LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Thesis and Summary
Submitted to Dr. Todd Buck
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
THEO 626
Doctrine of God
by
10 April, 2025
RESEARCH PROJECT: THESIS AND SUMMARY ASSIGNMENT
Statement of Topic:
The topic of this research paper seeks to conclude the nature of God being love.
Proposed Thesis Statement:
What this project is seeking to do is hone in on the nature and essence of God and how his love
is both who he is and what he does.
Project Summary:
Love is not at question, we know that God is loving. He displayed this through his
attributes of mercy, grace, and by sending the Son to die on the Cross. However, what this
project really seeks to understand is how God is love. As John states in 1 John 4:16, “So we have
come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in
love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (ESV, emphasis added). How is it that love is
attributed to God as a characteristic, but John’s words make it sounds like it is the essence of his
whole being? That is what this project seeks to find out.
A set of questions for this project are: What is this love? How is God love? Is love who
He is, what he does, or both? How is this love put on display for us to see? And, How does his
love change people? Answering these questions will be the main body of the paper, and will
serve as the body. While the conclusion will tie everything together in an understanding of Gods
loving nature and how that nature is poured out onto creation.
Preliminary Bibliography:
Bray, Gerald. L. The Doctrine of God. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1993.
Feinberg, John S. 2006. No One Like Him. Crossway.
Manning, Brennan. 2015. Abba’s Child. NavPress
Miles, Margaret R., and Philosophy Documentation Center. “How St. Augustine Could Love the
God in Whom He Believed.” Augustinian Studies 54, no. 1 (2023): 23–42.
doi:10.5840/augstudies20234676.
Piolata, Thomas. “God Is Love: An Investigation of Bonaventure’s Theology of the Essential Love
of God.” Nova et Vetera (Denver, CO.) 23, no. 1 (2025): 237–61.
doi:10.1353/nov.2025.a953636.
Tozer, A W. 2017. Jesus. Moody Publishers.
Van der Merwe, Dirk G. “‘Lived Experiences’ of the Love of God According to 1 John 4 : A
Spirituality of Love.” In Die Skriflig : Tydskrif van Die Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging
51, no. 3 (2017): 1–8. doi:10.4102/ids.v51i3.2169.
Bibliography Summary:
Bray’s book, The Doctrine of God, is a deep dive into all his characteristics and attributes
including God’s love.
Feinbergs, No One Like Him, gives an big emphasis on Gods relational qualities and will help
with answering the question about how God’s love changes people.
Mannings, Abba’s Child, is another wonderful book that focuses on how understanding God’s
love changes the individual not just culture or society.
Miles’ article, How St. Augustine Could Love the God in Whom He Believed, gives a great deep
dive into 1 John 4L16 and how God could both be loving and also determine the fate of his
creation.
Piolata’s article, God Is Love: An Investigation of Bonaventure’s Theology of the Essential Love of
God, speaks to defining God’s love essentially, notionally, and personally in regards to the Holy
Spirit.
This Tozer compilation book simply called, Jesus, will be helpful because it is imperative to bring
the sacrificial lamb for all humanity into the conversation about God’s love. Jesus did the most
loving action of all, and it will be worth discussing his sacrifice.
Van der Merwe’s article, Lived Experiences’ of the Love of God According to 1 John 4 : A
Spirituality of Love, will be helpful because it goes into the whole of 1 John 4, while there is a
focus on verse 16, it would be theologically and academically irresponsible to not look at the
whole chapter.
