Knowing the Love of God

Introduction

The central message of Christianity is that God is love and the central requirement for Christians is to live by love.[1] Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God” and the second is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mttw. 22:37-39) ESV). To live by love, it is necessary to understand God’s love. Man’s ability and capacity to love his neighbor is possible only in so far as and to the extent that it reflects the love of God which has been received.[2]The perfect example of love is witnessed within the person of Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate.[3] The outpouring of God’s love in Jesus "is the supreme revelation of agape, for in Jesus, God willingly took upon himself the pain and guilt of the human race for the sake of their salvation."[4] If Jesus is the supreme example of God’s love, then imitating his way of life is the most reasonable means of understanding how to love. Within the gospels, it is evident that at the heart of Jesus’s mental life was a consistent, deep knowing of God’s love. He carried within Himself a constant awareness that he was beloved.[5] Therefore, to imitate Jesus and become more like love, it is essential that our knowing of God’s love becomes increasingly more accurate, constant, confident, and meaningful.[6]

The thesis of this paper is that knowing the love of God must be achieved through both knowledge and experience of God’s love. Two sections will be included to communicate this point. The first section will delineate and elucidate the love of God. The Scriptures declare that God’s ways are “higher than our ways” and his thoughts are “higher than our thoughts” (Isa. 55:8 ESV). How is God’s love higher than our love? The second section will evaluate knowledge and experience as means of knowing God’s love.

God’s Love

The aim of this section is to describe the love of God as comprehensively as is possible for a paper of this size. To achieve this objective this section will be divided into four parts. The first part will discuss agape in contrast to eros, the second part will be an analysis of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, the third will discuss the love of God within the parable of the prodigal son, and the fourth will discuss the love of God within the actions of Christ at the cross.

Agape and Eros

            When the Scriptures declare that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8), the Greek word being used is ἀγάπη (agape).[7] Anders Nygren has provided one of the most robust treatments of agape wherein he suggests that there are four key characteristics of divine agape.[8] The first characteristic is that agape is spontaneous and uncaused, which means that there is no quality or worth intrinsic within the object of God’s love that would evoke agape.[9] Secondly, agape is completely indifferent to human merit, which means God does not love a sinner because of his/her sin, and He does not love a righteous person because of his/her righteousness.[10] Thirdly, agape creates value within its object, which causes the recipient of agape to become a new creature in virtue of the gift.[11] Lastly, agape opens a way for fellowship with God, and without agape, this fellowship would be unattainable. It is therefore God who takes initiative in agape in creating His own way to mankind.[12] This description of agape serves as an adequate backdrop to further delineate the intricacies of God’s agape by contrasting it with the eros form of love.

Eros love is a desire which is most clearly observed within sexual desire, however, it can also reside within an artist’s love and desire for beauty.[13] Its distinguishing characteristic is a reaching out from need and craving.[14] Plato made a distinction between “vulgar eros” and “heavenly eros” where vulgar eros is relegated to the world of sense and sensation while heavenly eros uses the physical as a springboard to launch into the superior realm of the spirit.[15] Within his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis describes how eros is “noblest” or “purest” when vulgar eros has been reduced to a minimum.[16] This somewhat “pure” component of eros needs to be established,[17] because, as Colin Grant observes, the traditional Christian understanding of love has often failed to adequately value the “embodied human experience of love among friends and sexual partners because it assumes the negative, dangerous, and non-spiritual character of sensual erotic, and sexual feelings, and expressions.”[18]

As a desire, eros is constantly in need of another to inflame and provoke it, whereas agape is fundamentally different in needing neither provocation or completion.[19] The dissimilarity between agape and eros is described in further detail by Donald Bloesch.

Eros is the desire to possess and to enjoy; agape is the willingness to serve without reservations. Eros is an ascending love that proceeds from the earthly to the heavenly. Agape is a descending love that proceeds from the heavenly to the sinful. Eros is attracted to that which has the greatest value; agape goes out to the least worthy. Eros discovers value whereas agape creates value. Agape is the overflowing abundance of divine grace.[20]

It is reasonable to assume that genuine reflection upon this description of agape and eros would cause any honest human to locate their primary modality of loving further within the camp of eros than agape. This quote communicates the massive dissimilarity between agape love and eros love, and concomitantly, the dissimilarity between God’s love and human love.

