Yes thanks for the comments. Calvin was a brilliant man no doubt and very meticulous and precise . He knew the Bible inside and out. And for that very reason he was well aware that God being Love was his Achilles Heal with his problematic dogma. God is Love counters tulip, the Calvinist view of Sovereignty and is a stumbling block with their doctrines.I'm glad you pointed this out. I looked at the index in my copy, and you're right. I looked in the index of his treatise Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God and he doesn't use them there either.
I also happen to have Calvin's commentaries, as well (I know-it appears as if I'm a huge fan, and at one time I was). Here's something wild, he skips 1 John 4:8 altogether, straight from 7 to 9. Here is what he says at the end of v.7
Away, then, with that foolish gloss respecting unformed faith. For when any one separates faith from love, it is the same as though he attempted to take away heat from the sun.
Well, what could that mean? He tells us because he does comment on 4:16:
God is love. This is as it were the minor proposition in an argument; for from faith to love he reasons in this way: By faith God dwells in us, and God is love; then, wherever God abides, love ought to be there. Hence it follows that love is necessarily connected with faith.
Calvin flat out rejects that God loves all. It looks like God's love is only in relation to those predetermined to salvation, i.e., faith. I don't know if Calvin ever comes out and rejects love as an essential attribute of God, but it would seem what he says here would support such a rejection. Plus, for Calvin, the only aspect of God that really matters is the divine will, which is inscrutable. Ironically, I don't think he ever uses the word "sovereignty" in the Institutes.
I agree that this absence of love as an essential attribute that is in relation to all is a problem. It's no wonder Calvinists are so adamant that God does not love all. Those passages only refer to those who have faith.
My study the past few years deep diving into the Tri-Unity of Gods Being has opened my eyes to Gods love as a primary one based upon the Eternal/Immutable nature of Gods relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit based upon love. God is Self Sufficient and has no needs outside of Himself. Most other attributes we discuss about God have to do with His Creation and the Fall. But once we examine who God is at His core we get a better understanding of His character and nature. And when we read about the description of love in the N.T. we discover Gods real love for all mankind, not just a select few. Its a universal love for all mankind, an atonement that has in it a provision for all and a free will given by God to man to choose Christ or reject Him. A love that is not forced, for that is a narcissistic love not a sacrificial love. And we know the love of God which sent His only Son to be the sacrifice/atonement for the sins of the world.
Only a loving God creates man that can freely choose to love Him with no coercion, force, predetermination or violation of mans will. Calvinism does not teach that kind of Loving God.
hope this helps !!!
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