PT recently cited some writer who came up with four kinds of love. But if the writer had dug a little deeper into the Word he would have discovered a fifth kind of love: God's Covenant of Love (Deut 7:9, 12; 1Ki 23; 2Chron 6:14; Neh 1:5; 9:32; Dan 9:4). I have alluded to this covenant quite often recently, so now is the time to investigate what this covenant is and who the parties are to this covenant. I'll begin by quoting two of the above seven passages:
Deut 7:12
12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.
NIV
And,
Dan 9:4
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands,
NIV
The first thing we learn from Deut 7 is that this "covenant of love" was obviously made with Abraham when God made his covenant with him, and then later, of course, those promises were reiterated and passed on to Issac and Jacob .
And the second important takeaway is that this "covenant of love" is conditional in nature -- as conditional as the Covenant Law of Moses itself! For Israel to participate in this covenant they needed to love God and keep his Law! So...the question that is begging for an answer is this: How in the world do the New Covenant people of God participate in this "covenant of love"? Don't we, too, have to love God and obey his commandments? Or has God lowered his standard for his NC people? (This last question rhetorical!). Not hardly! God himself qualifies his elect to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light (Col 1:12).
And how does God qualify his elect? He qualifies the elect through his unilaeral NC promises! God gives his chosen people a new heart; He writes his holy Law upon their hearts; He gives them the precious gift of the Holy Spirit; He circumcises their hearts so that they can love him; He instills the Fear of Himself into their hearts so that they'll never turn away from him; He raises them up from their spiritual tombs, etc. (Deut 30; Jer 31-32; Ezek 36-37). And there's not even the remotest hint in any of these chapters that God either seeks our permission or expects our cooperation in order to fulfill the unilateral stipulations.
But even so...flawless, pure, unadulterated love and perfect faithfulness have always been required of God's moral creatures -- things that none of us can do. But the Last Adam stood in the gap between God and all of his chosen people! Again, let me remind everyone what Jesus taught about God's love:
John 10:17
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again.
NIV
And,
John 15:10
10 "IF you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.
NASB
How God's NC people participate in this covenant of love is by virtue of the indwelling Spirit of Christ who is the Embodiment of the New Covenant (Isa 49:8). If God is Love, then so is his Beloved Son! Therefore, not only do we have our appointed Federal Head's perfect love and obedience to rely upon for our eternal justification, but from an existential perspective the very indwelling and embodiment Love of God Himself fills our souls with godly, agape love for Him and his Father. Talk about GRACE!!!
John 17:25-26
25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
NIV
And we should not forget that the world that doesn't know God is the world for whom Jesus did not pray (v. 9!
In closing, I believe this next passage "seals the deal" in terms of this covenant of love.
Rom 8:32-39
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to SEPARATE us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV
Time and space will permit only three of many other noteworthy observations. First, God's saints will never be separated from His love. This means no one can ever lose his salvation; for if that could happen then God failed to make good on his promises. Is not the Second Death eternal separation from God presence?
Secondly, since covenantal love is what is in view in Jn 3:16, we cannot understand the Gr. term "kosmos" as being used in the distributive sense, since the vast majority of the world rejects Christ and will be separated from him for all eternity. Therefore, to interpret Jn 3:16 properly, we must have a good understanding of the nature of God's love -- and who He loves covenantally and who He doesn't! Jn 3:16 goes well beyond mere beneficient love, as glorious as this is. For the glory of God's covenantal love far surpasses it.
And finally, this "love of God" is only found "in Christ Jesus our Lord." Jesus Christ himself is the ground -- the very basis -- the very bedrock of God's love for his saints. Paul didn't end his sentence in v.39 after "God" -- but continued on to qualify God's love for the saints. God doesn't love any saint because of any saint! God loves all his elect BECAUSE of the perfect love and faithfulness of the Last Adam who is the federal representative of all God's chosen people. Conversely, the ungodly world -- those "of the world" (for which Jesus did not pray in Jn 17:9) can only hate God since those outside of Christ cannot love Him. Jesus Christ Himself is the very embodimemnt of the Love of God -- and it is He who lives in each of us who have truly repented and believed on Him.
All of this gives new meaning to 1Jn 4:19: "We love because he first loved us." And since this is the case, this means that God knew each and every one of his elect before the beginning of time -- unlike those in Mat 7:23 -- as well as the vast majority of the "world" as FWs undertand this term in Jn 3:16. It's more than a just a big horse pill to swallow to believe that God sent his Son into the World to atone for the sins of all men w/o exception whom God never knew in eternity.