It is important to distinguish how in contrast to eros, agape is a free choice and not a feeling. Eros love arises from an appetite within and is imposed upon the will rather than freely created. It is like a wave that washes over someone and carries them to a place that was not of their choosing. [21] Agape, however, is free, it is not a feeling but rather a choice.[22] If anyone believes that they are in love with love, then that love cannot be agape, because the object of agape is not agape but rather a person.[23] The reality that agape is not a feeling is fundamental to a proper understanding of God’s love. If God is agape (1 Jn. 4:8; 1 Cor. 13), and agape is not a feeling; then God is not a feeling.[24] Peter Kreeft communicates this powerfully.

Feelings come to us; agape comes from us. Feelings are passive and receptive. Agape is active and creative. Feelings are instinctive, agape is chosen. We are not responsible for our feelings, for we cannot help how we feel. But we are responsible for our agape or lack of it because our choice to love comes not from wind, weather, digestion, good vibrations, heredity, or environment, but from our own heart, the center of our being. We fall in love, but we do not fall in agape. We rise in agape.[25]

Considering how human love is often swayed by emotion, it can be easy to project this emotional form of love onto God in assuming that God is emotional in His love.[26] However to assume that God’s love is emotional is untrue. It is necessary, therefore, to comprehend that God’s love is unmoved by emotion, and fundamentally dissimilar to eros. This eliminates the potential of projecting an emotional form of love onto God.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

            To further understand what the Bible says about God’s love, a brief analysis of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 will prove helpful, as this provides the most robust Scriptural description of God’s love.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.[27]

In the verses directly preceding this passage, the apostle Paul describes the surpassing value of agape, and how it is to be valued above supernatural gifts, prophecy, understanding, faith, and works.[28] Within this passage, Paul provides the description of agape, which can identify and distinguish it from counterfeit forms of love. It is here that Paul provides much more than simply a philosophical definition, instead of defining agape he describes it by providing fifteen concrete and identifiable attributes of it.[29] The application of the philosophical tool modus ponens can unveil a potent reality of these attributes. To properly communicate this argument, this portion of the paper will switch to first person.

1.     If God is love and God loves me, then the attributes of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 are a description of the way in which I am loved by God.

2.     God is love and God loves me.

3.     Therefore, the attributes of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 are a description of the way in which I am loved by God.

The premise that God is love is supported by 1 John 4:8 which says, “God is love”. The second premise that God loves me is supported by the following verses in Scripture (Jn. 3:16; Jn 17:26; Rom 5:8; 1 Jn: 4:16). Since God is love, and God loves me, the attributes of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 must be the way in which God loves me. This passage can therefore be used as a paradigm for understanding the outflowing of God’s love towards me! With this logic, this passage on love can be interpreted as being fully directed towards me. God is patient and kind towards me, He does not envy or boast with me, He is not arrogant or rude when speaking to me, He is not irritable or resentful towards me, He does not rejoice at my wrongdoings but rejoices with that which is true within me. God bears all things for/with me, believes all things about me, hopes all things for me, and endures/endured all things for/with me. If Jesus carried a deep sense of knowing God’s love with Him throughout His entire life,[30] then having this paradigm of God’s love towards me engrained deep within my heart is a way of imitating the life of Jesus.

The Prodigal Son

            In his treatment of agape, Nygren considered the parable of the Prodigal Son to be a parable of divine agape.[31]Therefore, an analysis of this parable will yield deeper insights into the marvelous mystery of God’s agape. This parable is commonly known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. However, in his book Prodigal God, Tim Keller astutely observes that this parable could also be titled the Prodigal Father.

The word “prodigal” does not mean “wayward” but, according to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “recklessly spendthrift.” It means to spend until you have nothing left. This term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as his younger son. The father’s welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to “reckon” or count his sin against him or demand repayment.[32]

In reflection on the love of the father (who is representative of God the Father) towards the younger son, the most obvious aspect of the father’s love is his desire to recklessly give it away. When the younger son comes to the father at the beginning of the parable and says, “father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me” (Lk:15:12 ESV), what he was really insinuating was that he wished his father was dead, which was an incredible sign of disrespect.[33] Despite the impudence of this action, the father “divided his property between them” (v.12 ESV). In this action, the father underwent a tremendous loss of honour while also enduring the pain of rejected love.[34]  In this act, the father is “not insisting on his own way” (1 Cor. 13:5 ESV), the father also had to “bear” the grief of a son who wishes him dead, while also “enduring” the shame and dishonor that his son would have caused him within society. In these ways the father was embodying love as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

