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The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
At first thought, understanding the doctrine of the love of God seems simple compared to trying to fathom other doctrines like that of the Trinity or predestination. Especially since the overwhelming majority of those who believe in God view Him as a loving being. That is precisely what makes this doctrine so difficult. The only aspect of God's character the world still believes in is His love. His holiness, His sovereignty, His wrath are often rejected as being incompatible with a "loving" God. Because pop culture has so distorted and secularized God's love, many Christians have lost a biblical understanding of it and, in turn, lost a vital means to knowing who God is. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God seeks to restore what we have lost. In this treatment of many of the Bible's passages regarding divine love, noted evangelical scholar D. A. Carson not only critiques sentimental ideas such as "God hates the sin but loves the sinner," but provides a compelling perspective on the nature of God and why He loves as He does. Carson blends his discourse with discussion of how God's sovereignty and holiness complete the biblical picture of who He is and how He loves. In doing away with trivialities and cliches, this work gets to the heart of this all-important doctrine from an unflinching evangelical perspective. Yet it does so without losing its personal for in understanding more of the comprehensive nature of God's love as declared in His Word, you will come to understand God and His unending love for you more completely.
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 1999
73 people are currently reading
2498 people want to read
About the author
D.A. Carson
339 books738 followersDonald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received the Bachelor of Science in chemistry from McGill University, the Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He has written or edited about sixty books. He is a founding member and currently president of The Gospel Coalition. Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 217 reviews
September 19, 2024
An absolutely invaluable read as I'm finishing a manuscript on the omniscience and love of God. Chapter 3 brought me to tears. I'll return to this many times in the future.
"...his love emanates from his own character; it is not dependent on the loveliness of the loved, external to himself." (p. 63)
(That's pretty much the entire thesis of my forthcoming book.)
"...his love emanates from his own character; it is not dependent on the loveliness of the loved, external to himself." (p. 63)
(That's pretty much the entire thesis of my forthcoming book.)
July 12, 2021
Never have I read a book, apart from Scripture, that has so drastically changed my view on the love of God. In a successful attempt to define this aspect of the Almighty’s character, Carson outlines the watered down, modern view of God’s love and replaces it with Biblical truth. Teaching on God’s character, his intra-Trinitarian love, his providence, his election, his wrath, and his discipline, Carson’s work left me in awe of God’s love and further challenged me to stay in his love through obedience to him.
July 22, 2024
Long review!
Really enjoyed this one. For under 100 pages, Carson does an impressive job of distilling a wide range of topics surrounding the love of God, avoiding fluff and shallow explanations.
He argues that "love" has become a bit of a throwaway word in our culture and is often reduced to mere sentimentality. If we're not careful we can import our own culture's definition of "love" unto what the bible means by "love". So, what does the Bible say about the love of God? He argues the Bible talks about the love of God in a variety of ways: 1) God's intra-trinitarian love expressed between the Father and the Son (he leans on EFS too strongly for my taste… my only gripe with this book). 2) His providential love for all creation by which he feeds the birds and provides for our needs. 3) His yearning love toward all humans that they would repent and live under his rule and reign. 4) His effectual and salvific love towards his elect by which he makes them alive in Christ. and 5) God's conditional love for his children by which he gives or withholds blessing, in love, so that they would learn to live according to his ways.
To define the love of God entirely based on one these definitions at the expense of others, he argues, leads to a plethora of errors such as open theism, hyper Calvinism, wholesale universalism, etc.
He also briefly unpacks several apparent "paradoxes" with the love of God as defined in the Bible. How does his love work with his sovereignty? How do we square the love of God with the wrath of God? How does an unchanging God experience love?
Although this book wouldn't be found in the Devotional section of Barnes & Nobles, it was extremely devotional for me. Reminds of the C.S. Lewis quote, "For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."
Although it leans academic, I think this book would be especially helpful for new Christians to get a well-rounded, Biblical, but not cumbersome, exposition of the love of God!
Really enjoyed this one. For under 100 pages, Carson does an impressive job of distilling a wide range of topics surrounding the love of God, avoiding fluff and shallow explanations.
He argues that "love" has become a bit of a throwaway word in our culture and is often reduced to mere sentimentality. If we're not careful we can import our own culture's definition of "love" unto what the bible means by "love". So, what does the Bible say about the love of God? He argues the Bible talks about the love of God in a variety of ways: 1) God's intra-trinitarian love expressed between the Father and the Son (he leans on EFS too strongly for my taste… my only gripe with this book). 2) His providential love for all creation by which he feeds the birds and provides for our needs. 3) His yearning love toward all humans that they would repent and live under his rule and reign. 4) His effectual and salvific love towards his elect by which he makes them alive in Christ. and 5) God's conditional love for his children by which he gives or withholds blessing, in love, so that they would learn to live according to his ways.
To define the love of God entirely based on one these definitions at the expense of others, he argues, leads to a plethora of errors such as open theism, hyper Calvinism, wholesale universalism, etc.
