A Deo Lumen: Rediscovering the God of Love

by Dr. Peter A. Kerr

For generations Christians have said God created the world “for His glory.” The phrase is biblical (Isa 43:7). The assumption behind it, however, is often misunderstood. This truth is both ancient and clarifying: God does not create because He seeks glory. God creates because He is holy love (1 John 4:8), and holy love gives, and His self-gift is glorious.

Glory is real. Glory fills the earth (Isa 6:3). Glory matters deeply in Scripture (Hab 2:14). Yet glory is never presented as God’s inner motive. It is presented as what happens when holiness shines. Holiness is who God is. Glory is how holiness appears.

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord responded, “I will make all My goodness pass before you” (Exod 33:18–19). What follows is not spectacle but revelation of character: “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exod 34:6). What Moses requested as glory is revealed as goodness and covenant love. Glory is the radiance of divine holiness.

Isaiah’s vision confirms the order. The seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa 6:3). Holiness names God’s intrinsic being. Glory fills the earth as the outward manifestation of that being. Scripture’s grammar consistently moves from being to action to radiance.

This distinction matters because glory cannot function as the divine motive without distorting both theology and Scripture’s moral logic. Glory presupposes manifestation. It assumes an audience. A God who creates in order to secure recognition would no longer be the One who is “I AM” (Exod 3:14), the self-existent Lord who lacks nothing (Acts 17:24–25).

God Does not Need Earthly Applause

Proverbs gives a striking warning: “It is not glorious to seek one’s own glory” (Prov 25:27). Jesus deepens the point: “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me” (John 8:54). Scripture treats self-exaltation as folly (Prov 27:2; Luke 14:11). The God who commands humility does not ground the universe in narcissism. He does not forbid creatures from pursuing self-glory while quietly making it His ultimate aim.

God is not after external applause. Why do humans never try to impress ants? Because they are unworthy of our efforts. Notice the difference between God and man is magnitudes greater.

God needs no glory from man. Glory flows much more in the opposite direction, as God made us in His image. We can say we do all for His glory, but hopefully what we mean is that we love Him, serve Him, and recognize all glory is His anyway.

The triune life is eternally full. The Father is the source of life and goodness (James 1:17). The Son is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:3), the light of the world (John 8:12). The Spirit is the communion of love poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5), the One who gives life (2 Cor 3:6). This triune plenitude lacks nothing (John 17:5, 24). Creation does not increase God. Redemption does not complete Him.

The classical tradition summarized the biblical pattern by saying that the good is self-diffusive—everything about God is overflowing. Scripture itself affirms that God gives “life and breath and all things” and “is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Creation is not a strategy for divine enlargement. It is love moving outward.

Breadth and Depth Love

Because God’s motive is holy love rather than glory-seeking, the drama of creation and redemption becomes coherent. Holy love manifests in two fitting modes depending on the condition of the creature.

If humanity had remained faithful, love would have expanded in breadth. God blessed humanity, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). Communion would have widened. The earth would have filled with the knowledge of the LORD “as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14), not because God was maximizing spectacle, but because holiness was being freely reflected.

When humanity fell (Gen 3:6–7; Rom 5:12), love did not change. It descended. Depth is holy love meeting resistance without authoring it. The cross is not a divine performance designed to extract maximum glory from tragedy. It is the self-giving of the Son “while we were yet sinners” (Rom 5:8). Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rom 5:20). Jesus speaks of His “hour” of glorification precisely as He approaches the cross (John 12:23–32). Glory appears where love gives itself most completely.

In either world—Edenic or fallen—God’s motive remains the same. He manifests holy love. Glory follows. Glory is what happens when holiness is encountered.

Humanity is incapable and unqualified to be the ultimate judge of God’s glory. Even the worst person in history, the worst person you can imagine, could have asked and received forgiveness on his deathbed. God was loving even them, even then, even though no one but God could see it. And it was glorious!

God Gives Us the Image of Himself

God does not need to predestine people to Hell or to be the author of sin to show His justice and power. He doesn’t need a human audience to get glory. He has no need to use the inferior power of coercion because He can manifest Himself as Holy-love without ever forcing the will of others. There is never a single instance in all Scripture (rightly interpreted) where God coerces a human will.

God’s glory is not extracted from humanity but freely given Him when His character is made manifest. “We have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The content of glory is grace and truth. In His prayer, Jesus speaks of the glory He shared with the Father “before the world was” (John 17:5). Divine glory is eternally possessed. It is not acquired from creation. It is shared: “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them” (John 17:22).

A holiness-centered theology clarifies the doctrine of the imago Dei. Humanity is created in God’s image (Gen 1:26–27) and called to be holy as He is holy (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:16). The new self is “created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph 4:24). We are mirrors meant to reflect divine goodness, truth, and love (2 Cor 3:18).

