The Nature of God’s Love

We shall devote this week to one final, supremely important result produced in the believer by the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is described by Paul in the letter to the Romans.

“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (5:5)

We need to grasp the significance of that phrase, “the love of God.” Paul is not speaking here about human love or even about love for God. He is speaking about the love of God – God’s own love – which the Holy Spirit pours out in the believer’s heart. This love of God, imparted by the Holy Spirit, is as high above any form of mere human love as heaven is above earth.

In the normal course of our lives we experience many different types of love. For instance, there is a form of love, so-called, which is mere sexual passion. Then there is the married love of husband and wife for each other. Again, within the human family, there is the love of parents for children and of children for parents. Outside the bonds of the family, there is the love of one friend for another, such as the love of David and Jonathan for each other.

All these and other forms of love, in varying degree, are found in all sections of the human race, even where the gospel of Christ has never been preached. The Greek language, which has a rich vocabulary, has various words to describe these different forms of love. There is one word, however, which is used primarily for love which is divine in its origin and nature. As a noun, this word is agape; as a verb, agapao.

Agape denotes the perfect love between the Persons of the Godhead – the Father, the Son and the Spirit. It denotes the love of God toward man – that is, the love which caused God the Father to give His Son, and Christ the Son to give His life, that man might be redeemed from sin and its consequences. It denotes also the love God through His Holy Spirit imparts to the hearts of those who believe in Christ.