love of God is true in principle and supreme in degree.

If, then, the will of God is the perfect rule of morals; and if supreme and perfect love to God must produce a prompt and unwearied, a delightful subjection to his will, or rather an entire and most free choice of it as the rule of all our principles, affections, and actions; the importance of this affection in securing that obedience to the law of God in which true morality consists, is manifest; and we clearly perceive the reason why an inspired writer has affirmed, that "love is the fulfilling of the law." The necessity of keeping this subject before us under those views in which it is placed in the Christian system, and of not surrendering it to mere philosophy, is, however, an important consideration. With the philosopher the love of God may be the mere approval of the intellect; or a sentiment which results from the contemplation of infinite perfection, manifesting itself in acts of power and goodness. In the Scriptures it is much more than either, and is produced and maintained by a different process. We are there taught that "the carnal mind is enmity to God," and is not, of course, capable of loving God. Yet this carnal mind may consist with deep attainments in philosophy, and with strongly impassioned poetic sentiment. The mere approval of the understanding, and the susceptibility of being impressed with feelings of admiration, awe, and even pleasure, when the character of God is manifested in his works, as both may be found in the carnal mind which is enmity to God, are not therefore the love of God. They are principles which enter into that love, since it cannot exist without them; but they may exist without this affection itself, and be found in a vicious and unchanged nature. The love of God is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; that is, it is implanted by him only in the souls which he has regenerated; and as that which excites its exercise is chiefly, and in the first place, a sense of the benefits bestowed by the grace of God in our redemption, and a well grounded persuasion of our personal interest in those benefits, it necessarily presupposes our reconciliation to God through faith in the atonement of Christ, and that attestation of it to the heart by the Spirit of adoption. We here see, then, another proof of the necessary connection of Christian morals with Christian doctrine, and how imperfect and deceptive every system must be which separates them. Love is essential to true obedience; for when the Apostle declares love to be "the fulfilling of the law," he declares, in effect, that the law cannot be fulfilled without love; and that every action which has not this for its principle, however virtuous in its show, fails of accomplishing the precepts which are obligatory upon us. But this love to God cannot be felt so long as we are sensible of his wrath, and are in dread of his judgments. These feelings are incompatible with each other, and we must be assured of his reconciliation to us, before we are capable of loving him. Thus the very existence of love to God implies the doctrines of atonement, repentance, faith, and the gift of the Spirit of adoption to believers; and unless it be taught in this connection, and through this process of experience, it will be exhibited only as a bright and beauteous object to which man has no access; or a fictitious and imitative sentimentalism will be substitute d for it, to the delusion of the souls of men.

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

Is a divine principle implanted in the mind by the Holy Spirit, whereby we reverence, esteem, desire, and delight in Him as the chief good. It includes a knowledge of his natural excellences,  Psalms 8:1 . and a consideration of his goodness to us,  1 John 4:19 . Nor can these two ideas, I think, be well separated; for, however some may argue that genuine love to God should arise only from a sense of his amiableness, yet I think it will be difficult to conceive how it can exist, abstracted from the idea of his relative goodness. The passage last referred to is to the point, and the representations given us of the praises of the saints in heaven accord with the same sentiment: "Thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed us by thy blood, "  Revelation 5:9 .

See SELF-LOVE. "Love to God is a subject, " says bishop Porteus, "which concerns us to inquire carefully into the true nature of. And it concerns us the more, because it has been unhappily brought into disrepute by the extravagant conceits of a few devout enthusiasts concerning it. Of these, some have treated the love of God in so refined a way, and carried it to such heights of seraphic ecstacy and rapture, that common minds must for ever despair of either following or understanding them; whilst others have described it in such warm and indelicate terms as are much better suited to the grossness of earthly passion than the purity of spiritual affection. "But the accidental excesses of this holy sentiment can be no just argument against its general excellence and utility.

"We know that even friendship itself has sometimes been abused to the most unworthy purposes, and led men to the commission of the most atrocious crimes. Shall we, therefore, utterly discard that generous passion, and consider it as nothing more than the unnatural fervour of a romantic imagination? Every heart revolts against so wild a thought! and why, then, must we suffer the lover of God to be banished out of the world, because it has been sometimes improperly represented or indiscreetly exercised? It is not either from the visionary mystic, the sensual fanatic, or the frantic zealot, but from the plain word of God, that we are to take our ideas of this divine sentiment. There we find it described in all its native purity and simplicity. The marks by which it is there distinguished contain nothing enthusiastic or extravagant." It may be considered,

1. As sincere,  Matthew 22:36;  Matthew 22:38 .

2. Constant,  Romans 8:1-39 :

3. Universal of all his attributes, commandments, ordinances, &c.

4. Progressive,  1 Thessalonians 5:12 .  2 Thessalonians 1:3 .  Ephesians 3:19 .

5. Superlative,  Lamentations 3:24 .

6. Eternal,  Romans 8:1-39 : This love manifests itself,

1. In a desire to be like God.

2. In making his glory the supreme end of our actions,  1 Corinthians 11:31 .

3. In delighting in communion with him,  1 John 1:3 .

4. In grief under the hidings of his face,  Job 23:2 .

5. In relinquishing all that stands in opposition to his will,  Philippians 3:8 .

6. In regard to his house, worship and ordinances,  Psalms 84:1-12 :

7. In love for his truth and people,  Psalms 119:1-176 :   John 13:35 .

8. By confidence in his promises,  Psalms 71:1 .

And, lastly, by obedience to his word,  John 14:15 .  1 John 2:3 . Gill's Body of Div. p. 94. vol. 3: 8vo. Watts's Discourses on Love to God; Scott's Serm. ser. 14; Bellamy on Religion, p. 2. and Signs of Counterfeit Love, p. 82; Bp. Porteus's Sermons, vol. 1: ser. 1.