1 John 4:8 Nature of God

  1 John 4:8- he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

  John has also recorded that God is light (1:5) and Spirit (John 4:24). Love is one of many attributes of God and is to be understood in relation to the others,such as holiness and justice. The nature of God is His "essence" or His "substance". God's nature includes all that He is that makes Him uniquely God.

 Any complete definition of God's nature should include the following seven aspects: Spirit,person,life,self-existence,unchangeableness,infinitude and unity. Without these things, God would not be God. Because God is so difficult to comprehend,Jesus became a Man revealing the essence of the Father and proclaiming truth concerning God (John 1:14,18).

 As we read the gospel accounts of the ministry of Christ,it becomes easier for us to understand what God is like. The first commandment of the law requires that we love and worship God as He truly is,implying we should study the nature of God.