He also briefly unpacks several apparent "paradoxes" with the love of God as defined in the Bible. How does his love work with his sovereignty? How do we square the love of God with the wrath of God? How does an unchanging God experience love?
Although this book wouldn't be found in the Devotional section of Barnes & Nobles, it was extremely devotional for me. Reminds of the C.S. Lewis quote, "For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."
Although it leans academic, I think this book would be especially helpful for new Christians to get a well-rounded, Biblical, but not cumbersome, exposition of the love of God!
August 20, 2023
This is a collection of four lectures that Carson has put in book form. They focus on some of the superficial paradoxes of God's love.
Carson lays out a helpful heuristic on the various types of love found in scripture.
I think this volume would be aided if Carson added one more essay on "The Love of God and Simplicity". At times Carson distorts the classical understanding of impassibility. But, what he means is in line with that doctrine.
Overall this is a wonderful little book.
Carson lays out a helpful heuristic on the various types of love found in scripture.
I think this volume would be aided if Carson added one more essay on "The Love of God and Simplicity". At times Carson distorts the classical understanding of impassibility. But, what he means is in line with that doctrine.
Overall this is a wonderful little book.
June 19, 2020
This was my 2nd reading of this little book, and it was even better this time around.
May 26, 2021
"In today's world, [the love of God] is a theme that has been taken from granted as easily understood" - this is what drives Carson to explain "the difficult doctrine of the love of God".
Firstly, he comments the contemporary distortions of the love of God. Secondly, he tries to present the complexity of the love of God by ponting to the 'five loves' mentioned in Scripture, insisting that focusing on only one aspect of his love and ignoring all others is dangerous. Then, the apparent contradictions between the affective element of God's love and his sovereignity, and those between God's love and his wrath are debunked.
This is a short but highly condensed (doctrinally speaking) work that adresses the main misconceptions about the love of God, bringing a lot of precious insight in this sense. As Carson admits, he barely scratches the surface of this enormous and glorious doctrine, but to have 'the five loves', compatibilism, God's sovereignity and his wrath, all briefly explained in one place, is pretty cool.
Firstly, he comments the contemporary distortions of the love of God. Secondly, he tries to present the complexity of the love of God by ponting to the 'five loves' mentioned in Scripture, insisting that focusing on only one aspect of his love and ignoring all others is dangerous. Then, the apparent contradictions between the affective element of God's love and his sovereignity, and those between God's love and his wrath are debunked.
This is a short but highly condensed (doctrinally speaking) work that adresses the main misconceptions about the love of God, bringing a lot of precious insight in this sense. As Carson admits, he barely scratches the surface of this enormous and glorious doctrine, but to have 'the five loves', compatibilism, God's sovereignity and his wrath, all briefly explained in one place, is pretty cool.
September 4, 2024
Honestly, I'm astonished that Carson articulated effectively though not exhaustively the difficult doctrine of the love of God in so few pages haha.
March 13, 2025
This was a difficult read at times. Surprisingly technical theological was found in many of the chapters, yet the book was "saved" by the last chapter which was extremely clear and super helpful in answering many of the difficult parts of the book. 8/10
October 21, 2023
Part of this short book was first delivered in the form of several lectures. I found the structure of the book, which is split up into four chapters, extremely helpful. I love the way in which D. A. Carson writes. He lays out his points, how he will defend them (spoiler alert, he’s going to make a lot of Bible references), and then he addresses other views and criticisms. What I love about Carson is this; he does not merely deal with weakly construed “straw man” arguments. He takes the best arguments from people or groups that differ from his own and actually deals with them and the Scripture references they commonly leverage. For this reason, this little book was extremely edifying and instructive. Whether you agree with Carson or not on the difficult doctrine of the love of God, you will not regret spending time reading what he has to say.
February 11, 2024
Not bad.
Short, only 96 pages (with big font). Because of this, more questions were raised than answered, and Carson was not able to go deeper into the technicalities and academics of his arguments (and the opposing views). There are a lot of lines of argument that could be pursued much further that would support or oppose his view.
I found his heuristic framework of God's '5 different manifestations of love' to be fairly helpful. However, in my opinion, he does not synthesize them meaningfully beyond saying that, 'in a sense' all of them are true. 'In a sense' God loves all. But, 'in another sense', God doesn't.
He does make several good points. One is about impassibility and that God cannot be moved, but can still act out of pure action. Also, he mentions that wrath is not inherent to God, but a response to sin and a function of holiness (and therefore Love!). Furthermore, he spends time on the Love within the Trinity, and that the Son 'reveal[s] God perfectly'. Another thing is a nice etymological study of the Greek words for 'love'.
Short, only 96 pages (with big font). Because of this, more questions were raised than answered, and Carson was not able to go deeper into the technicalities and academics of his arguments (and the opposing views). There are a lot of lines of argument that could be pursued much further that would support or oppose his view.
