Love Manifested in Christ: The Cross Is the Measure

From the series “The Love of God: Revealed, Received, and Radiated”

If you want to know what God’s love looks like, look at the cross.

Not because the crucifixion was the first time God loved.
Not because wrath was satisfied and love was finally permitted to flow.
But because the cross was the full revelation of the love that had always existed in the heart of the Father.

Jesus didn’t come to persuade God to love us.
He came because God already did.

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

The Son did not wait for us to repent. He didn’t demand that we first obey. He came while we were His enemies (Romans 5:10), dead in our sin, unworthy and unwilling. And it was in that place that the eternal love of God broke into the world—visible, personal, bleeding.

---

The cross was not an interruption in the character of God. It was the unveiling of it.

To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:9).
To hear His words, feel His compassion, and witness His mercy is to encounter the heart of the One who sent Him.

When Christ washed the feet of His disciples—including the one who would betray Him—He revealed a love not rooted in response, but in resolve.

When He healed the ear of the soldier who came to arrest Him, He revealed a love that overcomes evil with good.

When He looked at those who mocked Him and prayed, “Father, forgive them…”, He revealed the kind of love that doesn’t flinch under pressure or diminish under hatred.

This love is not abstract. It is not safe. It is not reserved for the deserving. It is poured out without caution, without condition, without calculation.

And that is what makes it holy.

---

If we are to understand the love of God, we must let go of what we’ve learned from the world.

This is not the love of human passion or performance.
It is not sentimental or self-centered.
It does not need applause.
It does not withhold until it is wanted.
It does not vanish when rejected.

God’s love is self-giving, sacrificial, and relentless.
It is powerful enough to endure death, and pure enough to rise from it.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
— John 15:13

But Christ laid down His life not only for friends, but for enemies. That is the scandal and power of divine love. It meets us in rebellion, offers mercy without demand, and calls us into life with Him.

---

This is what the early Church defended—not just with their words, but with their blood.

They did not preach Christ because He made their lives easier.
They preached Him because they were convinced He was the love of God in human flesh.

Irenaeus of Lyons: “The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ… through His transcendent love, became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is.”
— Against Heresies, Book V, Preface

Justin Martyr: “We, who once delighted in sin, now embrace righteousness; we who hated one another, now love one another… all through Him who loved us even to the cross.”
— First Apology, Chapters 14–16

Epistle to Diognetus: “He sent the Creator and Fashioner of all things… not to tyrannize, but to persuade. Not to force, but to save.”
— Epistle to Diognetus, Chapter 7–9

This love could not be killed in them because it had already died for them. It had overcome their fears, melted their pride, and claimed their hearts.

---

If the love of God in Christ doesn’t move us, it’s not because He has changed. It’s because we’ve settled for something less.

The cross is not a sentimental symbol.
It is the measurement of God’s love.
It is the place where mercy triumphed over judgment.
It is the doorway to life, the banner of victory, and the proof that God has never, and will never, stop loving the world He made.

This is the love that came.
This is the love that suffered.
This is the love that rose.

This is the love that still calls your name.

---

Sources & References

Scripture (NASB 1995):

• Romans 5:6–8 – “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…”
• John 14:9 – “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
• John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this…”
• Romans 5:10 – “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God…”

Ante-Nicene Sources:

• Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book V, Preface.
  “Through His transcendent love, [Christ] became what we are…”
  [Available at: NewAdvent.org/fathers/0103500.htm]
• Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapters 14–16.
  “We… now love one another… all through Him who loved us even to the cross.”
  [Available at: CCEL.org or EarlyChristianWritings.com]
• Epistle to Diognetus, Chapters 7–9.
  “He sent the Creator… not to tyrannize, but to persuade.”
  [Available at: EarlyChristianWritings.com/diognetus.html]