What Does It Mean to Love God?

The Big Questions series – the biggest question

The short answer: be kind to each other like God is kind to us. Think not? He lets us live and tolerates our shortcomings. For some that’s huge. Maybe it’s huge for us all. Probably is for me. 🙂

(Videocast on YouTube.)

The complicated answer

The concept of love is the most significant aspect of Judaism and Christianity. It’s the lens through which we interpret the Bible. But love in the Bible is clouded by centuries of culture and multiple definitions of love. Defining the Hebrew and Greek words for love is interesting, but it doesn’t lead us anywhere.

I emphasize context over the literal word interpretation. But some words are significant, so I’ll acknowledge them in this article or podcast.

You may have heard that love is a verb, implying action. Love in the Bible is used as both a noun and a verb. But love is less a feeling or esoteric than a state of being and an action.

Love is the second commandment. Jesus referred to the second commandment with the first when he could have just left it out, which indicates its significance. Jesus quoted the first from the book of Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5 (NASB)

Then Jesus quoted the second from the Book of Leviticus: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:18 (NASB)

Further obscuring this is confusion over commandments. Most of us, when we think of commandments, think of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Aren’t those most important? They’re not first or second. The Second Commandment comes from the “Holiness Code” in Leviticus. It seems like people select which commandments are most pertinent to them. Nothing new here.

What did the ancients mean by love of God?

In Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 quoted above, the words translated love is a root word, ahab, meaning to have affection, love, or like friendship. “To have” is a verb or state of being which aligns more with action than feelings. In my opinion it’s something that moves you to do things. It’s compelling.

The other Hebrew word for love, hesed [noun: chesed; verb: chasad], comes from the root meaning ‘eager and ardent desire.’ It means kindness or love between people. It specifically refers to the devotional piety [reverence, religious] of people towards God as well as God’s love or mercy towards humanity.

Having affection for something in a way that moves you to action is similar to an expressed kind of “loving kindness,” or “charity.” These are characteristics of God’s actions toward people, and then of what God asks us to do for others. Being kind to others is a major teaching in Judaism and is emphasized in much of Christianity.

In researching the develop of the idea of love in the Bible and other religions, I saw that for centuries God expressed his love for people yet didn’t ask people to love. As the Bible timeline moved forward love became a big ask. God first loved us. Only then did God ask us to love others.

Security for those who trust in God

A writer of Psalms said, ““Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”” – psalm 91: 14-16 (NASB)

The Bible says that God offers security to those who love God. Like the birds of the field, Jesus explained, we won’t starve, go naked, or lack shelter. And if we do go naked the police will gladly pick us up and give us food, clothing, and shelter. Funny how that works out.

It’s even stranger that we apply this security to ourselves but ignore the plight of those who are doing without, usually blaming them rather than helping them.

The word used for love in this Psalm verse is a primary root word, chashaq, which means to delight in.

This idea of delighting in God leads us to a related idea that can give us context. That is, delighting in Judaism’s Law.

Love the Law in Judaism

“I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.”

“O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” The word used for love in this verses means affection.

This sounds vaguely like some lawyers I know, but the Law in Judaism was religious, civil, and moral law that was also viewed as state law until Alexander the Great moved in and usurped it with Greek government.

There were laws about weights and measures for selling things without fraud or cheating. There were laws about suspending newlyweds from military service. There were even laws about fighting fair. Apparently in those days fighting was considered normal and legal if you left certain body parts out of it. Things change.

The 613 Laws of Judaism were seen as instructions for living from God.

Why would people love the law? Well, not everyone in ancient Judaism did. Some found the 613 laws plus the teachings of the fathers (Oral Law) of Judaism to be a major burden that couldn’t be perfectly obeyed, which left them open to religious penalties. The Law created contentious issues that were difficult to interpret so they caused endless arguments and divisions.

There were various ways of viewing the Law:

The Sadducee group who ruled the religious nation were sticklers for the letter of the law, interpreting it very strictly, and emphasizing ceremony. It was less important to them what the law meant. Many of the laws were ceremonial and the officious Sadducees reveled in them. Many were about feasts and other traditions which the people liked.

Compared to the Sadducees, the Pharisees of the time were more concerned with interpreting the Law in order to make it fit the times. They tried to understand what it actually meant – the spirit of the law.  They continued doing this for centuries for Jews who had fled the land after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem and the land in 128 AD. Their interpretations helped Judaism continue.

The Scribes of the time lived in each village and interpreted the Law like resident attorneys. They often changed the wording to make the Law palatable to everyone.

The Essenes believed that the law was a way to achieve perfection.

Rabbis (teachers) were religious leaders in that they received formal education in Judaism in Hebrew schools. The Apostle Paul received this formal education. The Rabbis led worship services in synagogues where they read from scrolls and interpreted them. Other than from their schools, they had no official religious persuasion than Judaism.