I found his heuristic framework of God's '5 different manifestations of love' to be fairly helpful. However, in my opinion, he does not synthesize them meaningfully beyond saying that, 'in a sense' all of them are true. 'In a sense' God loves all. But, 'in another sense', God doesn't.
He does make several good points. One is about impassibility and that God cannot be moved, but can still act out of pure action. Also, he mentions that wrath is not inherent to God, but a response to sin and a function of holiness (and therefore Love!). Furthermore, he spends time on the Love within the Trinity, and that the Son 'reveal[s] God perfectly'. Another thing is a nice etymological study of the Greek words for 'love'.
January 11, 2025
Second time through this little book. The first was my freshman year of college. It was fun to see my old highlights and notes, and to see how God used this book to develop my understanding of Him and His love. The first time I read this was prior to me being “red-pilled”, and I know there was a lot that went over my head because it is a very theologically and historically heavy book. However, I can see how it primed me to ask tough questions that lead me to a deeper understanding and love of God. This is an excellent book that provides a very robust view of God’s love in a very short format.
July 29, 2014
Don Carson and his difficult doctrines
24 October 2011
I am going to sound very heretical by saying this but I have yet to be impressed by a Don Carson book. Granted, Carson is probably a great theologian, and many people say that they have been greatly encouraged by his books, and when he speaks he probably does have a substantial drawing power (when he came to Melbourne, each of his talks were sold out). Okay, I did found his daily devotionals quite helpful but the other books that I have read of his (and this probably makes it number four, including his two daily devotional books) I have found quite dry and, to be honest, boring.
Now this book, as can be seen from the title, is about the Love of God and through this rather short book he struggles with what the Bible actually means by God's love. Is it a question of God loving everything on one level, and the elect on another (it is clear from this book that Carson is a Calvinist), or is there a consistent love of God. He also explores the nature of whether God hates just sin, or the sinners that commit the sin as well. I will agree that this is a difficult doctrine, but then again when has anything about Christianity been simple. Granted, there is the basic concept of Christ dying for our sins so that through the grace of God and our faith in him, we are granted eternal life, but even then that is not all that simple. What is grace, and how do we have faith?
Though despite all of these difficult doctrines, Christianity is embraced by people from all walks, many of them having the simple faith of the child that Christ praises. Christianity is not just a faith for the intellectuals, and we even see this in the biblical account where scoffers laugh at Paul when he speaks on the Rock of Ares (the Aeropagus, or Mars Hill) in Athens. We are also told that to the Jews the message is blasphemous while to the Greeks it is foolish, however it was embraced by slave and freeman alike, both the wealthy and the poor, as well as the intelligent and the simple. Christianity in all its forms has always been a faith that is open to all.
But what about the love of God? Isn't God love, and doesn't God love us all. Well yes and no. Yes he does: he created us and like all creators he loves that which he created. However, I say no because the deeper form of love, that of a love between two individuals (and I am not talking about sexual love, but rather about a familial bond between two friends) is reserved for those who love him. Carson says that it is those he chooses, but then we get into another difficult doctrine, and that is of predestination. Now that is most definitely a difficult doctrine and will be left for another day. Instead, I will simply say God loves those who love him, though we must remember that God's love is not reciprocal, meaning that it does not only respond to somebody who loves him, but rather it is unconditional, namely that it is freely offered to those who want it, and it is through that that our relationship with God is formed.
However the other thing we must keep in mind is in fact a title of an old 80's song 'I Want to Know What Love Is'. Well, Foreigner, if you want to know what love really is then you need to look at God because God is Love. Now, that is a pretty vague statement because how can an object (God) be a concept (Love). I don't think it means that though because what John is saying is that if we want to know what love is (just as Foreigner asks) then we must look at God and what he did on the cross. As it says in the Bible 'greater love hath no man than he give up his life for another'. That is what Christ did on the cross, taking the full punishment that was due to us upon himself so that we might re-enter that relationship with God.
24 October 2011
I am going to sound very heretical by saying this but I have yet to be impressed by a Don Carson book. Granted, Carson is probably a great theologian, and many people say that they have been greatly encouraged by his books, and when he speaks he probably does have a substantial drawing power (when he came to Melbourne, each of his talks were sold out). Okay, I did found his daily devotionals quite helpful but the other books that I have read of his (and this probably makes it number four, including his two daily devotional books) I have found quite dry and, to be honest, boring.
Now this book, as can be seen from the title, is about the Love of God and through this rather short book he struggles with what the Bible actually means by God's love. Is it a question of God loving everything on one level, and the elect on another (it is clear from this book that Carson is a Calvinist), or is there a consistent love of God. He also explores the nature of whether God hates just sin, or the sinners that commit the sin as well. I will agree that this is a difficult doctrine, but then again when has anything about Christianity been simple. Granted, there is the basic concept of Christ dying for our sins so that through the grace of God and our faith in him, we are granted eternal life, but even then that is not all that simple. What is grace, and how do we have faith?
