why does God love man ?

[Kliska]

If we look at why he would love man, it has nothing to do with man. We cannot look at ourselves to make such a determination and expect to get the right answer.

It is because of Him. It is because He is good and righteous. Remember, in 1 John 1 the bible states that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God is just and good and it is only because of His goodness that we are forgiven and loved.

If anything is worthy of merit, it is HIM.

This is true, but also it does have to do with man. We are made in His image, and further, He didn't do what He did for the angels. He does indeed love us, faith, and the potential teaching tool we also represent.

[antitox]

This is true, but also it does have to do with man. We are made in His image, and further, He didn't do what He did for the angels. He does indeed love us, faith, and the potential teaching tool we also represent.

The point is that ALL of this is going to go back to His credit. God loves all of His creatures. In the end we can't assign credit or worthiness to anything else. From a human standpoint it would be easy to attach value to things in regard to God's creatures/man as some level of worthiness in our own sight, but then we would err on the issue of true righteousness in regards to God.

Yes, we must have values and honor, etc. and teach them, but what I'm saying is in the ultimate sense.

[24thchance]

I guess one answer could be I am a created being that is most like Him without being Him.I am His crowning creation as the best usually comes last.--Remember though any answer including this oneon this side of eternity will flawed and not totally true because perfect logic cannot come from a flawed human.

[Deb101]

For me the answer lies in the character and nature of God; that perfect unity so full of life and love His desire is to share this for He loves Himself in a most extraordinary way.

[Kliska]

The point is that ALL of this is going to go back to His credit. God loves all of His creatures. In the end we can't assign credit or worthiness to anything else. From a human standpoint it would be easy to attach value to things in regard to God's creatures/man as some level of worthiness in our own sight, but then we would err on the issue of true righteousness in regards to God.

Yes, we must have values and honor, etc. and teach them, but what I'm saying is in the ultimate sense.

Yes, we have to make sure that the credit goes to God, because everything good thing originates with Him. We have to be clear though; humans do indeed have a special role to play, because of Him. The grace of God is a spectacle to all of creation because of His dealing with us; again, He didn't do it for the angels or any other creation, but became human to save humans, 1) to showcase His grace, and 2) to teach faith to all creation, and He chose humans to do that with and through. Man has one requirement that is truly our "job;" to have faith in God. And, it is truly our responsibility. A responsibility that we can only reach with His help, which is why He gets credit for that too.

We see that this is an important point when we discuss things like evolution. The Christian worldview gives purpose and place to humanity, whilst Darwinian evolution attempts to strip man of his divine origin (made in the image of God and containing His very breath, as no other creation does, not even angels).

As CS Lewis said, "'You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,' said Aslan. 'And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.'”

[Raynbowz]

I don't know all the reasons why God loves us like He does, but part of it is because He created us. He made us so He could love us, and so we could love Him.

[LeafyTree]

Love cannot just sit there. It must expand, do something, shower itself on someone or something or it would not be the definition of love.

Love is giving, replicating, producing and ever expanding. If God is love, then He must (by nature) do something about it, action! He created the angels but they were not in His image and cannot replicate. They do not love, they obey (some of them). God (who is love) created us to love and produce more to love and so on and so on, so HE is continually replicating part of His own nature through us in a way (love begets love which begets more love, etc.) The only way to replicate love is to build more love and give it the ability to love and expand to even more love. Love by definition also includes free will. It cannot be forced. That's why He did it this way. So love could expand, knowing that not all of it would. Some of us would produce hatefulness. But it had to be that way if love were ever to be expressed according to His nature.

[Steve53]

I think part of the answer may lie in the fact that God gave us the capacity to love unconditionally. Love is a gift in and of itself. Loving unconditionally is but a poor reflection of the agape love God has for man yet it is enough that that special agape love has such a unique quality that we are able to experience it and therefore, to some small degree, understand its depths to the limits of our finite hearts and minds.

http://www.gotquestions.org/agape-love.html

Question: "What is agape love?"

Answer: The Greek word agape is often translated "love" in the New Testament. How is "agape love" different from other types of love? The essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Unlike our English word “love,” agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic or sexual love. Nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love, for which the Greek word philia is used. Nor does agape mean charity, a term which the King James translators carried over from the Latin. Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character.

Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The Apostle John affirms this in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” God does not merely love; He is love itself. Everything God does flows from His love. But it is important to remember that God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental love such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely (us!), not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is His nature to do so, and He must be true to His nature and character. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the Cross, where Christ died for the unworthy creatures who were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), not because we did anything to deserve it, “but God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The object of agape love never does anything to merit His love. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He lavishes that love. His love was demonstrated when He sent His Son into the world to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and to provide eternal life to those He sought and saved. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for those He loves.

In the same way, we are to love others sacrificially. Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us, or even hate us, as the Jews did the Samaritans. Sacrificial love is not based on a feeling, but a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own. But this type of love does not come naturally to humans. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its true Source. This is the love which “has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us” when we became His children (Romans 5:5). Because that love is now in our hearts, we can obey Jesus who said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another” (John 13:34). This new commandment involves loving one another as He loved us sacrificially, even to the point of death. But again, it is clear that only God can generate within us the kind of self-sacrificing love which is the proof that we are His children. “By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). Because of God’s love toward us, we are now able to love one another.
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BTW - Have I told you all lately, how much I love you?