The Transitive Love of God




Mercy and Goodness, or Transitive Love

By mercy and goodness, we mean the transitive love of God in its two-fold relation to the disobedient.  Scriptures such as Titus 3:4; Romans 2:4; Matthew 5:44-45; John 3:16;II 2 Peter 1:3; Roman 8:32; and John 4:10 serve as examples.  

Mercy is that external principle of God's nature which leads him to seek the temporal good and eternal salvation of those who have opposed themselves to his will, even at the cost of infinite self-sacrifice.  Goodness is the eternal principle of God's nature which leads him to communicate of his own life, and blessedness to those who are like him in moral character.  Goodness, therefore, is nearly identical with the love of complacency; mercy, with the love of benevolence.

Good People not necessarily saved people.

The eternal and perfect object of God's love is in his own nature.  Men become subordinate objects of that love only as they become connected and identified with its principle object, the image of God's perfection in Christ.  Only in the Son do men become sons of God.  To this is requisite acceptance of Christ on the part of man.  Thus it can be said that God imparts himself to men just so far as men are willing to receive him.  As God gives himself to men, in all his moral attributes, to answer for them and to renew them in character.

Truth: The Maintenance of Holiness is the Function of Divine Justice.

The diffusion of holiness is the function of divine love.  We may grant this as substantially true, while yet we deny that love is a mere form or manifestation of holiness.  Self-impartation is different from self-affirmation.  The attribute which moves God to pour out is not identical with the attribute which moves him to maintain.

The two ideas of holiness and of love are as distinct as the idea of integrity on the one hand and generosity on the other.  The same love of compassion God feels toward the non-elect; but the expression of that compassion is forbidden for reasons which are sufficient for God, but are entirely unknown to the creature.  The goodness of God is the basis of reward, under God's government.  Faithfulness leads God to keep his promises; goodness lead him to make them (Romans 5:8).  Love does not necessarily imply approval, but it does imply desire that all creatures should fulfill the purpose of their existence by being morally conformed to the Holy One. 

Justice and Righteousness, or Transitive Holiness

By justice and righteousness, we mean the transitive holiness of God, in virtue of which his treatment of his creatures conforms to the purity of his nature----righteousness demanding from all moral perfection of God, and justice visiting non-conformity to that perfection with penal loss or suffering (Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 5:5; Matthew 5:48; I Peter 1:1; and Romans 2:6).

It is not true that he hates the sin, but loves the sinner.  He both hates and loves the sinner himself, hates him as he is living and willful antagonist of truth and holiness, loves him as he is a creature capable of good ruined by his transgression.  There is no abstract sin that can be hated apart from the persons in who that sin is represented and embodied. 



Talk to you soon,
Pastor Norman 

Artesian Well Church
6031 Linden Avenue
Long Beach, Ca


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