Though despite all of these difficult doctrines, Christianity is embraced by people from all walks, many of them having the simple faith of the child that Christ praises. Christianity is not just a faith for the intellectuals, and we even see this in the biblical account where scoffers laugh at Paul when he speaks on the Rock of Ares (the Aeropagus, or Mars Hill) in Athens. We are also told that to the Jews the message is blasphemous while to the Greeks it is foolish, however it was embraced by slave and freeman alike, both the wealthy and the poor, as well as the intelligent and the simple. Christianity in all its forms has always been a faith that is open to all.
But what about the love of God? Isn't God love, and doesn't God love us all. Well yes and no. Yes he does: he created us and like all creators he loves that which he created. However, I say no because the deeper form of love, that of a love between two individuals (and I am not talking about sexual love, but rather about a familial bond between two friends) is reserved for those who love him. Carson says that it is those he chooses, but then we get into another difficult doctrine, and that is of predestination. Now that is most definitely a difficult doctrine and will be left for another day. Instead, I will simply say God loves those who love him, though we must remember that God's love is not reciprocal, meaning that it does not only respond to somebody who loves him, but rather it is unconditional, namely that it is freely offered to those who want it, and it is through that that our relationship with God is formed.
However the other thing we must keep in mind is in fact a title of an old 80's song 'I Want to Know What Love Is'. Well, Foreigner, if you want to know what love really is then you need to look at God because God is Love. Now, that is a pretty vague statement because how can an object (God) be a concept (Love). I don't think it means that though because what John is saying is that if we want to know what love is (just as Foreigner asks) then we must look at God and what he did on the cross. As it says in the Bible 'greater love hath no man than he give up his life for another'. That is what Christ did on the cross, taking the full punishment that was due to us upon himself so that we might re-enter that relationship with God.
May 19, 2023
A short (96 page!) book in four chapters that illuminates different layers to how the Bible discusses the love of God. Carson outlines 5 'loves' of God: intra-Trinitarian (Father for Son/Son for Father etc.), common love of his creation, his desire for all to be saved, his love for the elect, and his conditional love for the obedient. Carson justifies his book well, describing how God's love can be taken for granted even amongst Christians, without integration with his other attributes like holiness, sovereignty, and justice displayed in wrath. It also examines limitations of popular notions of the 'four loves' and 'limited atonement'. Would recommend!
May 9, 2024
Wonderful and brief treatment of the doctrine of God's love. He outlines how the Bible speaks of God's love in five distinct (but overlapping) ways: 1) Intratrinitarian love (love within the Trinity), 2) Providential love (God's love for all people without distinction; 3) Inviting love for all the world, 4) Electing love, and 5) Provisional / Conditional love.
Thoroughly biblical, thought provoking, and helpful.
Thoroughly biblical, thought provoking, and helpful.
December 31, 2021
Excellent. Fairly accessible given it’s about 80 pages and organized really well. It can get a little technical at points, so I would preface with that before recommending. Though I think the topic and book are extremely helpful in understanding the doctrine of God’s love and how to speak about it with all the various cliches and assumptions out there. Tied for my book of the year.
May 28, 2024
This will be the 84 page (yet still comprehensive) work to give those who wonder about God's sovereignty in salvation.
Carson's explanation of the 5 ways the Bible uses the term "love" may be the most helpful thing I have read in my Christian life.
Number 4 is what I harp on and number 3 if what convicted my heart; yet all 5 are important to preach.
Carson's explanation of the 5 ways the Bible uses the term "love" may be the most helpful thing I have read in my Christian life.
Number 4 is what I harp on and number 3 if what convicted my heart; yet all 5 are important to preach.
March 15, 2024
This book is pretty heavy for an average non-theologian like myself, but reading through it slowly, piece by piece, it’s very helpful and informative. Not to mention it also has a reference to Les miserables which I’m also reading right now 🤩
July 31, 2025
There is some technical language that might be difficult to understand but I enjoyed this. Very edifying !
May 9, 2025
a very helpful book!
March 25, 2024
Very helpful discussions of the different aspects of God’s love, the love of God and his sovereignty, the love of God and his wrath, and the love of God in the atonement. I appreciate Carson’s measured and firm stance on these key issues.
January 14, 2015
This is an excellent, level-headed reflection upon the God of love as He is revealed in Scripture. We need more theologians like D.A. Carson who can handle the Bible with care, intelligently yet with real feeling, and who are brave enough to hold to the difficult doctrines of word of God. This book will yield many insights for all those who are willing to consider thoughtfully what he has to say.
Carson discusses five different aspects of the love of God:
1) the intra-Trinitarian love of God (that is, the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father.