            The love displayed by the father at the return of the younger son is even more remarkable than the premature bestowing of the inheritance. When the younger son comes home, after having squandered his wealth, the father saw him from afar and “felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Lk. 15:20 ESV). It was a general rule within the Middle Eastern context that patriarchs did not run. The father’s willingness to run to his son was a shameless display of the father’s heart for his boy.[35] When the father calls for the best robe, this would have been one of his own robes, and it would signify that the son had been fully restored to the family as a son, not a servant.[36] The father then kills the fattened calf so they can “eat and celebrate” (v.23 ESV). The father’s generosity in this moment is a reckless display of agape love for his son. These actions reveal how God loves to lavish his love upon His children. It reveals how there is no number of stupid decisions a sinner can make that will cause God to reject that sinner if they should choose to return to Him. God’s love is truly spontaneous and unmerited, and God creates/restores value and dignity to the object of His love.[37]

            The father’s treatment of the elder son in the parable shows a different angle of God’s love. The father does not run out and embrace the elder son, but he “entreated him” to come into the feast. This reveals how agape interacts with people differently depending on how they need to be loved. The father loved the elder son just as much as the younger son, but He interacted with him much differently because that was what agape required. The elder son was representative of the pharisees.[38] In observing how Jesus interacted with the pharisees, he was often incredibly harsh with them, because, as Kreeft notes, “to give kindness when harshness is needed is no more agape than to give harshness when kindness is needed, for agape means going by the needs of the other, it was Jesus agape for the Pharisees that made Him harsh to them.”[39] This aspect of agape is modelled by the father in His differential treatment of His two sons. God’s agape is poured out differently to each person depending on what is required in that moment. Above all, the actions of the father in this parable reveal just how countercultural and otherworldly the agape love of God the Father is towards sinners.

The Cross of Christ

            To further understand God’s immense love, it is worthwhile to examine the most powerful display of His love, which is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things (1 Cor. 13:7 ESV). Jesus accomplished this at the cross. He bears all things, like Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders,[40] and Jesus not only bears His own cross, but he bears the cross of the entire world at calvary.[41] The crucifixion of Jesus is truly the supreme display of the love of God to the world.

The second of Nygren’s four characteristics of agape was that it is indifferent to human merit, which meant it takes no account of a sinner’s sin or a righteous person’s righteousness.[42] God’s love is extended to everyone, even those who don’t deserve it. Divine agape is opposed to all rational calculation.[43] This quality of God’s love is displayed in that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8 ESV). There was nothing that sinful humanity accomplished to merit the love of Jesus, if anything, the actions of sinners in betraying, accusing, beating, whipping, rejecting and crucifying Jesus should have elicited a vengeful, angry response. Jesus’ willingness to endure this suffering and injustice is proof that God’s love is unwavering towards sinners. There is no sin that a sinner can commit which will cause cessation of God’s unrelenting agape towards that sinner. Agape truly keeps “no record of wrong” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV), as human worthiness is left entirely out of the reckoning.[44]

            Agape can also be observed in Jesus free choice to endure the cross. Agape is a free choice.[45] Before his betrayal, Jesus said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Mttw. 26:2). Jesus was fully aware of the imminent suffering of the cross. Despite this foreknowledge, the Scriptures say that Jesus “went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered” (John 18:1 ESV). The magnitude of this choice is conveyed powerfully by Joel Beeke.