Many found the Law to be a gift from God that helped them live a moral and ethical life leading to God’s favor and some type of salvation. It’s likely it was this group who had very high regard for the Law, as well as Jesus.

Jesus emphasized that we are to become like God, meaning flawless and loving others, through forgiveness and our actions.

More about this under context below.

What did Jesus mean by love of God?

Jesus was a Jew and spoke to Jews about Judaism. When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment in the law, he responded: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.””

Of the six ancient Greek words for love, some of which Jesus used at other times, he chose the one more closely aligned with ancient Judaism’s idea of loving God. He used the word “agape.”

Agape is a word rarely used in Greek literature. Where it derived from is uncertain, but it looks like it was a shortened form of similar words in use for well over a century before.

Agape is widely viewed by scholars to mean the highest love, the love of God for man, and of man for God. It literally means “to love in a social or moral sense” according to Bible lexicographer James Strong. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, in their lexicon, translated it as “to love,” and “the love of God for man and man’s love for God.”

Jesus emphasized the importance of this type of love by saying that all of the Jewish laws and all that the prophets said depend on this idea of love. So it’s well established that to love God is in a social or moral sense.

Love in context of Judaism

Seeing inside Judaism and the words Jesus spoke to the Jews helps our understanding. God was the creator of all and the law giver and favored them as a nation. To be pleasing to the Most High was sure to bring God’s favor in life. Jews believe God chose them to be his example nation through Abraham and Moses. They were to be an example for other nations.

Identity is a very strong motivator for feeling apart from others and right. The Jews believed they were separate from others by their privileged position and some at the time of Jesus thought it was illegal to associate with outsiders.

They believed that if they obeyed the laws they had even greater standing. Their sacred texts, which held love as their highest standard, were held in very high regard in their identity.

Judaism had a very strong cultural and religious identity pervasive throughout the land. They had many ceremonies and feasts part of everyday life. Pleasing God and the love of others was also pervasive throughout the land. Jewish customs generally reflect treating others as yourself.

The Jewish attitude about The Law, as we’ve seen through this article, was that they had both high regard for it and affection for it. It was who they were and a part of everyday life.

God is a figure without form or substance in Judaism. They were prohibited from making physical representations of God and could not give God a name. So God was represented in people’s minds by the Law and by ideas about being chosen and favor. To love God is to love the Law. To love the Law is to obey the Law. To obey the law is to love God. Loving others is a major part of the Law.

Jesus helps us understand

Jesus said to the Jews, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”” – John 14:21 (NASB)

This is synonymous with the Jewish attitude about loving God. Jesus sent his twelve apostles into the greater world to give them his message of love and forgiveness, without the Jewish Law.

The Apostle John, who walked with Jesus, said: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” 1 John 4: 11, 12 (NASB)

In this John confirms that there is no physical representation of God that we can know. God is spirit and God is love, and we’re given God’s spirit. God’s love is perfected in us. The love we show to others reflects God’s love for us. God is spirit and love is our representation of God.

In the next verse John clarifies this: “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” – 1 John 4: 19-21 (NASB)

So what Jesus and his Apostle John make clear is that we are to love others the same as God loves us and we love God.

What does the Apostle Paul tell us about love?

Details are important. Love is an abstract thought and we really have difficulty understanding it without its description as an example. Loving others as God loves us is the purest form of worship and love for God.

The Apostle Paul did an excellent job of telling us what it means to love others in a letter to the Corinthian Church (1 Corinthians 13, NASB). He used the word “agape” for love just as Jesus did:

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Paul explains how we act out of love:

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

(….)

“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

What does this mean to us?

Love is the highest ideal of Judaism, Christianity, and most religions. It’s inseparable from love of God. God is love and we’re to love as God loves. God is in us and works in us to make this so.

When we peel away the cultural elements clouding Judaism and Christianity and all the confusing proliferation of words, we can put love in context and perspective. It’s the most critical thing of all.

From Jewish tradition we understand that God is not an object. God can’t be personified by an animal, a tree, a name, or some other object. The Apostle John tells us that God is love, and love is both a noun and a verb – it’s internalized as a social attitude toward others and compels us into action. God is spirit and those who worship God must worship in  spirit and truth. And we are made in God’s image which is spirit.

We understand God by what God stands for, which is the highest ideals which motivate and compel us into action, and those are morals and love of others.

Yet we also have to realize that sometimes such esoteric words as love and spirit and even morals, and the idea of a caring God, are not clearly understood by people. So we have representatives of God such as Jesus to show us the way. And the Apostles further clarified what Jesus meant.

As the Apostle Paul summarized as an example for us, love isn’t spouting high-sounding words – it’s just a lot of noise. Love is a state of being that results in kindness. It’s what we do for others and how we treat them, not how we feel about others.