2) the providential love of God (that is, God's love for all His works)
3) the yearning love of God for all sinners
4) the special electing love of God
5) the disciplining love of God for His people
Carson is correct in observing that we fall into error whenever we isolate and absolutize any one of these aspects of the love of God to the neglect of the others. We need to realize that God's love means many things and not just one thing, and that all the different aspects of God's love, as they are found in Scripture, are complementary to each other. I did take some issue with Carson's view on the fifth aspect of the love God (God's disciplining love for His people), but this doesn't spoil the overall thesis of the book and won't keep me from recommending it.
The book also has many helpful things to say about the relationship between the love of God and God's other attributes and perfections. God's manifold perfections are in harmony and not at variance with each other. His perfections do not become subsumed and lost in the love of God, nor does His love get subsumed and lost in His many perfections. This is critical to understand, as our culture and much of Christendom too often embraces a notion of "the love of God" that fails to do justice to the "God" of love. When we fail to uphold the truth of "God", we lose both God and His love altogether.
Carson's reflection on the bearing the love of God has upon the intent/extent of the atonement is also outstanding. Here he offers a realistic and sober analysis of the tired debate and puts forth a solution for both Arminians and Calvinists that should, in my opinion, be embraced by all as a much needed correction. When all the different aspects of the love of God are understood and given their due, we can affirm both that God loves and sent Christ to die for all people, while at the same time affirm the special intent of God in effectively rescuing His elect.
Any person wishing to study the love of God (which should be us all!) cannot afford to miss reading this very helpful book. It should be required reading. May more and more people attain to the Scriptural view of the difficult doctrine of the love of God, well-expressed in this book by D.A. Carson.
Carson discusses five different aspects of the love of God:
1) the intra-Trinitarian love of God (that is, the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father.
2) the providential love of God (that is, God's love for all His works)
3) the yearning love of God for all sinners
4) the special electing love of God
5) the disciplining love of God for His people
Carson is correct in observing that we fall into error whenever we isolate and absolutize any one of these aspects of the love of God to the neglect of the others. We need to realize that God's love means many things and not just one thing, and that all the different aspects of God's love, as they are found in Scripture, are complementary to each other. I did take some issue with Carson's view on the fifth aspect of the love God (God's disciplining love for His people), but this doesn't spoil the overall thesis of the book and won't keep me from recommending it.
The book also has many helpful things to say about the relationship between the love of God and God's other attributes and perfections. God's manifold perfections are in harmony and not at variance with each other. His perfections do not become subsumed and lost in the love of God, nor does His love get subsumed and lost in His many perfections. This is critical to understand, as our culture and much of Christendom too often embraces a notion of "the love of God" that fails to do justice to the "God" of love. When we fail to uphold the truth of "God", we lose both God and His love altogether.
Carson's reflection on the bearing the love of God has upon the intent/extent of the atonement is also outstanding. Here he offers a realistic and sober analysis of the tired debate and puts forth a solution for both Arminians and Calvinists that should, in my opinion, be embraced by all as a much needed correction. When all the different aspects of the love of God are understood and given their due, we can affirm both that God loves and sent Christ to die for all people, while at the same time affirm the special intent of God in effectively rescuing His elect.
Any person wishing to study the love of God (which should be us all!) cannot afford to miss reading this very helpful book. It should be required reading. May more and more people attain to the Scriptural view of the difficult doctrine of the love of God, well-expressed in this book by D.A. Carson.
January 4, 2022
This book raised more questions than it answered. Another reviewer called Carson a little cantankerous in this and I’d tend to agree, which I was not expecting.
I felt some of it was a little untidy and a few sections a little unclear. I don’t know if I’ve read this wrong because I hold Carson high in my estimates.
Some good points particularly in showing the various ways scripture talks about the love of God. Probably my biggest take away is that the we must not try and simplify too much the love of God, and accept what Scripture actually says not what we think it says.
Additionally enjoyed the sections where Carson knocks down certain evangelical cliches.
I felt some of it was a little untidy and a few sections a little unclear. I don’t know if I’ve read this wrong because I hold Carson high in my estimates.
Some good points particularly in showing the various ways scripture talks about the love of God. Probably my biggest take away is that the we must not try and simplify too much the love of God, and accept what Scripture actually says not what we think it says.
Additionally enjoyed the sections where Carson knocks down certain evangelical cliches.
July 13, 2015
Though brief, this was a very helpful book. Highly recommended.
May 16, 2024
This is tough to give a straightforward rating for because it is both good and poor, depending. The good is that Carson does a great job explicating the different sorts of love that we see in the Triune God. Most non-Christians completely misconstrue the love of God - understanding it to be something outside of what it actually is. The same can be said of Christians who too heavily weigh the love of God against his many other attributes. These reminders were good and helpful.
At the same time, I really struggle to rate highly any work that I believe strikes at the heart of Classical orthodoxy, which Carson (I would argue) gets dangerously close to doing in this work. Carson reads the Bible for a living, so I’m not going to pretend that he is not far more intelligent than I, yet I fail to see the coherence in his argument against divine impassibility. While Carson caveats his swipe against impassibility by saying things like “If by impassibility, we mean… then I affirm it,” but then goes forward in his diatribe against the very thing he states his affirmation in. If nothing else, he confuses the reader as to what impassibility is, and gives no argument in defense of the doctrine, instead choosing to spend his page count on why we should rethink the doctrine.
