Keith Cox

When one says that one of the attributes of God is Love I believe one is approaching the central fact of God’s existence, and ours. “God is love,” John tells us (1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16) and “whoever abides in love abides in God” (John 4:16). When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Mt. 22:37-40)

Love is the unifying principle. When the omnipresence of God is referred to, it is in love that God is encountered everywhere. The image of God in man is the intended love relationship between the Creator and His creatures, and the phenomenon we refer to as “the Fall” is in fact the act of man turning away from that intended love relationship.[1] God expresses His love for his creatures by sacrificing himself to atone for their sin and restore the intended relationship (John 3:16), and thus sets the standard for how His creatures are to love Him, each other, and the world (John 13:34, 15:9, 15:12). In other words, love finds its fullest expression in self-sacrifice for the other, even the enemy (Mt. 5:44).

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[1] Emil Brunner, Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1952), 58-59.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

“There was a time when the church was very powerful. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators.’ But they went on with the conviction that they were ‘a colony of heaven,’ and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.”

Jean Vanier

“Those with whom Jesus identifies himself are regarded by society as misfits. And yet Jesus is that person who is hungry; Jesus is that woman who is confused and naked. Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if we all discovered that? The face of the world would be changed. We would then no longer want to compete in going up the ladder to meet God in the light, in the sun and in beauty, to be honored because of our theological knowledge. Or if we did want knowledge, it would be because we believe that our knowledge and theology are important only so long as they are used to serve and honor the poor.”