But even actions can come from the wrong place – what we do must come from love, not obligation or ego or being showy to gain others’ attention.

Love tolerates others and their foibles. Love is more important than faith and hope. Love compels us into action.

Love is at the heart of our being. Our love testifies to our character and connection to God.

We are to be like God’s love. People who convey God’s love in word and deed. Love is what we do for others.

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Note that my research for this article-post utilized Google Bard for additional information and comparison, but it was written by me from my point of view. Bard performed very well and the results are shown below.

You might also enjoy my podcast, Our Times today and tomorrow and article series on Substack, which delves more deeply into a wide variety of topics with a spirituality focus.

From Google Bard, from questions inspired by my knowledge, for comparison

Bard did well!

What Is God in Judaism?

In Judaism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. God is also the source of all morality and justice. Jews believe that God is personal and involved in the world, and that God cares about each individual.

The Hebrew name for God is YHWH, which is traditionally pronounced as “Yahweh.” This name is considered to be so holy that it is not spoken aloud by Jews. Instead, Jews refer to God as “Adonai,” which means “Lord.”

The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, tells the story of God’s relationship with the Israelites. The Torah teaches that God chose the Israelites to be God’s special people, and that God gave them the Ten Commandments as a guide for living a moral life.

The Talmud, the collection of Jewish oral law and tradition, elaborates on the teachings of the Torah. The Talmud teaches that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. It also teaches that God is merciful and just.

Judaism emphasizes the importance of studying and learning about God. Jews believe that the more they learn about God, the closer they will come to God.

There are many different ways to understand God in Judaism. Some Jews believe that God is a personal being who intervenes in the world. Others believe that God is a force of nature or a universal principle. Still others believe that God is beyond human understanding.

No matter how Jews understand God, they all agree that God is the source of all that is good in the world. God is the one who gives us life, love, and hope. God is the one who we can turn to for guidance and support. God is the one who we can thank for all the blessings in our lives.

What does it mean to Love God?

Loving God is a complex concept that has been interpreted in many different ways throughout history. In general, however, loving God can be understood as a deep and abiding commitment to God, a desire to please God, and a willingness to obey God’s commands.

There are many different ways to express love for God. Some people express their love for God through prayer, worship, and meditation. Others express their love for God through service to others, acts of kindness, and charity. Still others express their love for God through their words and actions, by living a life that is consistent with God’s values.

No matter how it is expressed, loving God is a lifelong journey. It is a journey that requires us to grow in our understanding of God, to deepen our relationship with God, and to become more like God.

Here are some specific ways to love God:

Pray. Prayer is a way of communicating with God and expressing our love for God.

Worship. Worship is a way of showing our love and appreciation for God.

Read the Bible. The Bible is God’s word, and reading it can help us to learn more about God and to grow in our love for God.

Serve others. Serving others is a way of showing our love for God, because God loves all people.

Be kind and compassionate. Kindness and compassion are qualities that God embodies, and we can show our love for God by being kind and compassionate to others.

Forgive others. Forgiveness is a powerful act of love, and it is something that God has modeled for us.

Live a moral life. God is the source of all morality, and we can show our love for God by living a moral life.

Loving God is not always easy, but it is always worth it. When we love God, we are filled with joy, peace, and hope. We are also more likely to live a happy and fulfilling life.

What was the attitude toward “the law” in ancient judaism?

The attitude toward “the law” in ancient Judaism was complex and varied. Some Jews viewed the law as a gift from God, a way to live a moral and ethical life, and a path to salvation. Others viewed the law as a burden, a set of rules that were difficult to follow and that could not be perfectly obeyed. Still others viewed the law as a contract between God and the Israelites, a way to maintain God’s favor and to ensure God’s protection.

The law was also seen as a way to distinguish Jews from other peoples. The Israelites were God’s chosen people, and the law was a way to mark them as such. The law also served as a way to preserve Jewish identity and culture.

The law was not always easy to follow, and there were many disagreements about how to interpret it. However, the law was an important part of Jewish life and identity, and it continues to be so today.

Here are some specific examples of how the law was viewed in ancient Judaism:

The Pharisees believed that the law was binding on all Jews, and that it was possible to achieve salvation through obedience to the law.

The Sadducees believed that only the written law was binding, and that the oral law was not authoritative. They also believed that it was impossible to achieve salvation through obedience to the law.

The Essenes believed that the law was a way to achieve perfection and to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. They lived in isolated communities and followed a strict interpretation of the law.

The law was a central part of Jewish life in ancient times, and it continues to be so today. It is a source of guidance, inspiration, and identity for Jews around the world.

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The standard of belief and conduct for Christianity is love. God is love. We’re asked to be like God.

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Our answer is God. God’s answer is us. Together we make the world better.

– Dorian