God is love. So says 1 John 4:8 and 16. The entirety of the Bible testifies to this fact. The Christian faith is centered around God’s character of love. Love is at the core of who God is, at the core of everything that we believe, and should be at the core of everything we do. Accordingly, the way we understand love affects the entirety of our faith and practice. If, for example, one believes that God’s love must be earned or merited, a person might think that God does not love them because they are sinful and unworthy. And, in relation to others, one might expect others to merit love—a recipe for disaster.
Play allThe God of Love and Justice
Memory texts in this guide
- 1 Hosea 14:4, NKJV "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him."
- 2 John 14:23, NKJV Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
- 3 Zephaniah 3:17, KNJV "The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
- 4 Isaiah 49:15, NKJV "Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you."
- 5 Psalm 78:38, NKJV But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath;
- 6 Jeremiah 9:24, NKJV "But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising loving, kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight", says the Lord.
- 7 Revelation 21:3-4, NKJV And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
- 8 John 16:33, NKJV "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
- 9 Genesis 3:15, NKJV “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
- 10 1 John 3:8, NKJV He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
- 11 John 18:37, NKJV Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
- 12 1 John 4:20, NKJV If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
- 13 Romans 13:8, NKJV Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.