Secondly, while he relegates the discussion to the endnotes, Carson comes close to either affirming or allowing the Eternal Functional Subordination of the Son as a legitimate and Biblical belief. Again, He caveats his words by saying that we “shouldn’t mess with the Trinity,” but goes on to say that an article that repudiated EFS/ESS was ostensibly an awful paper full of eisegesis and other sophomoric errors and then hat tips an EFS/ESS author for being logical.
What is interesting to me is that these two subjects would be very high on my list of things to use as proofs for the love of God, not as things to deviate from classical orthodoxy in order to support my understanding of the love of God. In terms of Impassibility, as James Dolezal poignantly mentioned, "God does not move from emotive state A to emotive state B.” If God has a state of love towards us, His actions are in perfect unity with His attributes and that state cannot be manipulated in any way. There is something to be said here about how immutability and impassibility are inextricably connected. In terms of EFS/ESS, the disunity created in the trinity is certainly a problem in affirming the love of God. But we must affirm that the way in which we are loved is the way we have always been loved from all eternity (Eph. 1:4-6). The love we receive is a trinitarian love and flirting with the ESS debacle undercuts it harshly.
At the same time, I really struggle to rate highly any work that I believe strikes at the heart of Classical orthodoxy, which Carson (I would argue) gets dangerously close to doing in this work. Carson reads the Bible for a living, so I’m not going to pretend that he is not far more intelligent than I, yet I fail to see the coherence in his argument against divine impassibility. While Carson caveats his swipe against impassibility by saying things like “If by impassibility, we mean… then I affirm it,” but then goes forward in his diatribe against the very thing he states his affirmation in. If nothing else, he confuses the reader as to what impassibility is, and gives no argument in defense of the doctrine, instead choosing to spend his page count on why we should rethink the doctrine.
Secondly, while he relegates the discussion to the endnotes, Carson comes close to either affirming or allowing the Eternal Functional Subordination of the Son as a legitimate and Biblical belief. Again, He caveats his words by saying that we “shouldn’t mess with the Trinity,” but goes on to say that an article that repudiated EFS/ESS was ostensibly an awful paper full of eisegesis and other sophomoric errors and then hat tips an EFS/ESS author for being logical.
What is interesting to me is that these two subjects would be very high on my list of things to use as proofs for the love of God, not as things to deviate from classical orthodoxy in order to support my understanding of the love of God. In terms of Impassibility, as James Dolezal poignantly mentioned, "God does not move from emotive state A to emotive state B.” If God has a state of love towards us, His actions are in perfect unity with His attributes and that state cannot be manipulated in any way. There is something to be said here about how immutability and impassibility are inextricably connected. In terms of EFS/ESS, the disunity created in the trinity is certainly a problem in affirming the love of God. But we must affirm that the way in which we are loved is the way we have always been loved from all eternity (Eph. 1:4-6). The love we receive is a trinitarian love and flirting with the ESS debacle undercuts it harshly.
July 25, 2025
A call to think deeper about what God's love is, Carson makes some helpful categories, but the book is a little short to be useful on its own.
•••
Carson does well to point out numerous ways we take the meaning of "love" for granted, propagate misleading clichés, and over-rely on practically baseless word-studies. His main point is that God's love needs to be defined in context of his whole character and action.
Carson also relates love to many specific doctrinal stances, which may prevent some readers from feeling the full effect of many of his arguments. In particular, Carson wrote on compatibilism, non-ontological functional subordination of the Son, limited atonement, a version of impassibility that allows for emotion, and more. He also does not shy from a section on Greek words, so by and large, this isn't exactly a lay-level book.
In my opinion, the book would have been more useful with more length, in one of two ways. First, he could have developed his ideas more, since some of his categories have general definitions. Or secondly, he could have gotten more practical. The book kind of pulls you in with "the world defines love wrong" but doesn't really end with "so here's how to explain real love to the world." It's a more brief, self-contemplative work, but it does fine as that.
•••
In the final analysis, the book is great as a read-in-one-day thought-provoker, and the love of God is a great thing to dwell on. But the book is not very practical, for deep study or ministry application, and it kinda relies on agreeing with multiple theological stances, so I might not generally recommend it. Maybe take this review as 3½ stars.
•••
Carson does well to point out numerous ways we take the meaning of "love" for granted, propagate misleading clichés, and over-rely on practically baseless word-studies. His main point is that God's love needs to be defined in context of his whole character and action.
Carson also relates love to many specific doctrinal stances, which may prevent some readers from feeling the full effect of many of his arguments. In particular, Carson wrote on compatibilism, non-ontological functional subordination of the Son, limited atonement, a version of impassibility that allows for emotion, and more. He also does not shy from a section on Greek words, so by and large, this isn't exactly a lay-level book.
