All types of Christians appear to believe that there is a duty laid upon us all to love others, especially those in need. Yet in this agreement there is disagreement as to what precisely is meant by “loving one’s neighbor as oneself.”

In contrast, there is no agreement that there is a duty – at least on this earth – for Christians to love God. Some say that all we can achieve in this world is to believe in God and to trust him. Others say that “love in action”  is God and that in being loving to anyone on this earth we are loving God.

Perhaps the insights of St Bernard of Clairvaux can help us as they are found in his little book on the love of God [De Diligendo Dei]. It has four stages:

Self for self; God for self; God for God & self for God.

The place where each of us begins is the loving of one’s self.  However, in this position a man will come to realize for all kinds of reasons, not least the need for peaceful life together in community, that he must have some love for his neighbor. And, in seeking to fulfill this obligation, he will recognize that without God’s help he cannot really begin to live a meaningful life and care for his fellow man. (Though he may unaware of it, the image of God in man is marred by sin and thus functions only imperfectly at this stage; but yet it is the means of inner awakening and desire for God through Christ.)

As soon as the man begins to understand the need of God for the satisfactory conduct of his life, then he will begin to love God. However, he will be loving God not for God’s sake but for his own, for the help that he needs and receives from God to live a reasonably satisfactory life. And, regrettably, this stage of loving God can be as far as he progresses in the Christian life of love, even as he prays, attends church and seeks to keep God’s commandments.

In loving God for what he gives and provides, a man may begin (through the influence of the means of grace) to see that God as the LORD is supremely lovable in his Being, Nature, Attributes, Revelation, Reconciliation and Redemption. That is, he is supremely lovable not primarily for what he bestows, but for who he really is towards his creatures and for his amazing Beauty and Glory. In progressing to this state of devotion, the baptized believer does not cease to love God for his blessings and gifts. Rather, there is joined to this loving a deeper loving which adores God for who he is. It is a loving of the Father through the love of the Son and with the love provided by the Holy Spirit.

The fourth stage, which cannot be wholly fulfilled in this life, is when a man loves himself only for the sake of God.  Here he participates, free of all selfishness, in the love of God towards his creatures and thus specifically towards himself.  And this loving can only be fully known and experienced when the Christian is redeemed, that is when he is perfected and glorified in his resurrection body and is a member of the heavenly Jerusalem. That is, when he is fully restored in the image and likeness of God, and being such, he is perfectly appreciative of, as well as a channel of, the love of God. And so he loves in the name of God, the Holy Trinity, what God himself loves. And he does so through, in, and with Christ who is the perfect Image of God and the One Mediator between God and man.

Too many members of the Christian Churches seem to be permanently in stage 2, loving God only because he is the One whom we need as we seek to live fulfilled or satisfactory lives.  But God is supremely lovable and those who begin to realize this will want to love him because he is holy love and in loving him they will find themselves drawn to love others, especially the needy.

At www.anglicansatprayer.org   there are various meditations on the theme of the love of God and further devotional material, and further commentary and information on www.churchofenglandcayman.com

With the kind assistance of the Reverend Nicholas Sykes, the distinguished theologian, speaker and writer the Reverend Dr. Peter Toon, has kindly agreed to share in contributing articles to the present series of “Theological Commentary” in Cayman Net News. We are indebted to both men for their generosity of time and above all for their wisdom...