We are continuing our look now at the love of God in Christian thought. Our guide for this is the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas at newadvent.org. This is also available on the IPhone, IPad, and ITouch with the new ibooks application and can no doubt be found on various other electronic devices that allow you to read works of literature. Of course, I always recommend most of all the version that you can hold in your hand. We’re talking about the love of God and we’re going to ask today if God loves all things.
Aquinas affirms that God does indeed love all things insofar as they exist. This is something we should do as well of course and indeed I will touch on this at the end. How can this be however as God’s love is eternal, but that which is the object of His love is not eternal?
Aquinas tells us that all things exist in God. That is, God knows in Himself what you and I are according to our proper natures and this is what He loves. This is why God can eternally love us but not eternally be angry at us. God loves that which is our proper nature because that is good. There is nothing about our proper nature however which can bring about eternal anger in God. This does not mean of course that God loves everything about us, and again, this is something I plan to touch on further at the end.
But are there not two kinds of love at least? There is the love of desire and there is the love of friendship. The love of friendship God does not have with creatures that do not possess rationality. Since that is the case, how can it be that God loves them? More importantly, if desire is based on need, then how can it be that God loves any of us since He does not need any of us?
That last point I wish to stress as in Bible College I did have a systematic theology professor who said that God created man because He needed someone to love. Acts 17:25 treats the idea of God needing anything as a mockery. Throughout the whole of Scripture, we see the constant praising and worship of God without wishing He could be greater or saying anything negative or limiting about Him. (The exception of course being that sometimes, the Psalmist and Jeremiah and others in sorrow can cry out to God as an oppressor of sorts, but this is more referring to His actions than to His nature.)
If God needed something, then He would certainly be lacking in perfection which we established early on in this series is something God has. After all, if God lacks some aspect of being that is not a limiting principle, where is He going to get it from? How does it exist apart from Him?
God loves out of desire but not out of desire for need but desire for our good. We can desire something for others as well as for ourselves and if someone is loved, then we naturally seek the good of that someone. As for friendship love, God does not have that with that which cannot reciprocate it, but He does have it with creatures like ourselves and angels.
There are passages that say God does hate sinners, but Aquinas will tell us that he loves sinners insofar as they are beings that exist, but insofar as they fall from that, he does not love them. I would also say that the word hatred refers to something being set at a distance as well and indeed, God does do that with sinners. He sets them apart from Him.
What does this tell us for ourselves? Our love should seek the good of the other as well and when we are doing that, we tend to find our own happiness. This does not mean we love everything about that person. In fact, that which holds back the person and is a negative influence on them we hate. Consider the parents of a child with a terminal illness. They love their child, but they hate that illness. If you have a loved one with a bad habit, you love them, but hate that habit. In fact, it is because you love them that you hate those things. Those things keep them from being them and if they are more them, it makes them more lovable.
We should be pleased also when we see this in ourselves. We should hate that which is in ourselves that keeps us from being the best that we can be. It is no glory to God for you to not be the best that you can be. Wanting to be the best you can be is not arrogant. It is realizing who God made you to be and deciding that you want to pursue that with your life.
I hope this has been a helpful look at the love of God. It is a topic we shall continue tomorrow.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
