The Trinity and God's Attribute of Love

1. If God possesses the attribute of love, as the Holy Bible says he does:

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… And so we know
and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in him." 1 John 4:8, 16
 2. And if God is perfect, as the Holy Bible says he is:

"He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who
does no wrong, upright and just is he." Deuteronomy 32:4

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for
all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

 3. With perfection implying that that God lacks nothing and is immutable:

"I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed."
Malachi 3:6

"And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself

gives all men life and breath and everything else." Acts 17:25

"He also says, ‘In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the
heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all
wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be
changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.’" Hebrews 1:10-
12

"Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to
the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by
two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled
to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged." Hebrews 6:17-18

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything." James 1:4
 4. Then God must be perfectly loving.

Yet a perfectly loving Being cannot perfectly love if he is not sharing that love with at
least one other, since perfect love exists between at least two distinct entities. After
all, love demands a subject who loves and an object that is loved. Moreover, a belief
in God’s immutability and self-sufficiency (his aseity) requires that his love be not
dependent upon the existence of creatures.
 5. Thus, if Islam is correct that God is a solitary deity, a unitarian monad, then he
would not be perfectly loving since there was a time in which this God was not
expressing perfect love since there was no one for him to love.

CONCLUSION – WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

6. Hence, the Christian concept of God as a Triune Being comports perfectly with
this philosophical understanding of Divine love since there are three eternally
distinct, yet inseparable Persons of God that love one another completely:

"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven
was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well
pleased.’" Matthew 3:16-17

"After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high
mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His
clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter
said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for
you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what to say, they were so
frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the
cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’ Suddenly, when they looked
around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus." Mark 9:2-8

"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I
love; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they talked the
matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be
ours.’" Luke 20:13-14

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through
Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being… He
was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know
Him… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth… No one has
seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has explained Him." John 1:1-3, 10, 14, 18 NASB
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35

"For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he
will show him even greater things than these." John 5:20

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you
obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's
commands and remain in his love." John 15:9-10

"And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before
the world began… Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am,
and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the
creation of the world." John 17:5, 24

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before
the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined
us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure
and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One
he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God's grace." Ephesians 1:3-7

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all
things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the
body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in
everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his
fullness dwell in him," Colossians 1:13-19

As noted Christian philosopher and theologian Richard Swinburne puts it:

"There is something profoundly imperfect and therefore inadequately divine in a

solitary divine individual. If such an individual is love, he must share, and sharing
with finite beings such as humans is not sharing all of one's nature and so is imperfect
sharing. A divine individual's love has to be manifested in a sharing with another
divine individual, and that (to keep the divine unity) means (in some sense) within the
Godhead, that is, in mutual dependence and support." (Swinburne, The Christian
God [Oxford University Press, USA, November 24, 1994], p. 190)