Do the words He went out give you pause? If not, consider that Jesus went out, knowing that His disciples would abandon Him, knowing the bitter suffering that was required to make satisfaction for His people’s sins, and knowing the betrayal of Judas, His handpicked disciple – one of the twelve – had already negotiated with the Jewish authorities. Jesus went out, knowing that he would be whipped and beaten and spat upon, knowing that the hairs of His beard would be plucked out, and knowing that great nails would be driven through his hands and feet. Jesus went out, knowing how full and how bitter the cup was that He must drink, down to the dregs. He must be delivered into the hands of wicked men, be crucified, and abide for three dark hours under the wrath of God in the torments of hell itself, until at last He will give Himself up to the power of death itself. Knowing all this, He went out undaunted and strong in determination to finish the work he had been given to do in this world.[46]

Only agape could understand the immense suffering of the cross, and choose, to go out and endure what lay ahead. The reality that Jesus had to overcome his own will to make this decision only magnifies this choice. When Jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane, he said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will” (Mttw. 26:39 ESV). It is evident that Jesus’ desire, his will, was to avoid this immense suffering. It is therefore impossible for eros to have driven Jesus to the cross in this moment in gethsemane, for eros is driven by desire and it follows its own appetite.[47] Agape, however, “does not insist on its own way” (1 Cor. 13:5 ESV), a quality that is modelled by Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will in the garden of gethsemane. It is because Jesus is the living embodiment of love that He chose the cross. Understanding the magnitude of this action is fundamental in understanding the love with which Jesus/God loves every person.

            It is worth noting that while agape is what caused Jesus to choose the cross while in the garden of gethsemane, eros may have been present prior to this moment. In His high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus prayed “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given to me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17:24 ESV). Eros is defined as a desire,[48] and Jesus said that He “desired” for sinful people to be with Him in glory. The only way that this desire could be fulfilled was for Jesus to endure the cross. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross for “the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2 ESV). The only joy on the other side of the cross was the souls of those who would be purchased through His sacrificial death. C.S Lewis’ proposed that when the sexual desire is removed from eros, “within eros it is rather about the beloved.”[49] Within this depiction of eros, it is reasonable to suggest that Jesus possessed a certain degree of eros (desire) for his beloved (the world) which, in addition to agape, may have propelled him forward towards to the cross.

Knowing the Love of God

            Now that the love of God has been communicated. This section will focus on knowing the love of God. To achieve this objective, this section will include three parts. The first will discuss whether knowledge of God’s love should be intellectual or experiential, the second will examine knowing God’s love in Ephesians 3:14-19, and the third will discuss a potential inhibitor to knowing God’s love.

Knowledge or Experience

            Biblical authors have distinguished between propositional/factual knowledge from experiential/personal knowledge.[50] The classic proof text is within Job 42:5, where he says, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”[51] Within theology, revelation can be doctrinal, where doctrinal statements are derived from Scripture or unwritten tradition and disclosed in a set of statements such as “God is loving.”[52] However, this assertion does not deny the possibility of knowledge/information mediating the presence of God, or a transformational experience.[53]Theologians acknowledge, therefore, that revelation of God can occur within an individual experience.[54] George Tyrell communicates the need for experiential revelation succinctly.

That Christ died is a proposition whose meaning is clear to all; that He died for our sins is also apprehensible intellectually for most; but its divine sense is revealed only in the light of inward spiritual experience – of our own divine and religious life. The revelation lies not in the word or statement nor in the intellectual thought that it evokes; but in the interior experience of redemption through Christ which it occasions and by which it is interpreted.[55]

Tyrell recognizes that doctrinal propositions are necessary, and essential, but he also acknowledges that for a deeper revelation of a doctrinal truth to occur, there must also be a concomitant experience of that doctrine that engrains its reality firmly in the heart. It is possible to read a biblical text such as 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and have an intellectual understanding God’s love, but it is another thing altogether to have internalized those truths in such a way to carry a deep and settled sense of God’s love throughout the day.[56] It is therefore necessary to receive revelation of God’s love through knowledge and experience in order to comprehend the mystery of His love to our fullest capacity. The younger son in the parable of the prodigal son would have had head knowledge of his father’s love before leaving home. However, his understanding of this love would have become drastically deeper when he experienced his father running to him, embracing him, kissing him, placing a robe on his shoulders, and throwing a party for him to celebrate his return. Another analogy that can illustrate this point would be a child meeting a professional athlete who is his hero. This child would have read all the stats and information available about his hero, but all this head knowledge would dim in comparison to meeting and encountering this athlete in person. One last, salient analogy is that of a class which includes a lab component. Within the class, information is consumed about whatever topic is being discussed, but in lab, the student gets to experience that information within reality. It is experiential understanding of the information that allows the student to understand the topic in a much deeper way. In the same way, the knowledge of God’s love can be powerful, but it is the experience of God’s love that instills the deepest sense knowing.  

