God is Love -- the Inseparable, Essential Element

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4: 16)

These three words "God is love" separate the Gospel of Jesus Christ from every other religion, every other system of belief, thought, and philosophy. The original text reads:

θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν When rendered literally, it reads "God love is." God is so essentially, indivisibly love, that the Holy Spirit instructed the Apostle John to write the two words right next to each other. When you think of God, the God who made the Universe, the God who sent His own Son to die for us, to save us from sin, death, hell, and to make us one with God, you can only think of Love. This is the love that makes us love others. Do not think, do not assume, that your love on your own can be, do, or have anything better than the love of God. "We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4: 19) Let us not boast in our love at all, for anything. Let us boast, rather, in His love for us.