You Can't Overemphasize It

When We Fear Overemphasizing the Love of God, We End Up Distorting the Story

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I John 4:16-18

There are some who fear overemphasizing the love of God. While they might not put it in those terms, their concern is expressed in the tendency to add caveats and amendments after every statement about God’s love. Incapable of allowing the statement “God is love” to stand on its own, they feel the compulsive need to add some qualifying statement about sin and judgment. To be fair, some are motivated by genuine concerns about redefining or distorting the meaning of love, turning it into a vague and powerless form of acceptance that lacks any sense of accountability or transformation. Also to be fair, some of those who worry about overemphasizing God’s love are angry and judgmental people who have fashioned for themselves an angry God. But regardless of the reason, the language of “overemphasizing God’s love” is unhealthy in itself, and the fear of overemphasizing the love of God will inevitably distort the story we tell.

If, as the Bible reveals, God is love, then it is impossible for us to overemphasize love. Yes, as fallen human beings we can wrongly define love. We can misunderstand and misrepresent love. We can cheapen its meaning and lessen its power. A wrong conception of love, however, is a different matter than how much emphasis we give to God’s love. When we use the language of “overemphasizing God’s love,” we fail to recognize this distinction or address the real issue. If the concern is a wrong definition of love, lessening our emphasis on the love of God will not correct the course. What we need is a greater focus on the love of God in all of its fullness, the incarnate love revealed in the crucified and resurrected Jesus. The love of God, rightly understood and embodied in Jesus, cannot be overemphasized. God is love. The statement stands as it is. And if God is love, we cannot overemphasize that which God is.

This fear of giving too much emphasis to God’s love not only fails to address the real concern, but it inevitably ends up twisting the story of God as well. Fear always pushes us into distortions of one kind or another. For those who feel the need to qualify, restrict, and constrain the love of God, a shift often occurs where sin, judgment, and fear become the very center of the story they tell. These reflections of brokenness become the starting point and motivation for the life of faith. Now, sin and judgment are most certainly real, but they are not the center of the story. Yes, fear can be a powerful short-term motivator, but it lacks a mature and full vision of God. These things are not the beginning, center, or end of the story we believe. Our story begins with a God who creates in love and purpose, a God who refuses to abandon us even when sin and brokenness enter the scene. At the heart of this story is a God who, in Christ, lovingly works to redeem and restore that which was lost, and the final chapter is one of heaven and earth united under the loving reign of God. It is God, the God who is love, who stands at the center of this story. Such a God - and such a love - cannot be overemphasized.

Some might genuinely believe that emphasizing God’s love “too much” may lead to people not changing or sin and judgment not being taken seriously. But diminishing or qualifying the love of God will only allow fear to creep its way into the center of the story. Perhaps we need to emphasize the love of God even more, trusting that perfect love will cast out fear and, as John tells us, this perfect love will also be made complete among us so that we are like Jesus in this world. The truth is, love is a deeper and more lasting motivator than fear. Love has the power to transform while fear can only destroy. Love will guard one’s heart, mind, and life more closely than fear ever could. Maybe if we are afraid of overemphasizing God’s love, then we are the ones who have yet to understand it.