Sin does not erase the image (Gen 9:6), but disorders love (Rom 1:21–25). Redemption restores reflection. Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), and believers are conformed to His image (Rom 8:29). Sanctification is participation in holy love (2 Pet 1:4), not self-generated ascent.

God’s Purpose is Shared Holiness

Because God’s aim is shared holiness rather than secured glory, He guards human freedom. Jesus draws and invites, He does not coerce (John 12:32). The Father draws (John 6:44). The Spirit convicts (John 16:8). Grace enables response (Phil 2:13). Love that is forced would not mirror the God who is love.

Even judicial hardening fits within this framework. God does not tempt anyone to evil (James 1:13). In Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). When God “gives them over” (Rom 1:24, 26, 28), He confirms a chosen resistance while preserving justice and mercy (Deut 32:35; Rom 11:23). God loves and invites repentance until the will is fully hardened, and He curtails the time that takes out of mercy for both the afflicted and the perpetrator since compacting the time limits the harm they do to their own soul. Hardening does not negate holiness or free will. It reveals it.

When holiness is restored as the divine motive, tensions dissolve. God acts from fullness, not lack (Acts 17:25). He is simple and undivided (Deut 6:4). He is light (1 John 1:5). Glory regains its proper place as radiant consequence rather than causal engine.

The pastoral implications are profound. The cross is not divine theater. It is reconciliation: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19). Worship becomes participation in joy (Ps 16:11; John 17:24), not flattery of insecurity. Mission becomes overflow: “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5:14–16). Believers are children (John 1:12; Gal 4:6–7), not laborers polishing a fragile divine reputation.

The whole earth is full of His glory (Isa 6:3) precisely because it is first filled with His holiness. “Holy, holy, holy” precedes “the whole earth is full of His glory.” The knowledge of the glory of the LORD covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14) because holy love shines without diminution.

Holiness is His being.
Love is His movement.
Glory is His radiance.

God is not after glory. God is after a sanctified family who share His holiness forever (Eph 1:4; Heb 12:10). Everything else—creation, redemption, consummation—is the shining of that holy love into the world.

This reframes human purpose without diminishing historic truth. Yes, humanity glorifies God. Yes, humanity enjoys Him. Yet Scripture places something even deeper beneath both realities: participation in holiness.

Humanity was not created merely to magnify God externally, but to share His life internally. We were made to love God, to reflect His goodness, truth, and love, and to reign with Him as sons and daughters (Rom 8:17; Rev 22:5). Glory and joy are not discarded—they are fulfilled. They are the radiant consequence of love received and holiness reflected.

There will be glory.
There will be joy.
But first and foremost, there is holy love.

Scriptures Cited (NASB 1995):

Isaiah 43:7 "Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made."

1 John 4:8 "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." (Note: This appears multiple times in the text, including at the end.)

Habakkuk 2:14 "For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea." (Also appears multiple times.)

Exodus 33:18–19 "Then Moses said, 'I pray You, show me Your glory!' And He said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.'"

Exodus 34:6 "Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;'"

Exodus 3:14 "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'""

Acts 17:24–25 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;"

Proverbs 25:27 "It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out matters which are too weighty." (The text paraphrases it as “It is not glorious to seek one’s own glory,” aligning with interpretive renderings of the Hebrew sense in some contexts, but this is the direct NASB 1995 wording.)

John 8:54 "Jesus answered, 'If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, "He is our God;"'"

Proverbs 27:2 "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips."

Luke 14:11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

Hebrews 1:3 "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"

John 8:12 "Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.'"

Romans 5:5 "and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

2 Corinthians 3:6 "who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

John 17:5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." (Also referenced later with verse 24.)

John 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

Genesis 3:6–7 "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings."

Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—"

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:20 "The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,"

John 12:23–32 (Key portions include verse 23: "And Jesus *answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.'"; and verse 32: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.")

John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 17:22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;"

Genesis 1:26–27 "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Leviticus 11:44 "For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth."

1 Peter 1:16 "because it is written, 'YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.'"

Ephesians 4:24 "and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man."

Romans 1:21–25 (Relevant: describing how people became futile in their speculations, exchanged the glory of God for images, etc.)

Colossians 1:15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."

Romans 8:29 "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;"

2 Peter 1:4 "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."

John 16:8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;"

Philippians 2:13 "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

James 1:13 "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."

1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."

Romans 1:24, 26, 28 (e.g., verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity..."; similar in 26 and 28.)

Deuteronomy 32:35 "Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them."

Romans 11:23 "And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again."

2 Corinthians 5:19 "namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

Psalm 16:11 "You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

Matthew 5:14–16 "You are the light of the world... Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

John 1:12 "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,"

Galatians 4:6–7 "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."

Ephesians 1:4 "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love"

Hebrews 12:10 "For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness."

Romans 8:17 "and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

Revelation 22:5 "And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."