The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God

“Waste of time! God’s love isn’t difficult to understand”, announced obstinately by an associate of mine as he glanced at the title of the book in my hands.Retrospectively, his response shouldn’t have been as alarming to me as it was. Even as Western societies become increasingly secularized and pluralistic, it remains culturally acceptable (and even popular) to affirm that God, if He exists, possesses love as a central attribute.Within Christian communities, it’s common to hear such cliches as:‘God loves you unconditionally.’‘God loves everyone the same.’‘God is love.’But are those statements true? Or, to put it another way, in what sense is the statement Biblically accurate?In his book ‘The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God’, Theologian D. A. Carson aims to assist readers to gain a coherent and accurate understanding of God’s love as displayed in the Christian scriptures.“…the love of God in our culture has been purged of anything the culture finds uncomfortable – (It) has been sanitized, democratized and above all sentimentalized.”In addition to cultural influences, Dr. Carson, a scholar in New Testament theology, remarks that the casual Bible reader may be unaware that the Bible speaks of God’s love in at least five distinguishable ways: Intra-Trinitarian love, providential love, salvific love, elective love, and provisional (conditional) love. He explains these ways of describing God’s love and warns against the dangers of overemphasizing one way at the expense of another and inappropriately compartmentalizing these ways into different ‘loves’. Other theological difficulties include understanding the affective element of God’s love and amalgamating that love with His other attributes such as His sovereignty and transcendence.Furthermore, Dr. Carson understands that to conceptualize God devoid of holiness will inevitably result in a malformed and emaciated understanding of His love, in addition to a Biblically deficient portrait of God himself. As such, the book’s final chapter is dedicated to addressing this.The book is informative, memorable, and worth revisiting years later. It’s small and short, limited to approximately 80 pages. However, the concepts are heavy and at times difficult to follow if the reader hasn’t been previously introduced to them. It’s a book that stimulates thought, hence I recommend it to those studying God’s love specifically and in search of a relatively succinct but serious Biblical reflection on the topic to be used in addition to other texts. Ironically, whether you agree or disagree with his solutions, the author successfully proves his starting point.

This is an excellent book. Many times in reading a theological discussions the speaker will claim knowledge where there is none, Mr. Carson doesn't do this. In reading this book it is evident that Mr. Carson is intelligent and well versed in Christian Theology, however it was nice that the author himself doesn't get in the way of delivering the subject matter. There are many good points D. A. Carson discusses, too many for a short review to do justice. Also I like this book cause D. A. Carson lightly touches on each point and goes deep enough in the argument to let the reader know, there is something there and avoids the scholarly temptation to dive deeply into every minutiae. The book is written not to demand a lot of time from the reader, 2 days of casual reading or one day earnest reading is all this book takes. I would say the treatise of the subject matter is not casual and it is evident in the reading D. A. Carson has spent a lot time thinking of this subject. I did buy the Kindle version, this helped immensely since I am not a theologian, to look up words immediately in the Kindle version.

This book is a must read for every Christian. Carson’s exegetical methods as he writes are exemplary, and the doctrine of the love of God is misunderstood by almost everyone. One of the greatest books of all time.

Having read the title of this book and after reading several of Carson's other books, I was looking forward to reading this book and it did not disappoint. I read the whole thing in one sitting.A word of caution: if you've never heard of Calvinism or Arminianism and don't know what phileo and agape are you may be lost at several points. But don't let this discourage you from reading this book.Carson's book gave me an immense appreciation for God's love and just how difficult a doctrine it is. To learn about the different ways the Bible speaks about God's love was really amazing and caused me to marvel at the great God I serve. Do yourself a favor and read this book. And if you like it, be sure to check out his sequel: "Love in Hard Places."

great little book

although short, this book is good and offers a good panorama about the doctrine of the divine love

Heart warming and yet so foundational and uplifting, Carson clears the distortions of the love of God and presents five holistic ways in which God loves us, so we can get a clear picture of it without absolutising any one of them. This book also shapes our doctrine by addressing few misconceptions and clichés which have grown as alien growth in our theological garden. Go and warm your heart.

There are five ways in which God's love is described in the Bible.I used this book as the basis of some teaching in church recently, and found that even mature Christians were taught and challenged.From providing deep reassurance to the Christian, to encouraging and motivating concern for those who don't yet know Jesus - this book is well worth the read.Yet another excellent contribution to any Christian's library from Dr Carson.

very good info.