So we are at the point now where we are asking ‘What difference does it make if love preceded life?’  ‘Why are you spending any time on this topic at all, Tim?’  Please  bear with me and I will try to reveal something quite meaningful and definitely life changing. The fact that God was content in a holy loving relationship before He created the universe means something quite terrifying and at the same time quite wonderful.  It means that He does not need a single one of us.  ‘Whoa. Wait… You lost me, Tim.  You’re saying God doesn’t need me.  How is this helpful?  And, I see how this statement is a little scary, but how is this “wonderful”?’ Yes.  Think about that for a minute.  ‘God doesn’t need me… He doesn’t need me.’  So a logical conclusion to this thought is ‘If God doesn’t need me, He must not care about me.’  But that is actually the wonderful part.  In fact He does care about you.  He doesn’t have to care one little bit, but He does!  You see, this is where I’m going with this thought about love preceding life.  It fully demonstrates God’s love for us. God was in a perfect, complete, loving relationship long before you and I and everyone else, but He, in love (not because He needed love), chose to make us.  And He made us so that we might experience HIS love, not the other way around.   This is perfect unconditional love.  He made us knowing that we would not all love Him and that many of us would hate Him, but He loves us none the less.  How do I know this?

“While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son” ~Romans 8:10

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~John 3:16

Think about this.  God could have saved Himself a lot of pain and suffering by not creating mankind.  But knowing full well how we would turn from Him, He made us anyway.  And for our benefit,  He lowered Himself to be born of a virgin woman and live among us facing every evil and temptation this world has to offer and not once falling short of God’s perfect standards.  And then He willingly went to the cross and suffered death and worse the wrath of the Father; which is our due for turning away from Him.  And on the third day of His death, He rose Himself from the grave to show us that in Him there is no death but eternal life.  He, God, the Son, Jesus did this for you.  This is true love from eternity past.   If you believe that, your eternal life is secure.

To answer the question  ‘Who did God love before the beginning, before the creation?’ the Monotheist might say ‘God loved himself before he created life.’  But that doesn’t really work if you think about it.  Can you really truly love yourself?  The Bible tells us what love is.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

So no, you really cannot love yourself.  Or wait… Can you?  Someone with a mild knowledge of the Bible (including myself) might say, ‘Whoa whoa whoa!  What about when Jesus says;

 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
~ Mark 12:31 

‘Love “YOURSELF”!  See!  It says it right there!  What about that? Huh?’  Okay, okay.  I had the same question.  So lets look at this verse in context.  ** TANGENT ALERT!  TANGENT ALERT! **  (I do this a lot.  Sorry.)  Jesus is asked a question; “Of all the commandments, which is the greatest?”  To which Jesus answers;

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
~ Mark 12:29-31

It is important to note that Jesus is telling His listeners to 1) Love God above everything and 2) Love others.  There is no command or suggestion or hint anywhere in the Bible that teaches anyone to love themselves.  The only thing He is saying here in verse 31 is that instead of putting yourself first, you must put others before you.  And so I still hold firm to the belief that you cannot truly love yourself.

Still not convinced?  Ask yourself  this question.  ‘Would I die for myself?’  Is there a greater act of love than to give your life for someone else?  Jesus says;

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
~ John 15:13

I doubt anyone would disagree with that.  Without belaboring the point any further I think it is safe to say that the Monotheistic god could not love himself before creation.  In fact I believe a more realistic answer from this worldview would be that ‘God created, that he might love what he created.’

So we come to the Trinitarian worldview which is the Christian worldview.  One God in three distinct Persons.  I can go into the mind numbing conversation of a Triune God some other time, but let me assure you, dear reader, the God of the Bible is unquestioningly a Triune God.  As I mentioned in my last post this means He is one God in three Persons.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Each equal and each distinct and all God.  In this case and only in this case it is possible that God was loving before there was a creation.  The Father, Son, and Spirit loving Each Other in a Holy, eternal Community before there ever was a creation.  Do you see this? Only in the Christian worldview can love precede life.

So that begs the question; ‘Who cares?  What difference does that make?  So what?’  Well, I’m glad you asked.  I will save the answer to that question for my next post.

Take any major worldview (that is, any major religious or philosophical stand through which one views the world) outside the Christian worldview, and you will find that in every case, life precedes love.  This is no slight or defamation toward any worldview, it is simply the truth.  Ask anyone true to their faith, be they Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, etc. and he or she would have to agree.  Only the Christian worldview can claim that Love precedes life.  This begs two questions; How is this possible and more importantly; Why does it matter?

I borrowed my title from an ancient philosophical question; “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”  The question is meant to stimulate the mind as one ponders origins or ‘first cause’.  The answer to that question can easily be found in the Bible; Genesis chapter 1.  The answer to my question is also rooted in the beginning but may not be so obvious.    It goes back in history a little bit further.  It goes back to Genesis chapter 1 verse 1; “In the beginning God…”  The word for God here was originally written ‘Elohim‘.  This is the Hebrew word for God in it’s plural form.  You see Christians worship the Triune God.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  One God.  Three persons.  Each equal and each distinct and all God.  This is how it is possible that Love preceded life.

If God was there at the beginning one could ask this question, ‘Who did God love before the beginning, before the creation?’  Look at the answer to that question from these viewpoints.  The Atheist would say ‘There is no sentient cause or god who created life, so of course life preceded love.’  In fact they might even say ‘Love is simply a bio-chemical reaction to certain environmental stimuli, so again, naturally life must precede love.’  The Pantheist would say ‘Nature or the universe is god, therefore life had to precede love because before there was anything, there was nothing that could love.’  The Monotheist might have a better answer which I will explore in my next post.

Stay Hungry,
Tim