God is Love, but...

One thing that I’m passionate about is declaring the love of God. It’s always my “go-to.” However, in my endeavor to trumpet the love of God, one thing I frequently encounter from others is that I shouldn’t exclude the other God-attributes such as “wrathful, judge, etc.” It usually comes in the rhetoric of “Yeah, God is love, but he is also holy.” Although I understand where this mindset is coming from (I used to think the same way), I can’t help but think it’s almost as if we’re afraid of painting God as some super-soft, sentimental Deity devoid of the “strong” attributes. I assume it’s based in the concern that we’ll neglect God’s powerful, holy, wrathful, judgy side (as if Gods attributes need to be balanced out).

GOD IS LOVE

Although God is most definitely holy (unlike any other), holiness is in no way separate from God’s core nature as love. Furthermore, love is not one single attribute among many others, nor is it an element that we add to the plethora of things to be said about God. On the contrary, God is love; the very essence of God’s being is just that: LOVE (see 1 John 4:8, 16).

For this, everything and anything that Father, Son, and Spirit does always flows from Their nature as love. Their acts (whether perceived as lowly, lovely, powerful, wrathful, or judgy) proceed from Their relational heart to see us fully mature in our relationship as beloved sons and daughters.

This is at the heart of who God is.

HOLY LOVE

This is why, when merging the two together, I view holy as the descriptive agent (adjective) to love. To say it simply, God is holy love!

Our expressions of “love” often have motives and manipulations intertwined, but Gods love is holy, set apart, unlike any other we’ve ever seen. God is holy love!

One of the clearest Scriptural references to the Father, Son, and Spirit’s holiness is in John’s throne-room encounter (Revelation 4-5): “Each of the four living creatures...day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.’” Revelation 4:8

Most will agree that the description of God as “holy” alludes to the truth that the Father, Son, and Spirit are set apart; They’re in a category all by Themselves, unlike any other. Hence, the three distinct cries of “holy, holy, holy” (holy Father, holy Son, Holy Spirit). This is a basic truth of our faith. In fact, the revelation of God as holy (unlike any other) will cause many of the lesser pleasures to lose their influence in our lives.

Nonetheless, I think it’s wisdom to emphasize the value of seeing God unlike any other as it relates to Their relationship with us, especially in Their tender love and care.

Paul expresses this sort of holy love in Ephesians 5: “And to the husbands, you are to demonstrate love for your wives with the same tender devotion that Christ demonstrated to us, his bride. For he died for us, sacrificing himself to make us holy and pure, cleansing us through the showering of the pure water of the Word of God. All that he does in us is designed to make us a mature church for his pleasure, until we become a source of praise to him—glorious and radiant, beautiful and holy, without fault or flaw.” (Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭25‬-‭27‬ ‭TPT‬‬)

In demonstration of God’s (holy) nature as love, Christ nurtures the whole body. The same holy love that God exhibits before the living creatures is the same virtue by which he nurtures, cares, and watches over his beloved. At this point, the scene of Revelation becomes applicable.

What does this tell us about the holiness of God?

What does this communicate to us concerning the nature of the Father, Son, and Spirit?

First of all, we see that God’s holiness is much broader and more beautiful than we can ever imagine. Furthermore, we see that God’s holiness is not merely an objective, abstract, stoic attribute; on the contrary, God’s holiness has life and redemptive qualities to it. The holy love of God is aimed at something.

God is holy (unlike any other), not only because They’re powerful, strong, and mighty—God is holy in that They demonstrate tender love and care towards Their beloved creation. We could also say it this way: God is unlike any other in tender love and care—and for this, They are deserving of our full affection.

GOD’S HOLINESS CAUSES US TO DRAW NEAR

For this reason, the tender love of God doesn’t diminish or take away from Their holiness. Beloved, it magnifies it. Furthermore, it makes it applicable for our day-to-day lives. When we see that God is holy—set apart and unlike any other in Their tender love and care—it causes us to draw close. It beckons us to run into Their loving embrace.

As we interpret God’s holiness in this light, I imagine the four living creatures’ response (falling down in reverent devotion) is due to the eternal truth that the Triune God is so unlike any other in tender love and care towards Their creation. Perhaps this is why Mary fell at the feet of Jesus (John 12:3), as did the leper who was miraculously healed (Luke 17:15-16).

All creation falls down not because God is frightening or unapproachable; they fall because God is approachable.

The Father, in Christ, is unlike any other the world has ever known, and for this, creation responds by crying “holy!”

With that being said, the holiness of God shouldn’t cause us to see God as some kind of distant, unapproachable deity separated by a distant chasm. Instead, this should cause us to see that God is unlike any other in Their relational nature; They are devoted to loving and caring for us in perfect love—simply because They are everything that love is.

For instance, the Father didn’t draw back from man because he is awesome and holy in nature (as if those things are some sort of antiseptic). The Father, in Christ, drew close because he is so unlike any other in tender love and care. For that very reason, he is unlike any other; he is holy!

We behold God’s heart to draw close in the incarnation, where Christ came to the broken and estranged (those labelled “unholy”). To quote Paul, “...God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself...” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV). Although we (humanity) had drawn back—forgetting who we were and whose we were—the Father, in Christ, pressed in—all because They are unlike any other. This, my friends, is what sets the Father, Son, and Spirit apart.

Isn’t that fascinating!

-RA