On the love of God: what it is, howe it is acquired, and when.
Love of God is not a sort of impulse which springs up without a person’s knowing or indiscriminately; nor can it be stirred up in someone solely as a result of knowledge of the Scriptures; nor can anyone love God by forcing himself. What is possible is for the mind the receive, from the reading and recounting of Scripture and knowledge of it, a sense of reverence which stems from a recollection of the majesty of God, and to feel awe at Him in a discerning way, whether it be the awe that children feel, or the awe of servants. The mind can thus be aroused with an incentive to virtue and a fervent desire for what is good. But if anyone acknowledges, imagines in himself, or teaches along these lines, that a person can effect that the love of God be depicted in himself as a result of vigilance over what is laid down in laws and such like, or as a result of compulsion or struggle on his part, or as a result of any human practice or means—then this person does not know what he is saying. Not even as a result of the law or commandment which He gives concerning love, is it possible to love God: from the law there comes a sense of awe, but not one of desire. For until a person receives the Spirit of revelations and his soul, with its impulses, is united to that wisdom which is above the world and he becomes aware in his own person of God’s lofty attributes, it is not possible for him to come close to this glorious savour of love. Someone who has not actually drunk wine will not become inebriated as a result of being told about wine; and someone who has not been himself held worthy of a knowledge of the lofty things of God cannot become inebriated with love for Him.
Saint Isaac the Syrian. The Second Part, 18.2. Translation by Sebastian Brock (CSCO 555, pp 95-96).
St. Ephreim’s passage on Love underscores and highlights the Great Commandment of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to Love God and to Love our neighbor as ourselves. Mediatation on this concept of Love of God peels back many layers of knowledge and helps achieve baby-steps towards Theosis.
Oops! I mixed up my Saints! This is obviously Saint Isaac the Syrian! This is what I get for posting so late! (I mixed up the two great Syriac-writing Saints! Forgive me!)
Peter, you’re absolutely right. He even mentions it as “the law or commandment which He gives concerning love”. The Saint shows us here something extraordinary: nothing we do on our own will bring us to love for God. We may come to be in awe of him, as a child is in awe of an adult or a slave in awe of his master, through obeying the commandments and doing good works, but we achieve love for God solely through inspiration by God Himself, though Him sending His Holy Spirit into us.
This is a very complex passage, one that touches on a number of subjects: the relationship of action in faith, Scripture in faith and love, and the psychological effort that people expend in prayer. Reading Saint Isaac is always rewarding, bringing clarity and especially humility, just when it is needed.
Amen to that.
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