The Love of God, Class 7

Quoted from A.W.Pinks The Attributes of God.

1. The love of God is uninfluenced"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved thee" Deut7:7-8.God has loved His people from everlasting, and therefore nothing of the creature can be the cause of what is found in God from eternity. He loves from Himself: "according to His own purpose" 2 Tim.1:9
2. It is eternal. This of necessity Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.
3. It is sovereign."According to the good pleasure of His will" Eph.1:4-5
4. It is infinite.No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God's love, or any mind comprehend it: it "passeth knowledge" Eph. 3:19
5. It is immutable.As with God Himself there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17)
6. It is holy. God's love is not regulated by caprice passion, or sentiment, but by principle. Just as His grace reigns not at the expense of it, but "through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21), so His love never conflicts with His holiness. "God is light" (1 John 1:5) is mentioned before "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
7. It is gracious.The love and favor of God are inseparable. This is clearly brought out in Romans 8:32-39.