See What Kind Of Love
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
The subject of God’s love is very important. It reveals something about God. Love always has an object upon which it is lavished. In our verse, the love of God (or specifically, the love of the Father) is given to us. Both the KJV and NKJV refer to the manner of love (“what manner of love”). The NASB and NIV refer to the greatness of love (“how great”). The NRSV simply says “what love.” The ESV, as above, says “what kind.” The original word’s primary reference is to “what country,” and secondarily to“what sort.”
So our attention is drawn to the kind of love that God manifests to us, but also to the far-reaching extent and depths of that love. I think all the other translations convey these ideas. The Apostle John is preoccupied with God’s love. He makes great use of love (ἀγάπη) and to love (ἀγαπάω) in his gospel and his letters, far more than elsewhere in the New Testament. In 1 John 3, there are nine occurrences of the word, and in 1 John 4, it soars to 27 times. You cannot come away from reading John’s writings and miss his emphasis on God’s love. But John makes the remarkable connection ethically between God’s love and our love. It is because God has loved us that we must love others, especially fellow believers. In our verse, John focuses on the love that God has given or bestowed. The NIV uses the word “lavished,” which is a good word to use even though the word used means “to give.” We should note the origin of this love—it is from the Father. It is from God, but the use of “Father” connects with the word “children.” There is an emphasis here on a particular relationship.
This relationship is not merely a relationship grounded in having God as our Creator, but having God as our Father. As our Father, God has given to his children a particular love. It is a love that makes us his children. This is not a reference, as I said, to being made by God, and, therefore, loved as his creation; this is a common argument used to speak of the love of God. God has a universal love for all, we are told. But it is clear in 1 John 3:1 that God has a special love, and it is a love for those who are called his children. We are all children of God in the sense of being created by him (Isa. 45:11, 12), but that is not what John is referring to here.
We know this because John tells us in verses two through ten. First of all, the world hates the Christian who is called the child of God (vs. 2). Second, as God’s children, we are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our hope (vv. 2, 3). Third, since we have this hope, we are purifying ourselves even as Jesus is pure. The world does not do this. Fourth, because we are God’s children, we have a problem with sin. It is no longer our desire to be as we once were (vv. 4–9). It is this attitude toward sin that separates the Christian from the unbeliever (vs. 10). John states quite clearly that whoever does not practice righteousness, does not love God or his brother (vs. 10). Thus, those who are the children of God, love God, love Christ, love righteousness, and long for Jesus’ return (cf. 1 John 2:28, 29). This is not what the world does. Therefore, the “children” are not all the children of humanity but the children of God, and, as such, are his particular children loved by him as their Father.
John 3:16 is often used as a reference that God loved the world of all men. I think, in one sense, this is true. God does not desire the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 30–32). He urges them to turn and repent. In this sense, God exhibits beneficent love toward man. But John 3:16 does not focus on the extent or quantity of God’s love (the world), but rather on the quality of God’s love (so loved). God loved in a particular way and, therefore, it is conceivable also to see John 3:16 as emphasizing this same love that 1 John 3:1 does. When we talk about the beneficent love of God to all, we must understand that God also hates sinners and their sins. Psalm 5:5, 6 says “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” Perhaps we could put it this way: God hates sinners because of their sin, and God loves sinners because of who he is. It is not incompatible to talk about God’s hatred and God’s love together.
We often measure the concept of God’s love according to what we feel about love (and hatred). If God loves all sinners the way 1 John 3:1 says that God loves, then we must conclude that they are all the children of God, yet we know this is not true. And God’s love is never dependent on what man will or will not do. God’s love is rooted in his being. Ontologically, God is love. 1 John 4:16 says: “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” To abide in God’s love can only take place for those who know and believe. But knowing and believing does not make God love us, and since we are frail and feeble, how confident could we ever be that God loved us if God’s love were dependent on us? The uniqueness of God’s love lies in its quality. It is a special love. It is full of affection. This kind of love was, of course, in distinction from the parental love displayed in the ancient world. Fathers were not really affectionate and loving. It is remarkable that many of us struggle perhaps with the idea that God hates us. We think this way because we know what we are really like. But John transcends this kind of thinking with his emphasis in 1 John 3:1 when he says: “and so we are.” It really is the truth that God loves us.
When we speak of God’s hatred, our focus in witnessing should be on our sin, as inherent to us and abhorrent to God, but we can also speak of God loving sinners in that he gave his Son. We must call sinners to turn from their ways and seek God. The love of God is seen in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners. If a person rejects Christ, then how could such a person ever claim that God loves him? He wouldn’t, yet this is what the unbeliever and the world claims of God. God’s love is not separated from his other attributes. We cannot divide God up into different pieces, having his love and rejecting his wrath. God’s love is holy love and God’s wrath is holy wrath.
God’s love is spectacular and breath-taking. It is mind-boggling. We are in this world and we are troubled by many things. Our joy is connected to living under the constant thrill of God’s love. God provides the much-needed rivet or anchor for our souls in the midst of hardship and suffering. We know that we are God’s children now, but John holds out future transformation as the anchor. He says: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). John Calvin’s memorable words on this verse reflect this: “Physically, we are dust and a shadow, and death is always before our eyes. We are exposed to a thousand miseries and our souls to innumerable evils so that we always find a hell within us. The more necessary is it that our senses should be withdrawn from the view of present things, lest the miseries should shake our faith in the happiness which is yet hidden.” We deserve the hatred of God, yet God has loved us. He is not finished with us yet. He is transforming us and one day when our Lord appears, we shall be changed and be like him. That’s the fruit of God’s love. O to behold it!