God Loves You – What does that mean?

Rev. Dr. Michael J Nel

25 December 2021

Revised 20 July 2022

 

“God Loves You” has been a message boldly proclaimed by pastors. In pastoral care situations it has been shared as a word of consolation and encouragement. The underlying assumption is that everyone who hears this proclamation shares a similar understanding of its meaning. However, this assumption may be misleading since not everyone who hears this proclamation “God loves you: shares a similar understanding. The place to start with exploring how people understand this proclamation is with Martin Luther’s question in his Small Catechism “What does this mean.”

This paper will explore the meaning of this proclamation “God loves you.” The first part of this paper will examine in some detail the meaning of the words and their theological implications. The second section will examine in greater detail the meaning and theological significance of proclaiming God’s love.

“God loves you” needs to be unpacked word for word. The process of examining this statement starts with the word “you.” Often the emphasis, whether deliberately or not, is placed on the word “you” namely, “God loves YOU.” What is implied by the speaker when the stress is on “YOU” and equally important is what is heard by the listener?

When the “YOU” is stressed the focus of the statement is on the object of the sentence. The inference is that that the listener, the “you,” will hear and incorporate that message into their individual lives. This means that the listener will hear “God loves ME.” It is important that the listeners hear that God’s love includes them. However, this emphasis on the object “you” implies that the “you” in this statement is referring to the singular “you.”

The hope of the speaker of these words is that in sharing this message that “God loves YOU” is that it will be integrated and internalized into the life of the listener. This singular understanding of “YOU” is important in pastoral care. The speaker wants the listener to hear and appropriate God’s love into their personal experiences, struggles and needs. This message of God’s love is shared in order to comfort those struggling with loneliness as the promise of God’s presence. Others who are fraught with guilt and the brokenness of their relationships may hear the message as one of freedom. Anxious people may hear the message as the promise of the presence of the One who calms the storms raging in their anxious and fearful lives. The message that “God loves ME” assures the listener of the presence of God in their personal lives and may be experienced as God’s peace. The problem with this personal and individual understanding of God’s love is that it can reduce that action of God in individual’s lives to being a psychological, social, financial panacea to all human ills.

But who is this God who is proclaimed in “GOD loves you?” Who is the God of the hearers? In order to understand the significant theological shift that takes place when the “You” is interpreted as “ME,” a brief excursion into parsing a simple sentence is necessary. Parsing the sentence “The boy kicked the ball” will be helpful. In this sentence “The boy” is the subject who “kicks,” the verb or action word, the “ball” the object. The boy is the one who initiates the action by kicking the ball, the object. The “ball” is the thing which is acted upon. The object does not initiate the action which will reverse the process into the ball becoming the subject. The reversal of the subject, God, into becoming the object of human action in theology is just as preposterous as believing that “the ball” kicked the “boy.” Humankind is always the object of God’s action and love. Humankind is never the subject in relation to God.

Unfortunately since the beginning of time humankind has sought to reverse the direction. Humankind which is the object of God’s love seeks to become the subject and God the object of human action. This shift is often observable when the object of God’s love is “ME.” God’s love is incorporated into the self as an affirmation of the narcissistic self. God’s love of ME is used to enhance a sense of self importance and undergirding a belief in entitlement. Some are convinced that the children of God are entitled to benefits: special considerations. They will experience God’s love as endorsing the “ME” of their self-centeredness. This appropriation of the role of the subject all too often confuses the private with personal. When this occurs people interpret the “you” as a private relationship with God. This reversal of humans as the subject transforms prayer into a process which acts upon God, manipulating God. When humankind prays as the subject prayer is used to achieve personal ends. This reversal in which God is the object can be seen in the popularity of the prosperity Gospel in which the object believes it can act on the subject, God. The God who is the object is not the God of scripture since this god is defined in term of human projection and exists to fulfill human desires and needs.

Scripture attests that God is always the subject and never the object. The opening verse of Genesis 1:1 declares “In the beginning God…” The writer of the first creation story boldly and deliberately declares that God is the initiator, the once who acts, who creates everything including humankind. In this creation account humankind is clearly the object of creation. The Gospels show how God initiates creative action for the salvation of the cosmos. God takes the initiative in the nativity accounts choosing Mary, then choosing the disciples by calling them. This same theme is proclaimed in John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. (NRSV)

 

