As we go on in this line of thought, in the background we should keep Reformed theology in mind. No matter how pious it sounds and no matter how biblical we are in the sense of being in line with scholarly Reformed theology, we must remember that the heart of Reformed theology must be the heart of what is biblical. If we do not have at the heart of our theology, even if it is orthodox, the biblical God, then we have an idolatrous theology. A theology that agrees with orthodox confessions by the letter can still be idolatrous if we have a different God than found in the Bible and by the authors and signers of the confessions. The God of the Bible is supreme in all that He does and is all about His own glory in love to Himself as triune. Regardless of our orthodoxy and confessions, if we have a God that is focused on human beings and His love is determined by how He behaves toward them, then we have a god that is an idol rather than the biblical God.
With the previous paragraph in mind, could it be that the massive paradigm shift that has occurred within Christianity as a whole and Reformed thinking specifically has moved dramatically with regards to what love means and what it means for God to be love? What does “God is love” really mean? We see that on church signs and we hear it over and over, but many things are assumed by that statement. In fact, there is a massive theology necessary to sustain the statement as it relates to the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture. The statement is certainly biblical, but it is also a statement that can be massively heretical depending on what one means by it. In fact, all liberals who have any belief in God at all would agree that God is love. But they would mean something entirely different by it than a conservative believer. But then the modern conservative believer would mean something entirely different than Jonathan Edwards and others would have meant.
The more I reflect on the statement “God is love,” the more I see how important it is to be clear on what it does mean. If we are man-centered or even think of ourselves as God-centered (where God has a focus on man), we will think of that statement, with its corresponding theology, in a far different way than one who thinks of God being God-centered. The idea of God and His love will naturally have a heavy weight of influence on the way we think of the Gospel and what it means for God to love a human being. The idea of God and His love influences the way we go about doing anything in life. In other words, if we are wrong on what the statement “God is love” means, then we go way off the path in many other beliefs as well. If in fact one vital part of God is that “God is love,” then if we have that wrong we are at the very least very close to a different idea of the true God. If the way we think of “God is love” has a great influence on why we do evangelism and missions, we must get this right. If this has a lot to do with how we view ourselves and other human beings, then this is something we must get right.
But the statement “God is love” seems so self-evident that this has to be an easy statement to deal with. How could we be wrong on something so simple and clear? But we must always remember that we are fallen human beings. As fallen human beings we do not see the truth of God with any degree of clarity at all apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. It is also true that what we do see we want to distort and suppress. If we think of the love of God as something self-evident because we think we know what love is, we are terribly wrong on the issue. We must force ourselves to the reality of the issue and that is that Scripture must teach us the true nature of love and that the character of God is what determines what love is rather than our fallen minds and natures.
If it is true that fallen humans suppress the truth of God and trade the glory of God for a lie, why do we think that the love of God (essential to God) is something that is easy to understand and easy to accept? An example would be helpful at this point. When perfect love came and walked on earth, He did nothing that was not in accordance with the perfect love of God and that was not an expression of perfect love. Yet He was mocked, persecuted, and then killed. We must understand that fallen man hates God and therefore hates true love. We are terribly deceived if we think that by being loving we can talk a fallen man into changing his mind about God. Fallen men hate the true God of love whenever they see it or hear of it. We are greatly mistaken if we think that we can present the love of God in its true form and fallen man will love it. It is a sign that our generation has fallen far away from the truth of God when no one gets mad at us when we talk of the love of God. It is a sign that our preaching is really at odds with the truth of God when unregenerate men will hear us gladly without some hostility. Oh, some will say, we just need to be more gracious. Perhaps that is another word that we have linked with grace and then with love. Perhaps it is just an excuse to be nice without the true love that flows from the true God. Perhaps we should go to Scripture on our knees asking God to show us Himself and therefore what true love is.
God Loves... Himself 
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