One has to see at least four things in order to behold the glorious truth of God’s love for God. First, one has to understand some basic things concerning the Trinity. Second, one must understand that the Father loves and shines His glory in and through the Son and the Son loves the Father. According to Hebrews 1:3, the Son is the very shining forth of the glory of God. Third, that Jesus Christ is very God of very God even when clothed in human flesh, which is to say that the second Person of the Trinity was united to a human body in such a way that the human body manifested the glory of God as the Spirit worked in the humanity of Christ. Four, the Holy Spirit is at the very least the power behind all acts of love. A fifth part could be added and that is all the evidence from Scripture that God does all for Himself, His name’s sake, and His own glory. When the fifth part is seen in light of the nature of the Trinity, it is inescapable that God loves Himself and does all things out of that love for Himself. So the four things are necessary to see this great truth, but the fifth adds luster and more weight to the case.
In the previous Blog we looked at how there is in fact only one God. This is a basic truth which must not be denied and cannot be denied in terms of truth and Christianity. The only real questions in this have to do with how we are to know this true God and how this one God exists within Himself. The doctrine of the Trinity is a necessary doctrine in order to consistently understand all the biblical data that God has given in revealing Himself. John 3:35 teaches us that the Father is a Person and the Son is also a Person and that the Father loves the Son: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. A few more verses on this are listed below.
Isaiah 42:1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.
John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love
John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Matthew 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”
Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
The verses listed above show several things, but at least it seems undeniable that the Father does in fact love the Son. It is really very simple in one sense. God the Father loves God the Son, but there is only one God. Therefore, the one God exists in at least two Persons (just from the verses above) and this God loves Himself. However, if we look a little closer at Isaiah 42:1 we see that God’s Servant (who is Christ) is delighted in by God and that the Spirit is given to Him. In John 17:25-26 we see that there was a love “with which” the Father loved the Son. It was not just that the Father loved the Son, but that there was a love with which the Father loved the Son and which the Son prayed would be in His people (them). The Holy Spirit is this love, which is to say that the fruit of the Spirit is love and that He is the love that flows between the Father and the Son. This pictures the fellowship of the Spirit in II Corinthians 13:14 and the love of God in and by the Spirit seen in I John 4.
The focus for the moment, however, is to note that God the Father loves God the Son and that this is consistent with the biblical teaching that there is one God. John 1:1 teaches us that the Word (Logos) was face to face with the Father and John 1:18 speaks of “the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father.” One who is really God is not born God and so this is looking at some eternal generation that happens within the Godhead. It is the only begotten God that is in the bosom of the Father and as such is beloved of the Father. One who is eternally in the bosom of another is loved eternally by the other. So this clearly and specifically shows us one way that Jesus revealed God to us. Not only was Jesus God in human flesh, He was the eternally loved second Person of the Trinity in terms of His divine nature. Part of the very essence of God, then, is that His oneness consists of at least the Father and the Son. This shows that God lives in love for Himself and it is a glorious teaching that God loves Himself. In fact, it is the basis for prayer and for all that He does.
God Loves... Himself 
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