Humankind is not deterred by the scriptural witness and insists on being the subject and resists strenuously being the object. The temptation of Adam and Even in the second creation account taps into this human desire to be the subject, the initiator and have God be the object of human action. This is also the theme in the temptations of Jesus. Satan seeks to get Jesus to deny that God is the subject. The incarnation is about God taking the initiative to save humankind. The incarnation is the account of how God, for the sake of humankind, willingly enters into a relationship with humankind. This willingness to allow humankind to claim to be the subject and God the object is clearly seen in the passion narratives. As the subject, humankind seeks to rid itself of God as the subject, so they crucify Jesus. The crucifying of Jesus is the ultimate arrogance of humankind in claiming that it is the subject and God the object. This process of removing God the subject continues to today. This reversal of the subject, God, and humankind, the object is at the core of sin. The irony is that humankind when acting as the subject and God as the object fails to take into account that Jesus was not forced to submit but rather had chosen to submit. This failure gives humankind a false sense of bravado as it acts with vigor and ruthlessness to remove the object, namely God. So they acted by mocking, humiliating, beating, nailing, piercing his side and killing and burying Jesus/God. God, the subject, appears to have been finally removed, sealed in a tomb. Now humankind believes that it is the sole actor, the subject. This is the ultimate act of arrogance of humankind, us: claiming to be the subject with the power to act upon and remove God. What humankind failed to appreciate is the witness of scripture is that God is always the subject, the initiator of salvation for the cosmos. The willingness of God to show God’s love by becoming one with humankind to submit willingly for the salvation of the cosmos does not end at the cross and the tomb. God, the creator, the subject, acts again and initiates an act of creation by raising Jesus from the dead. God’s love triumphs and asserts that God is and always has been and always will be the subject. Furthermore, all human efforts to be the subject by supplanting and removing God as the subject lie defeated at the empty grave. The resurrection is the witness to God as the subject, the one who acts. This is the God who is proclaimed in “GOD loves you.”

Hearing the proclamation “God loves you” has been understood that the”you” refers to the singular “you.” When the “you” is understood to be a singular “you,” and referring to the individual listener, then the understanding of God’s love is unfortunately restricted and narrowly understood to be limited to those who hear the proclamation. This interpretation of the “you” can and has been corrupted. It has led to an exclusive view of who God loves and used to justify the rejection of others. Such an exclusive view of God’s love shapes the understanding of who God is. It injects legalistic requirements into the creating and mainting the relationship with God. These requirements for a relationship with God are a human creations which reverses the relationship with God who is no longer the subject, but the object of human achievement and desire.

There is a significant different understanding of God if the “you” in the statement “God loves YOU” is understood to be the plural “you.” This shift from understanding the “you” as the singular to the to the understanding of “you” as a plural brings about a dramatic change in thinking not just about who the object is of God’s love but also about who this God is who loves.

To understand the “you” as plural challenges our rather limited notion of whom God loves. When the proclamation is made that “God loves YOU” there is an awareness of the breadth and vastness of God’s love. God’s love cannot be confined and limited just to some people. There is then no qualifier associated with God’s love. God’s love is understood to be all inclusive, all encompassing of all humanity, in fact the whole cosmos. The proclamation that “God loves YOU” means that God’s love is not restricted but includes everyone no matter their race, colour, ethnicity and gender. The “YOU” in the proclamation “God loves YOU” means that no one is excluded or outside the realm of God’s love. The witness of John 3:16 is that God loves the “cosmos.” It proclaims that God sent God’s son, Jesus the Christ, for the salvation and redemption of the whole cosmos and just not “me.” When the “you” of the proclamation of God’s love is understood as referring to the plural “you,” all prejudices, racism, sexism are challenged. God’s love, God’s salvation cannot be limited by human judgements and condemnation of those who are not like us: those who are different. Such limitations ascribed to God’s love are the result of humankind’s acting as if it is the subject.

There are two important implications to the understanding that the “you’ of God’s love is a plural. The first is that this proclamation is a call from God to mission. It becomes the responsibility of those who have acknowledged that God loves them to proclaim and share that love to all. Secondly an appreciating of the proclamation that God loves you which includes the cosmos challenges humankind’s relationship with the cosmos. I judges humankind for the misuse and abuse of creation. It means that we, the object of God’s love, have to see the cosmos, the environment, and others from that of the subject, God’s perspective. The understanding of the “you” in the message that “God loves you” challenges humankind particularly now as we face an environmental crisis. The perspective of God loving the cosmos raises a number of important questions. If God’s love is all encompassing in what ways does it challenge our thinking? What changes do we have to make if we understand ourselves and all of the cosmos as the object of God’s love? How will the message of God’s love change if we remember that God is the subject and we and the cosmos are the object of God’s love? Would we relate to the environment differently?

This does not mean that the singular understanding of the proclamation that “God loves you” is wrong and inappropriate. As individuals we need to hear that message. The problem arises when our interpretation is limited or restricted to the singular understanding of the “you.” That “God loves you” where the “you” is understood as a plural provides a much needed counterbalance to our narcissistic self-centeredness by challenging us to see ourselves as part of the whole cosmos that is embraced by God a love.

