D. A. Carson in his book "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God," speaks of the Scriptures laying out the love of God in at least five different ways:
1. The love of the Father for the Son (Jn 3:35; 5:20) and of the Son for the Father (Jn 14:31).
2. God's providential love over the entire universe (Gen 1:31; Matt 5:45, 46).
3. God's yearning, inviting, seeking, saving love (Jn 3:16; Ezek 33:11).
4. God's choosing love, his selective love (Deut 7:7-8; 10:15; Mal 1:2-3; Rom 9:10-12; Eph 5:25).
5. God's conditional love (Ex 20:6; Jn 15:10; Jud 21).
This has really made me think on a number of different levels. First, these are not five different "loves," but rather five different ways the Bible speaks of God's love. Second, I believe it has made things more clear as I consider this attribute of God in its complexity and perfection. Third, I am now more guarded against using so many different clichés about God's love.
For instance, do I always think of God's love as "unconditional" or are there instances when the Bible requires some condition to be met? And does God really love everyone the same way and to the same extent or is there a sense in which God's love for His children differs from His love for the unjust?
"Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:26
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