Ephesians 3:14-19

            In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul prays that the church might “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:19 ESV). A deeper look into this passage reveals what Paul means by “knowing”.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.[57]

Paul’s prayer in this passage is that the Ephesians might experience God’s love more fully. Earlier in the book, Paul had already communicated the propositional truth that God loved them (Eph. 1:4-5; Eph 2:4). Since they already knew about God’s love, within this passage Paul must have been praying for the Ephesians to experience God’s love more fully.[58]When Paul says he prays for the Ephesians to be rooted and grounded in God’s love, he is calling to mind the image of a plant rooted in soil, or a house grounded on a foundation. To be rooted and grounded can therefore be understood as experiential language, it is “to come to feel in our bones that God’s love is nourishing and dependable.”[59] It is clear, therefore, that understanding the love of God that “surpasses knowledge” cannot simply be an intellectual exercise, it must be personal knowledge. Paul wants the Ephesians to know and grasp the dimensions of the love of God within their own experience.[60] This is not to diminish the importance of intellectual knowledge, because in the earlier chapters, Paul ensured that the Ephesians had a proper intellectual understanding of God’s love, however, he also insists that there must be experiential knowledge of God’s love to understand the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ.

An Inhibitor to God’s Love

            It has been established that when attempting to know the love of God, this venture must be pursued through knowledge and experience. While in pursuit of this lofty endeavour, it is important to be aware of a potential inhibitor to knowing the love of God. This inhibition stems from projecting a flawed understanding of love onto God. Social projection can be defined as a process where people come to expect others to be like themselves or past experiences.[61]This is why the first section clarified that agape is not a feeling. It is common for people to associate love with a feeling in their own life, which could cause someone to project that way of loving onto God, which would inhibit one’s ability to accurately know and understand the love of God. Along these same lines, past relational experiences are a finite and imperfect analog of the love of God and at worst, radically contradictory to the reality of God’s agape.[62] When these experiences occur during the early stages of life, they can have a drastic effect on someone’s ability to comprehend the reality of God’s love.

Many psychologists have argued that the plasticity of the human brain in the first years of life make the relational patterns experienced in those early years dominant and recalcitrant to change. Is this not our experience of many Christians who know correct theology about God, who can recite biblical passages that affirm their correct theology, and who have heard sermon after sermon and sang worship song after worship song that accord with the same theology, but who nevertheless struggle to receive in their experience a deep and constant sense of the God of whom they believe and sing rightly.[63]

It is saddening how ones understanding of God’s unconditional love can be so affected by love that was modelled imperfectly by others. It is important to be aware of our innate propensity as humans to project onto God the imperfect love that has been experienced in relationships with other people. While it may take a great encounter with the love of God to overcome this obstacle, it is beneficial to fight this inhibition with the truth that “God’s ways are not our ways” (Isa. 55:8), and, therefore, God’s love is not our love.

Conclusion

            That God is love is the central tenet of Christianity.[64] Knowing the love of God and reflecting that love to others is the highest calling of a Christian. God’s love is fundamentally dissimilar to way the world loves. God’s love is agape, which is freely given as a free choice. It is not a feeling, or a desire. It is given to everyone and is entirely indifferent to human merit. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 provides a paradigm for understanding the outflowing of God’s love towards a sinner. However, God’s love will interact differently with someone depending on the needs of the beloved. When pursuing knowledge of God’s love, one must pursue both knowledge and experience to know God’s love to the fullness of human capacity. In pursuit of this noble end, it is crucial to be aware that projecting our own love, or love received from others onto God can be an inhibitor to accurately knowing the love of God.

Notes

[1] Grant, Colin. “For the Love of God: Agape.” The Journal of Religious Ethics 24, no. 1 (April 1, 1996), 3.

[2] Harrelson, Walter. “The Idea of Agape in the New Testament.” The Journal of Religion 31, no. 3 (1951), 169.

[3] For further discussion and a more comprehensive treatment on Jesus as God Incarnate, see Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate. Wheaton, Crossway, 2016.

[4] Bloesch, Donald G. God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love. United States of America, Inter Varsity Press, 1995, 146.

[5] Porter, Steve L. “Internalizing the Love of God: A Theological Psychology of Receiving and Resisting Love.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care17, no. 1 (May 2024), 26.

[6] Ibid.