In my opinion, the book would have been more useful with more length, in one of two ways. First, he could have developed his ideas more, since some of his categories have general definitions. Or secondly, he could have gotten more practical. The book kind of pulls you in with "the world defines love wrong" but doesn't really end with "so here's how to explain real love to the world." It's a more brief, self-contemplative work, but it does fine as that.
•••
In the final analysis, the book is great as a read-in-one-day thought-provoker, and the love of God is a great thing to dwell on. But the book is not very practical, for deep study or ministry application, and it kinda relies on agreeing with multiple theological stances, so I might not generally recommend it. Maybe take this review as 3½ stars.
May 14, 2024
Carson's theological prowess shines through in this book. It is concise yet firmly rooted in exegetical analysis. Carson argues that the love of God can be categorized into five types: “(1) God's intra-Trinitarian love, (2) God's love displayed in his providential care, (3) God's yearning warning and invitation to all human beings as he invites and commands them to repent and believe, (4) God's special love toward the elect, and (5) God's conditional love toward his covenant people as he speaks in the language of discipline”, providing thorough exegetical references for each case. He emphasizes the danger of prioritizing one aspect of God's love over others, leading to a distorted view of God. While the book presents a reformed perspective, its insights are valuable for a broad audience.
February 12, 2018
I enjoyed the book. Dr. Carson did a good job of making sure the reader was sober in their understanding of God’s love in multiple facets, and defended essential truths of God’s love such as His immutability, wrath, holiness, etc. I’d recommend the book as a good primer to obtaining a foundation for this doctrine.
December 16, 2022
DA Carson is one of the clearest and deepest thinkers in the Reformed evangelical world. In The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God Carson tackles what is perhaps the most difficult issue for Reformed thinkers to grapple with: if the God of the Bible is sovereign, can he really be loving?
Before making his case for what the love of God looks like, Carson grapples with the distortion of the love of God. In Carson’s words, “The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized.”
Carson spends the first two chapters parceling out the love of God. First, Carson lays out what is his most significant contribution in the book: a layered understanding of the love of God. In doing so, Carson comes to grips with the multitude of ways God is talked about scripturally. For instance, how does one reconcile God’s love of the world with his love of the elect? It is a surprisingly difficult task that Carson has an elegant solution for.
Carson suggests that encapsulating all other loves is the intra-Trinitarian love of God. Within that love is “God’s providential love over all that he has made.” This is God’s love as a Creator. There is nothing that God has made that he does not love. Within that circle is God’s love of the fallen world. Within the circle of that love is God’s “particular, effective, selecting love toward his elect." And finally, at the center is God’s provisional love of the obedience of his children. Later in the book Carson reminds us that to absolutize any of these forms of love is to create “a false system that squeezes out other important things the Bible says, thus finally distorting your vision of God.”
Next, Carson tackles the weight that has been given in different camps of the Greek word agape in describing the love of God. Carson asserts that we have made too much of distinctions between phileo and agape and that more important is the way all of these loves reflect out the intra-Trinitarian love to us: “Thus we move from the intra-Trinitarian love of the Father for the Son, to the Son’s love of his people in redemption. Jesus thus becomes the mediator of his Father’s love. Receiving love, so has he loved.”
Next, Carson tackles the difficult relationship between the love of God and God’s sovereignty. Why is this so difficult? In some sense, you could say that the ongoing battle between Reformed and Arminian camps centers around which of these attributes of God trumps the other. The Reformed thinker has to be able to reconcile how her God is still truly loving in light of this intrinsic conflict.
Carson fleshes out just how raw the love of God is biblically. God’s love at times makes the staid reader blush. In Hosea, the Most High rhapsodizes, “How can I give you up, Ephraim… my heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.” Carson asserts that when it comes to the impassability of God, “If this is taken to mean that God is emotionless, it is profoundly unbiblical and should be repudiated.”
So, how do election and God’s love fit together? First, any position must begin with compatibilism: “God’s unconditioned sovereignty and the responsibility of human beings are mutually compatible.” We must continuously place ourselves under the scriptural witness, which attests both a transcendent sovereignty and his personhood. To throw in the towel of transcendence leaves us with “the modern therapeutic God [who] may be superficially attractive because he appeals to our emotions,” but is, in the end, no God at all.
Part of the solution of bridging the gulf between transcendence and personhood is understanding that God does not “’fall in love’ with the elect” but rather “sets his affection on us.”
Finally, Carson tackles how to reconcile God’s love with his wrath. God’s wrath, a thoroughly biblical concept “is not an implacable, blind rage.” It is, in fact, an “entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against his holiness.” Contrary to popular understanding, when we come to the New Testament we find, in fact, that God’s wrath is ratcheted up alongside his love. How is this the case? We see that God’s justice is meted out, and not on those who deserve it, but that God himself, in Jesus Christ, bears the full weight of his wrath. “Thus God is necessarily both the subject and object of the propitiation.” This love of God displayed for us on the cross is a love that swallows up wrath and compels our love. As John reminds us, “we love because he first loved us.”
