InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
Does God love Himself? I've struggled my whole Christian life with this question along with the question of whether God values His own glory more than His creation. But I'm joyful beyond measure that I don't have to struggle anymore with the anxiety I've experienced with these weighty questions. I can see it clearly now.
The big problem with the question "Does God love Himself" is that it disregards the fact that God is the Trinity. When the question is presented like that, the answer must be both "yes" and "no." When we look at the persons of God the Trinity, we can see that each person of the Trinity loves each other with an eternal and holy love which has both a positive and a negative aspect to it; it is positive in that it seeks the well-being of the others, and it is negative in that it disregards its own well-being in order to accomplish the former. Does God love Himself? Yes, each person of God loves each other. No, each person of God denies Himself for the well-being of the others.
Then what about God's self-glorification? If God does all things ultimately for His own glory, and every person of the Trinity is equally glorious and deserving of worship, doesn't this mean each person of the Trinity should love themselves? Not so. God is indeed jealous for His own glory, and to be more precise, every person of the Trinity rightly seeks not only the glory of each other but also themselves. Now, is this not love? Well, it is love, but it is not love for oneself. Observe that when one person of the Trinity loves the others, this requires Him to not only glorify the others but also Himself, since they are one. For a person of the Trinity to glorify Himself is to simply delight in Himself. But if He were to love Himself, and if every other person of the Trinity would also love themselves, that would result in a chaos where no one could sacrifice himself for the others, unless one loved himself less than the others, which would suggest that the one was less glorious than the others.
The great truth, therefore, is that each person of the Trinity denies Himself and loves the others, and that this love results in them all glorifying and delighting in both each other and themselves. It is exactly this disregard that each person of the Trinity has for their own well-being (not glory!) that makes God so glorious. You see then that the difference between God's self-denial and ours is that the persons of God only disregard their own well-being, while we are to deny both our own well-being and glory.
The big problem with the question "Does God love Himself" is that it disregards the fact that God is the Trinity. When the question is presented like that, the answer must be both "yes" and "no." When we look at the persons of God the Trinity, we can see that each person of the Trinity loves each other with an eternal and holy love which has both a positive and a negative aspect to it; it is positive in that it seeks the well-being of the others, and it is negative in that it disregards its own well-being in order to accomplish the former. Does God love Himself? Yes, each person of God loves each other. No, each person of God denies Himself for the well-being of the others.
Then what about God's self-glorification? If God does all things ultimately for His own glory, and every person of the Trinity is equally glorious and deserving of worship, doesn't this mean each person of the Trinity should love themselves? Not so. God is indeed jealous for His own glory, and to be more precise, every person of the Trinity rightly seeks not only the glory of each other but also themselves. Now, is this not love? Well, it is love, but it is not love for oneself. Observe that when one person of the Trinity loves the others, this requires Him to not only glorify the others but also Himself, since they are one. For a person of the Trinity to glorify Himself is to simply delight in Himself. But if He were to love Himself, and if every other person of the Trinity would also love themselves, that would result in a chaos where no one could sacrifice himself for the others, unless one loved himself less than the others, which would suggest that the one was less glorious than the others.
The great truth, therefore, is that each person of the Trinity denies Himself and loves the others, and that this love results in them all glorifying and delighting in both each other and themselves. It is exactly this disregard that each person of the Trinity has for their own well-being (not glory!) that makes God so glorious. You see then that the difference between God's self-denial and ours is that the persons of God only disregard their own well-being, while we are to deny both our own well-being and glory.