[7] "G26 - agapē - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv)." Blue Letter Bible. Accessed 19 Dec 2024. 

[8] Harrelson, “Agape in New Testament”, 169.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid., 170.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Kreeft, Peter. The God Who Loves You: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition, 45.

[14] Grant, “For the Love of God”, 3-4.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Lewis, Clive Staples. "From: The Four Loves." Marriage, Families & Spirituality 4, no. 2 (1998), 62.

[17] The “pure” side of eros will be discussed in further detail within the part of the paper on The Cross of Christ.

[18] Grant, “For the Love of God”, 4.

[19] Thielicke, Helmut. The Evangelical Faith, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 2:179.

[20] Bloesch, God the Almighty, 146.

[21] Kreeft, The God Who Loves You, 45.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid., 51.

[24] Ibid., 47.

[25] Ibid., 46-47.

[26] Robbins, Jordan M., and Joachim I. Krueger. "Social projection to ingroups and outgroups: A review and meta-analysis." Personality and social psychology review 9, no. 1, 2005, 32.

[27] 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, ESV.

[28] Kreeft, The God Who Loves You, 72

[29] Ibid., 73.

[30] Porter, “Internalizing the Love of God”, 26.

[31] Harrelson, “Agape in the New Testament”, 170.

[32] Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. New York, Penguin Books, 2008, xix.

[33] Ibid., 20.

[34] Ibid., 23.

[35] Ibid., 25-26.

[36] Ibid.

[37] Harrelson, “Agape in New Testament”, 169.

[38] Keller, Prodigal God, 32.

[39] Kreeft, The God Who Loves You, 68.

[40] Ibid., 78.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Harrelson, “Agape in New Testament”, 169.

[43] Ibid.,170

[44] Ibid.

[45] Kreeft, The God Who Loves You, 45.

[46] Beeke, Joel R. “Gethsemane’s King-Lamb: A Sermon on John 18:7--8, 12--13a.” Puritan Reformed Journal 4, no. 1, 2012, 26.

[47] Kreeft, The God Who Loves You, 45.

[48] Ibid.

[49] Lewis, 4 Loves, 62.

[50] Porter, “Internalizing the Love of God, 28.

[51] Ibid.

[52] McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. Hoboken, Wiley, 2016, 137.

[53] Ibid., 138.

[54] Ibid., 139.

[55] Loome, Thomas Michael. “Revelation as Experience: An Unpublished Letter of George Tyrrell,” Heythrop Journal 12, no 2 (1971), 138.

[56] Porter, “Internalizing the Love of God, 33.

[57] Ephesians 3:14-19, ESV.

[58] Porter, “Internalizing the Love of God”, 28.

[59] Ibid., 29.

[60] Ibid.

[61] Robbins, "Social projection to ingroups and outgroups”, 32.

[62] Porter, “Internalizing the Love of God”, 34.

[63] Ibid.

[64] Grant, “For the Love of God”, 3.

References

Beeke, Joel R. “Gethsemane’s King-Lamb: A Sermon on John 18:7--8, 12--13a.” Puritan Reformed Journal 4, no. 1, 2012.

Bloesch, Donald G. God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love. United States of America, Inter Varsity Press, 1995.

Grant, Colin. “For the Love of God: Agape.” The Journal of Religious Ethics 24, no. 1 (April 1, 1996).

"G26 - agapē - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv)." Blue Letter Bible. Accessed 19 Dec 2024. 

Harrelson, Walter. “The Idea of Agape in the New Testament.” The Journal of Religion 31, no. 3 (1951).

Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. New York, Penguin Books, 2008.

Kreeft, Peter. The God Who Loves You: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Lewis, Clive Staples. "From: The Four Loves." Marriage, Families & Spirituality 4, no. 2 (1998).

Loome, Thomas Michael. “Revelation as Experience: An Unpublished Letter of George Tyrrell,” Heythrop Journal 12, no 2 (1971).

McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. Hoboken, Wiley, 2016.

Porter, Steve L. “Internalizing the Love of God: A Theological Psychology of Receiving and Resisting Love.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care17, no. 1 (May 2024).

Robbins, Jordan M., and Joachim I. Krueger. "Social projection to ingroups and outgroups: A review and meta-analysis." Personality and social psychology review 9, no. 1, 2005.

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