[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHOF_0-6Hg]
Yes I want that song infecting your brain.
We'll live forever, knowing together that we did it all for the glory of love
Now there's a line fit for the triune God! As I'll try to show below, it's a pretty good summary of God's motives in creation and redemption. God's life and work is an other-centred, outward-focussed, spreading goodness. The Father, Son and Spirit do all things for the glory of love. This is starkly different from 'the love of glory' - especially where 'glory' is defined apart from love!
So in this post I want to show that "the glory of love" is God's motivation in all things. Later I'll show why "the love of glory" is not God's motivation according to the bible - at least not how it's popularly framed. Our God does not sing: "I did it all for the glory of me!"
But first, here's just a little survey of love as the centre of God's life and action in Scripture (notice number four!):
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God's being is love
1 John 4:8,16
The Father loves the Son
Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Mark 12:6; John 3:35; 15:9; 17:24; Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 1:13
The Father hands everything to the Son because of love
Psalm 2:7f; Isaiah 42:1; John 3:35; 5:20
The Father glorifies the Son because He loves Him
John 17:24
The Father predestines and elects us in Christ because of love
Ephesians 1:4f; Isaiah 55:3
The Father creates out of love
Colossians 1:16
He chooses the patriarchs out of love
Deuteronomy 10:15
He makes and keeps covenant with His people because of love
Ezekiel 16:8; Isaiah 54:10
He redeems Israel out of love
Deuteronomy 7:8; Isaiah 63:9; Jeremiah 31:3; Hosea 11:1
He leads Israel because He loves her
Exodus 15:13
He plants them in the land because He loves them
Psalm 44:3
He relents from judging time and again because of love
Numbers 14:19; Ps 51:1; 106:45; Hosea 11:1-9; Jonah 4:2
He will provide future redemption from all sins because of love
Psalm 130:7f
He saves because He loves
John 3:16; Titus 3:4f
The Son is given to us because of love
John 3:16; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2,25; 1 John 4:8-10
We're adopted because of love
Ephesians 1:5f; 1 John 3:1
We're regenerated because of love
Ephesians 2:4f
We're forgiven because of love
Revelation 1:5
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