This paper has explored the question of who God is in the proclamation “God love you.” It has also examined the question of the “you” in the proclamation as being a singular or plural. It will now seek to clarify the meaning of the word “love” in the proclamation that “God LOVES you.” There is much importance given to the word “love” without defining its meaning and significance. Is the love of God similar to the love of one’s spouse or child? How do people interpret the word “love” when they hear the proclamation that “God LOVES you?”

There are many interpretations of love in society. When people are asked how they know they are loved, they will often state that they know when the other person listens to them. When asked how they know the other is listening they respond the other does what they say. Love is connected for some to the fulfillment of their expectation. A close examination of how love and listening are understood by some indicates a major confusion. Both love and listening are confused with obedience.

The claim has been made that God’s love is unconditional. But what does that mean? This concept of the unconditional love became important in the 1960’s and 1970’s when society was in pursuit of freedom and free love. Accompanying this claim was the rejection of any form of judgement in relationships and the denial of morality. This meant that there could be no judgement in God’s relationship with humankind since judgement implied accusation, short comings and failures which were the negation of love. There could be no judgement in love. Implicit in the concept of judgement is some arbitrary standard which then leads to criticism. This process of judgement is then personalized and expressed as “hurting one’s feelings.” Since there is no judgement there is no guilt, a feeling which has been viewed negatively. Soon the concept of unconditional love which was bout God’s love was imposed on parents. People complained that their parents did not love them unconditionally which they believed led to their mental health problems. Parenting was refocused on avoiding any criticism because criticism implied judgement which would lead to the child becoming anxious. The outcome is the child focused family in which the cardinal rule of parenting is that children should never be anxious. This did not mean that children were immune from criticism and thereby judging their parents.

The problem with ascribing to God, as well as to parents, unconditional love and the rejection of all judgement is that no one is held accountable for their actions. The goal of parenting is no longer become a responsible person. Since there is no judgement, and all behaviour is acceptable then there is no longer any need for confession and definitely no need for absolution. This creates a serious theological problem since where there is no judgement, and the implied criticism, there is no sin to confess not just in relationship to others but more importantly to God. God becomes nothing more than a permissive parent who cannot say “no” and has to accept anything without questioning. The absence of judgment under the rubric of unconditional love undermines relationships and enhances the narcissistic sense of self importance of the individual.

There is judgement in God’s love. To fully appreciate the depth and scope of God’s love is turn to the cross. The cross is a symbol of God’s judgement on sin.  At the cross humankind experiences God’s love as grace and forgiveness. The only aspect of that love is the unconditional is of Jesus the Christ who sacrifices himself for the redemption of all. The unconditionality of God’s love is that it is extended to all. The love revealed at the cross is a costly love otherwise it would be cheap grace.

Having reflected on the “you,” and “love and examined the relationship with God in terms of God being the subject and the cosmos the object of that love it is important to take a close look at who “God” is. It is also important to reflect on how we then respond to this God who loves?

When confessing that “God loves you” who is this God?.

This God who loves is the Creator God.

This God who loves is the God who loves the whole cosmos.

This God who loves is the Infinite God.

This God who loves is the Almighty God.

This God is the Holy One.

This God who loves is the Omnipotent God.

This God who loves is the Covenant God.

This God who loves is the Incarnate God.

This God who loves is the Suffering God.

This God who loves is the Humble God born in a manger.

If this is the God whom we confess loves “you” then how are we to respond? We have a clue in the Christmas story in how the shepherds responded to the Christ Child. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:20) and we find the Magi’s response to Jesus “they knelt down and paid him homage.” (Matthew 2:11) Their response is all encompassing. They respond to this God by sharing gifts with the Christ child. They kneel before him. They do not make donations to his ministry but share with him their lives. They hear the call to follow him and they leave everything behind and follow Jesus. Experiencing this love of God affects their attitude, their principles, their values, their thinking, and their behaviour. Every aspect of their lives has been affected and changed. This change the church has traditionally referred to as conversion. The only appropriate response is to acknowledge that one is in the presence of the Almighty and kneel and worship him as revealed by the shepherds and the Magi.

To proclaim that “God loves you” involves much more than a focus on the object of that love. God is the subject of the proclamation and that is where any discussion of God’s love has to start. Unfortunately much of our understanding of God’s love has been developed by working from the object of that love. By following that process humankind has imputed into the understanding of God and God’s love humankind’s wishful thinking, desires and human biases. The only appropriate response is to take full responsibility for oneself and confess one’s sin and receive God’s absolution. This process is God’s gift to humankind and is the basis for maintaining healthy relationships.