11月10日 神就是爱
11月10日，周一
神就是爱
亲爱的，我们应当彼此相爱，因为爱是从 神那里来的。凡是爱人的，都是从 神生的，并且认识神。不爱人的，就不认识神，因为神就是爱。（约翰壹书4:7-8）
“神就是爱。”没有人能反驳这句话；我们怀着敬畏来思想它，几乎不敢分析。我只想指出：约翰并不是仅说“神爱我们”或“神有爱心”，而是更进一步地说：“神就是爱。”爱是神的本质；神的本性就是爱；你不能思想神而不思想爱……同样地，他早先也说过：“神是光。”（约壹1:5），这表明神的爱从不与祂的圣洁、公义、真理相冲突。而根据神的纯一性（divine simplicity）可以得出，神并非由彼此分割的属性拼合而成；因此，当我们说“神就是爱”时，绝非把“爱”当作凌驾在其他属性之上的唯一定义，而是承认神全然所是的一切，神在祂的一切作为中完美一致地流露为圣洁的爱、真理的爱、公义的爱。这超越了人类的想象，远非我们所能完全理解的；但我们对神的认识必须从此出发。
奥古斯丁等教父据此推论出“三位一体”的教义——我认为这极有道理：神是爱，就宣告了三一神——圣父神爱圣子，圣灵的位格是那爱的连结。啊！这是崇高的真理，超越了我们所能测透的一切。我所知道的只是：神在祂的本性与存有上的最本质就是爱；若不以爱来思想神，就根本不能思想祂。神所是的一切、神所行的一切，都带着爱的色彩，正如祂的一切作为也都带着光的特质。神显现自己时，总是以光与爱来显现。
“因此，”约翰说，“既然这是神的根本本性，这就对我们有这样的结果：既然神是爱，我们就当彼此相爱。因为爱是从神来的。”换句话说，爱出于神，爱流自于神。好像约翰在对我们说：“神就是爱，而我所讲的这种爱，只能从神而来——爱是源于祂。”
默想主题：
神在祂的本性与存有上的最本质就是爱。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：王下23章，来5章
个人灵修：珥2章，诗142篇
November 10, Monday
GOD IS LOVE
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 JOHN 4:7-8)
“God is love.” No one can answer against that; one trembles even to handle it; it cannot be analyzed. I simply want to point out that John does not say merely that God loves us or that God is loving. He goes beyond that. He says, “God is love.” God essentially is love; God’s nature is love; you cannot think of God without love.
Of course he has already told us that God is light in exactly the same way—that was the first pronouncement. “This then is the message . . . God is light” (1 John 1:5); and in exactly the same way “God is love” and God is spirit. This battles the imagination; it is something that is altogether beyond our comprehension, and yet we start with it.
Augustine and others deduce from this the doctrine of the Trinity. I think there may be a great deal in that; the very fact that God is love declares the Trinity—God the Father loves the Son, and the link is the person of the Holy Spirit. Ah! this high doctrine; it is beyond us. All I know is that God, in the very essence of His nature and being, is love, and you cannot think of God and must not think of Him except in terms of love. Everything that God is and does is colored by this; all God’s actions have this aspect of love in them and the aspect of light in the same way. That is how God always manifests Himself—light and love.
“Therefore, because that is the fundamental postulate, because that is so true of God,” John is saying, “that works itself out for us like this: Because God is love, we ought to love one another. For ‘love is of God.’” In other words, love is from God, love flows from God. It is as if John were turning to these people and saying, “God loves, and this love I am talking about is something that only comes from God—it is derived from Him.”
A Thought to Ponder: God, in the very essence of His nature and being, is love.