How Does Knowledge of God Relate to Love for God?

As a Christian who studies academic theology I am often led to consider the way these two areas of my life interact with one another. Obviously, my Christian faith is central. It is the all-encompassing circle into which all my other circles fit — circles of activity, influence, friendships and family. But how exactly does academic theology fit into the picture?

Fundamentally, my question boils down to this: how does the life of the mind relate to life of the heart? How does intellectual reasoning, so far as it pertains to the theology, relate to the relationship that I claim, as a Christian, to have with God?

This past Summer I was able to give sermon on the spiritual discipline of study, and as such, was presented with an opportunity to meditate upon this very question. What is the connection between mind and heart, intellect and affection, thought and feeling?

Though many great minds, far greater than my own, have pondered over this issue, below I offer some thoughts of my own. I do so tentatively. I am aware that what I have to say in no way exhausts the matter. And I find some quiet comfort in the fact that much of what I have to say has been said before.

There is a very famous verse that most clearly relates the life of the mind to the love of God. It is a verse that Christians have called the Great Commandment, for it in are summed up all other commandments. Much can be, and has been, said about this verse, but it is enough for now simply to notice how the connection is made so explicit:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10.27)

“You shall love the Lord your God…with all your mind.” On the surface, this seems like a rather strange thing to ask of somebody. How does a person use their mind to love their friends, or family, let alone God? If this command to love God with one’s mind seems positively abstruse, then I hope that what follows might be of some help.

I have three main points. I will elaborate on these three points in greater depth in later blog posts. For now, I offer only an outline, a brief explanation of what I mean and what can be expected to come up in the coming weeks. There will be some overlap in the three points made, but this is inevitable, perhaps in the same way that photographs can capture the same famous monument but from various different angles. Nevertheless, I find these three points to be distinct enough to allow separate treatment.

An outline

(1) Love is grounded in knowledge

Our love for God must be supported by good reasons, or else it is baseless and not worthy of being called ‘love’. Knowledge of God gives us good reasons to love Him. Without knowledge and without good reason to love God, our love is (a) futile before others and (b) dishonouring to God.

(2) Love demands knowledge.

Our love for God involves intimacy and closeness. The more we love God, the more intimate and close to Him we become (and then the more we love Him). The intimacy into which God calls us requires knowledge. Indeed, knowledge is a natural consequence of intimacy and closeness. Love does not remain in the sphere of generality. As love increases, so does knowledge.

(3) Love is fuelled by knowledge.

Our love for God is fuelled by proper knowledge of God. It is popular in our present day to think that emotions are passively controlled and that feelings just happen to us. However, I would like suggest (with much of Scripture and history behind me) that right thinking serves proper feeling. God has given each of us a mind as a means to the end of loving Him with all our heart.

If this topic in general, or the issues below in particular, are of any interest to you, I invite you to stay tuned over the coming weeks.

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