The starting point for love is God. 1 John 4:8 says: “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Most people rip the last clause of this verse out of its context, impose their own definition of love on it, and then say, “Yes, God is love.” In other words, God is exactly like what I have imagined love to be! Wrong! When the Bible says God is love, it means several things, and there are several other things it does not mean.

What it means:

1) It means that before the foundation of the world, God loved Himself. Or, to rephrase it in Trinitarian fashion. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit existed together in a perfect relationship of love. The Bible is most explicit about the love between the Father and Son. For example, John 17:24-26: "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

2) It means that love was defined before there was ever a human being on earth. God is love and God has existed forever and ever and ever. The definition of love was long ago fixed and set in stone – long before a single human being ever arrived. Therefore, any definition of love must take this into account and not start with humanity as its focal point. God is not love because he loves you and me. God is not love because He “accepts me as I am.” No. God is love because He delights in Himself, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, through the Spirit.

3) It means that love is the foundation attribute for all that God is. God has many attributes, including justice, anger, wrath, jealousy, grace, mercy, patience, etc. But before the foundation of the world, and the existence of sinners, none of those other attributes found expression. It would be odd to say that “God is wrath” before the foundation of the world. Who would God have wrath toward? Himself? Hardly! Who would God have mercy on? No one. No one needed mercy. There were no sinners who had forfeited their right to God’s kindness. Mercy needs sinners to find expression. Before the foundation of the world, God was love. The Father loved the Son and the Son loved the Father, through the Spirit of love.

4) It means that love is the foundation for all of God’s other attributes. It is God’s love for Himself that gives rise to His wrath and justice. His love for Himself leads to His commitment to vindicate Himself and avenge wrongs committed against Himself. At the same time, God delights to have mercy on whomever He wishes. It is His love for His own honor that leads Him to forgive some of those He could rightfully damn.

What it doesn’t mean:

1) It doesn’t mean everyone is going to heaven, for scripture explicitly declares this will never happen. God doesn’t need to save everyone to be loving.

2) It doesn’t mean God will never judge or condemn anyone.

3) It doesn’t mean God accepts you as you are because He is a “god of love.”

Since God is love, it is impossible to have love in us if we do not have God in us. The Bible plainly declares that most people do not have God in them and therefore do not have love in them, either.

In John 5:42, Jesus says, “But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” People who do not receive Jesus as He is do not love Him and have no love in themselves.

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” (1 Jn. 2:15-16). We see here that if the love of the world is in us, then the love of the Father is not.

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren (i.e. born again Christians). He who does not love abides in death.” (1 Jn. 3:14). The love that comes from God loves true Christians. It does not call them hateful bigots. If you do not love true Christians, who keep God’s commandments, then there is no love in you. You are loveless.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 Jn. 4:7-8). Only those who are born of God (born from above by the Spirit) truly have love.