The idea that love is not simply an attribute of God but is, in itself, a real God implies that love is not a chance or secondary characteristic but constitutes the substance and essence of God’s nature.

Divine Love: The Ultimate Creative Essence

The idea that love is not simply an attribute of God but is, in itself, a real God implies that love is not a chance or secondary characteristic but constitutes the substance and essence of God’s nature. In other words, God is inseparable from love—He not only possesses love but is love in His absolute, creative, and all-encompassing essence.

Such an understanding emphasizes that absolute love does not depend on anything external or conditional. As noted in the source, “God would not be absolute love if He were loving only another, the conditional, the mortal, the world; for then divine love would be dependent on the existence of the conditional and, therefore, would be accidental. God is the Absolute Being because He is the substantial act of love, an act-substance… God is love, i.e. love is God’s essence, His own nature, and not merely an attribute.” (source: link txt, page: 560). This highlights that love is not an element added to God but the primary active force that defines His absoluteness.

Furthermore, this conception shifts the focus from passively possessing love to actively embodying it in human experience. A person is invited not merely to perceive God’s love but to become a participant in it, fulfilling the “first and greatest” commandment through a Christ-like self-sacrifice. This means that love, as the essence of God, compels a person to completely immerse and transform their own being: through the personal experience of love, one gains light, deification, and a true understanding of the Divine. Thus, love becomes a conduit for grasping eternal truth and knowing God Himself.

This understanding also influences relationships among people. If love is the foundation of the divine nature, then it becomes the criterion for the true manifestation and unfolding of human personality. As stated in one of the sources: “Truly, love makes God God and man human. That is why Christ is the true God in all worlds. The only true God, because He is love. Love is the essence of His marvelous Person, and thus the essence of every human personality in general.” (source: link txt, page: 575). Here, love is seen as that through which a person may discover their true nature, with Christ’s love serving as the ideal model.

Finally, understanding love as a creative, all-permeating force reveals it as the source of constant renewal and creative energy, capable of transforming not only the inner world of individuals but also the external, collective experience. “God as ‘God-with-me’ is precisely creative love, a kind of flow, constantly spilling over the boundaries of ‘self’—a reality that is always something more than just ‘itself,’ namely, all-encompassing, beyond itself, and through it, transforming me.” (source: link txt, page: 529). This statement shows that love functions as a dynamic process through which the divine presence unfolds and spreads throughout the universe and within each person.

Thus, by presenting love as the real God, we come to understand that the ultimate goal of this perspective is for a person, completely infused with this creative force, to become a participant in the divine nature. This leads to personal and spiritual transformation, offering the opportunity to attain true union with the Divine through an act of unconditional, all-encompassing love.

Supporting citation(s):
“Love is not only ‘res Dei’, His ‘esse’. As love, God is absolute. ‘God would not be absolute love if He were loving only another, the conditional, the mortal, the world; for then divine love would depend on the conditional existence and, consequently, would be accidental. God is the Absolute Being because He is the substantial act of love, an act-substance… God is love, i.e., love is God’s essence, His own nature, and not merely an attribute.’ And since this is so, a person cannot sense and understand Absolute Love unless, in personal experience, he embodies the ‘first and greatest’ commandment, unless in a substantial act of Christ-like love he surrenders his entire being into the hands of the God-man Christ. God’s essence seeks the human essence. God seeks man. Truth is poured out throughout the infinity of God’s essence; therefore, one cannot come to know truth through a rationalistic, Arian approach. Only one path leads to the knowledge of eternal truth—love.” (source: link txt, page: 560)

“In order to love people with an imperishable love, a person must first make Christ the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the mind of his mind, the will of his will, the life of his life, the love of his love. Without the God of Love, it is impossible to love divinely. Truly, love makes God God and man human. That is why Christ is the true God in all worlds. The only true God, because He is love. Love is the essence of His marvelous Person, and thus the essence of every human personality in general. Dostoevsky’s love for man and for the world is only a reflection of his love for the Lord Christ.” (source: link txt, page: 575)

“It is not only the ‘beloved’ and not even only the ‘loving’—it is love, the creative love itself. God is love. But the phenomenon, the manifestation, the revelation—as already noted—are here equivalent to the reality itself. The reality provided in the living experience is revealed precisely in it. The beloved is revealed to me here, therefore, not only as loving, but also as the source of love, as love itself. God as ‘God-with-me’ is precisely creative love, a kind of flow, constantly spilling over the boundaries of ‘self’—a reality that is always something more than just ‘itself,’ namely, all-encompassing, beyond itself, and by it, creating me.” (source: link txt, page: 529)