上帝本質就是愛

約翰壹書4:16 上帝就是愛；住在愛裏面的，就是住在上帝裏面，上帝也住在他裏面。

如果我們要如哲學家們和推崇善行的教師們所作的那樣，長篇闊論地談論愛在靈魂里是多麼的高尚和崇高，想要證明它在所有美德中是最珍貴和完美的，那麼這些談論根本不能與使徒約翰所說的比拟。使徒大聲傾訴：「上帝自己就是愛，祂的本體除了愛以外，再沒有什麼了。」

若有人想用一幅畫來準確地描繪上帝，那麼他就必須找到一幅除了愛以外，就再沒有什麼的圖畫了。因為神聖的本性就是火熱的熔爐般的愛和馨香，充滿著天地。所以，如果有人可以畫出這愛，那麼他不能用藝術手法地表現，不能用人、天使、或天上什麼東西來作畫。他只能用上帝自己來畫。

所以，使徒在這裡只能用這種方法作畫：他只能從上帝裡面取出一樣東西，就是愛。然後，使徒勸誘我們，帶領我們穿越這高貴、珍貴、和令人愉悅的圖畫，結果就使得我們更加勤奮地去愛他人，更加抗拒嫉妒、仇恨、和爭鬧。——馬丁路德（AE 78:371）

1 John 4:16 God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

If we were to talk for a long time about how love is a high, noble quality in the soul, the most precious and perfect virtue of all — as the philosophers and the teachers of works do — that is all nothing compared to what he loudly pours forth, saying, 「God himself is love, and his essence is nothing but pure love, since the divine nature is nothing other than the fiery furnace and ardor of love, which fills heaven and earth. In turn, if someone could paint and picture love, then he would have to make a picture which is not autistic or human, not angelic or heavenly, but God himself. So the apostle can paint things here in such a way that he makes out of God and love just one thing. He does this to coax and draw us through this noble, precious, and delightful picture all the more to strive also to have love for one another and to be on our guard against envy, hatred, and dissension. （AE 78:371）