Loving the Scriptures January 26, 2026 Issue

God’s love

From early Hebrew history, God is known for His kindness, mercy, and love. Hesed, the Hebrew word conveying these qualities, appears well over two hundred times in the Hebrew Bible. Deuteronomy 12:13 promises, “He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee.” Psalmists celebrate God’s lovingkindness over and over (see examples in Psalms 36:7; 42:8; 103:1–4). And Jeremiah 31:3 records God’s words “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

However, God was viewed as punitive as well, especially when Israel was unfaithful to His covenant. Only with Christ Jesus’ ministry was God’s love understood in terms of grace—freely given, even to those considered sinners. Jesus lived this love, associating with wrongdoers, refusing to condemn an immoral woman, teaching about a profligate child, and forgiving those who crucified him (see Mark 2:15–17; John 8:1–11; Luke 15:11–32; 23:33, 34).

God’s love was decisively expressed in sending His Son. The Gospel of John declares, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (3:16). First John articulates the depth of divinely bestowed love: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. . . . God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (4:10, 16).

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