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Some believers are among those who have done ridiculous things and blamed their actions on love. Love has been the inspiration of mankind that has brought him to the point where he is today. The greatest problem facing mankind is the misconception of what love is and how it is given and how it is received by those who long for its warmth and comfort. Love has been set on a pinnacle so high that even believers are no longer capable of reaching the place where it has any real meaning to them. Because love has been placed upon such a lofty pinnacle, many believers have become afraid to try to reach for it. They have reached the point in their walk with the Lord where they are afraid of love, afraid to give or to even receive love. This is because love brings forth a commitment from those involved and many people would rather be without love than make a commitment. In the case of marriage, the commitment is for a lifetime; in the relationship with Christ it is for an eternity. There is no doubt that love should be held by all with the highest esteem, for love is an attribute of God the Father.
One of the most beautiful truths about love is that it is not the fruit of an individual. This can be seen in God's dealings with Adam in the garden of Eden. "And the Lord God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Ephesians 1:4). From these scriptures I understand the reason God makes this assertion. Before the foundation of the world God' s intention was that man be filled with His love. This love was to be given to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ and in no other way. Why was it not good for man to be alone?
As an individual Adam would never know what love was at all; this is an impossibility for an individual. I am not sure that Adam ever understood what love was during the nine hundred and thirty years of his life. The term "love" isn't mentioned in regard to Adam and his wife or his family. The first mention of love is in Genesis chapter twenty-two where it is stated that Abraham loves Isaac. I am not saying that love did not exist between Adam and his family, but I doubt if there was any understanding of love if it did exist.
Eternal Love
The first mention of love in Genesis chapter twenty-two is not the origin of love at all. Love existed long before Adam was created, in eternity past between the Father and the Son. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). This scripture places love in it's original setting, between the Father and the Son. It is comparable to Ephesians 1:4 where it is the Father that displays love. Love in its original setting is described as existing between the Father and the Son. In this setting there is no creation, for it is before the foundation of the world or anything else that is created. Love existed before creation, therefore God's love cannot come from that which is created nor can the love of God be known by that which is created. This is why the new birth is necessary, so that the believer as a new creature can receive God's love.
Without the Son, love would not have existed at all; without the Father, there would have been nothing for the Son to love. The only place for love to possibly exist is between the Father and the Son. It took both of them for love to exist. It is upon this principle that God makes the statement that it is not good that man should be alone. Adam without Eve would never have the ability to know love. Without woman, man can neither give nor receive love. Without knowing love, he would never understand who God the Father was. Upon this principle hinges the entire eternal purpose and plan of God. God's plan was to have many sons, thereby becoming the Father of many sons. Each son was to be filled with that same eternal love whereby the Father loveth the only begotten Son. Man without the woman was alone!
Many Bible scholars believe Adam was filled with wisdom and possessed great and marvelous powers that were lost when he lost his innocence. Though Adam had great wisdom and many great powers, he was incomplete because he was alone. Man was created with the intent that Christ was to be his only life. Until man receives Christ through the birthing he will be alone. Just because a believer possesses great wisdom and great powers doesn't mean that he is what God desires him to be, for Adam possessed these and God said it is not good that he should be alone. Though Adam had a life without sin, and had a faultless life, he was alone without Eve, and without her he would never know what love was. Though he was sinless and faultless he was incomplete, for he was without love! Without Eve there was no way he would ever know what love was, therefore he was incomplete without the woman. Man without woman, at his best, is incomplete; nothing else can make the man complete.
Upon this principle I make the statement that the believer who strives to have a sinless, faultless life will find himself "alone" and never know the love of God the Father aside from the new birth. Adam had a perfect, sinless, and faultless life yet he was incomplete -- it was not good that he should be alone. As perfect as he may have been, at his best Adam was "incomplete" without Eve for he was without love. Adam without love would not be in the image of God, Adam without Eve would not be in the image of God. Therefore love cannot exist within an individual for there must be at least two for love to function. When this is understood by the believer it brings a stronger bond to those that are involved with the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Object of Father's Love
The Father without the Son could not have loved; for there was nothing to love without the Son. Not only was that true before the foundation of the world but it has never changed. The object of God's love has never nor will it ever change. The Father loves only the Son and no one else. This truth is substantiated throughout the book of John but especially so in the seventeenth chapter (see John 3:35; 5:20; 10:17; 17:24,26). Love has existed between the Father and the Son as long as God has been Father and as long as the Son has been Son. Therefore love is an eternal attribute of God the Father. Love is not something that can be "done"; if it can then it violates every truth of the "birthing". Love is who God is rather than something he does, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (I John 4:8). Love is the characteristic of God the Father that exists because of the Son. Love is the characteristic of the Son and it exists because of the Father.
Source of God's LoveGod is described by many different metaphors throughout the Scriptures. He is called the "Creator" in five different books of the Bible. There is no doubt that he is the Creator of all that is created. Everything that was created exists as the result of God as the "Creator". All it took for God to create worlds without end was to spread his hands and call them into existence. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth" (Isaiah 40:26). "That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it" (Isaiah 41:20). Creation is the result of God as the Creator. I must rnention that God as Creator and as Father are the same entity; though these (Creator - Father) do not come from two separate entities they are two distinct characteristics of the same being. The reason I point out these distinctions is to point out the source of God's love.
Many believers have never given proper consideration to this truth and miss one of the greatest pleasures of being a believer. Many believers never consider the source of God's love nor the reason that God loves. In each of the salutations of Paul's epistles he makes a proclamation that every believer should know. Understanding this distinction will make a distinct difference within the believer in the areas of grace, peace and mercy. These are attributes that come from "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". These do not come from God as the Creator but from God the "Father!" To many this may not seem to be worthy of consideration at all but it makes the difference between God being what He desires to be or the believer being what he wants to be.
Reprinted by permission from the booklet, The Fatherhood of God by Don Byrd, Christ-life Fellowship, PO Box 17307, Dallas TX 75217. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/
We also have a number of books by Peter Wade on these truths. Go to our Catalog.
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