The Bible says “God is Love.” In the statements below “love” is a noun. All other descriptions of God are expressed in adjectives. Examples: God is gracious, but not grace; God is holy, but not holiness; God can be wrathful, but He is not wrath, etc. God in His purest essence is LOVE.
1 John 4:8 & 16
“The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]”
“We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him.”
Agape Love
This Love is the Greek word “agape,” pronounced uh-gah’-pay. It is the Love that is based on the character of the one who loves, not the attractiveness of the one who is loved. It is a love determined to be beneficial and sacrificial and unselfish.
Phileo Love
This is not the Greek word “phileo,” which is a feeling of attraction or affinity based on the appealing nature of the one who is loved. Nor is it “eros,” which is love based on romantic desire for the object of love. God’s love for us is not based on us, but on Him. It is like the love of a mother for her child. It’s just there–part of her nature, put there by God. (Abortion is possible only if the mother doesn’t recognize her child. That’s why abortion profiteers (liars and murderers) call it a blob, a clump of cells, a fetus, anything but a child or a baby, which it is.