Carson’s contribution in The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God significant. I just added it, in fact, to my discipleship group curriculum as it is the most thoughtful wrestling through of what is at the crux of one of the most important theological issues a Christian has to come to grips with. As a reproduction of a series of lectures, I wish that there would have been a stronger editor. It’s a book that pushes the lay Christian because it can read unevenly (at times very understandable to any Christian, at other times it is very academic) and the thread of the argument is hard to follow at times, particularly in the second chapter. That said, it is a book any thoughtful Christian would benefit from. I highly recommend it.
Before making his case for what the love of God looks like, Carson grapples with the distortion of the love of God. In Carson’s words, “The love of God has been sanitized, democratized, and above all sentimentalized.”
Carson spends the first two chapters parceling out the love of God. First, Carson lays out what is his most significant contribution in the book: a layered understanding of the love of God. In doing so, Carson comes to grips with the multitude of ways God is talked about scripturally. For instance, how does one reconcile God’s love of the world with his love of the elect? It is a surprisingly difficult task that Carson has an elegant solution for.
Carson suggests that encapsulating all other loves is the intra-Trinitarian love of God. Within that love is “God’s providential love over all that he has made.” This is God’s love as a Creator. There is nothing that God has made that he does not love. Within that circle is God’s love of the fallen world. Within the circle of that love is God’s “particular, effective, selecting love toward his elect." And finally, at the center is God’s provisional love of the obedience of his children. Later in the book Carson reminds us that to absolutize any of these forms of love is to create “a false system that squeezes out other important things the Bible says, thus finally distorting your vision of God.”
Next, Carson tackles the weight that has been given in different camps of the Greek word agape in describing the love of God. Carson asserts that we have made too much of distinctions between phileo and agape and that more important is the way all of these loves reflect out the intra-Trinitarian love to us: “Thus we move from the intra-Trinitarian love of the Father for the Son, to the Son’s love of his people in redemption. Jesus thus becomes the mediator of his Father’s love. Receiving love, so has he loved.”
Next, Carson tackles the difficult relationship between the love of God and God’s sovereignty. Why is this so difficult? In some sense, you could say that the ongoing battle between Reformed and Arminian camps centers around which of these attributes of God trumps the other. The Reformed thinker has to be able to reconcile how her God is still truly loving in light of this intrinsic conflict.
Carson fleshes out just how raw the love of God is biblically. God’s love at times makes the staid reader blush. In Hosea, the Most High rhapsodizes, “How can I give you up, Ephraim… my heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.” Carson asserts that when it comes to the impassability of God, “If this is taken to mean that God is emotionless, it is profoundly unbiblical and should be repudiated.”
So, how do election and God’s love fit together? First, any position must begin with compatibilism: “God’s unconditioned sovereignty and the responsibility of human beings are mutually compatible.” We must continuously place ourselves under the scriptural witness, which attests both a transcendent sovereignty and his personhood. To throw in the towel of transcendence leaves us with “the modern therapeutic God [who] may be superficially attractive because he appeals to our emotions,” but is, in the end, no God at all.
Part of the solution of bridging the gulf between transcendence and personhood is understanding that God does not “’fall in love’ with the elect” but rather “sets his affection on us.”
Finally, Carson tackles how to reconcile God’s love with his wrath. God’s wrath, a thoroughly biblical concept “is not an implacable, blind rage.” It is, in fact, an “entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against his holiness.” Contrary to popular understanding, when we come to the New Testament we find, in fact, that God’s wrath is ratcheted up alongside his love. How is this the case? We see that God’s justice is meted out, and not on those who deserve it, but that God himself, in Jesus Christ, bears the full weight of his wrath. “Thus God is necessarily both the subject and object of the propitiation.” This love of God displayed for us on the cross is a love that swallows up wrath and compels our love. As John reminds us, “we love because he first loved us.”
Carson’s contribution in The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God significant. I just added it, in fact, to my discipleship group curriculum as it is the most thoughtful wrestling through of what is at the crux of one of the most important theological issues a Christian has to come to grips with. As a reproduction of a series of lectures, I wish that there would have been a stronger editor. It’s a book that pushes the lay Christian because it can read unevenly (at times very understandable to any Christian, at other times it is very academic) and the thread of the argument is hard to follow at times, particularly in the second chapter. That said, it is a book any thoughtful Christian would benefit from. I highly recommend it.
did-not-finish
June 7, 2024I’m sure this would have been educational but the academic writing is the most difficult thing about this book. I made it 1/3 of the way through, will revisit when I’m retired and have more time to slow down and ponder.
January 23, 2018
Very good reminder of God's love for us, though undeserving. Because it is based off of a lecture series, it is easy to read, while still including deep theological content.
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