The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
Week 18: Chapter 18 — The Love of God
Read Chapter 18: The Love of God of The Knowledge of the Holy. Key passage: 1 John 4:8-10; John 3:16.
Previewing Week 18 of The Knowledge of the Holy
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 24-week guide when you’re ready.
"God is love" — perhaps the most quoted four words in Christian theology. Tozer fears we have made them so familiar that we no longer feel their force. This chapter is his attempt to restore the shock.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Tozer warns that "God is love" is often sentimentalized — reduced to a kind of cosmic niceness that tolerates everything and demands nothing. How does he argue that God's love, properly understood, is both warmer and more demanding than the sentimental version?
2.He insists that love is not one attribute among others for God but is what God is in His entire being. Yet he also insists that God's love is perfectly consistent with His holiness and justice. How do those truths hold together without either softening love or softening holiness?
3.Tozer reflects on the paradox that God loves us despite knowing us completely. Most human love is at least partly based on what we find attractive or admirable. What does it mean that God's love for us precedes and is not caused by anything good in us?