God loves us because he loves us

In a sermon on John 3:16 (“God so loved, that he gave…”), Puritan Thomas Manton makes the following point on God’s indescribable love towards sinners in sending His Son:

“Love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason of other things, but we cannot give a reason of his love, God showed his wisdom, power, justice, and holiness in our redemption by Christ. If you ask, Why he made so much ado about a worthless creature, raised out of the dust of the ground at first, and had now disordered himself, and could be of no use to him? We have an answer at hand, Because he loved us. If you continue to ask, But why did he love us? We have no other answer but because he loved us; for beyond the first rise of things we cannot go. And the same reason is given by Moses, Deuteronomy 7:7-8: ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you…’ That is, in short, he loved you because he loved you. All came from his free and undeserved mercy; higher we cannot go in seeking after the causes of what is done for our salvation.”

-Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, 2:340-341.

August 30, 2008 - Posted by spurgeon | Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, God, God's love, God's motives, Thomas Manton | | 7 Comments

7 Comments »

Hey Tony, great post on MANTON — he is probably my favorite puritan. For those who cannot readily afford the new 22-volume set, there are several individual volumes published by the Banner of Truth. I most heartily commend his 3 volumes just on PSALM 119 (often on sale). Super stuff for hungry souls. Keep up the good work

Comment by Pastor Dave Bissett | August 30, 2008 | Reply
What? God didn’t love us because we’re so totally awesome? How scandalous! What would the televangelists say?

I love it!

Comment by Betsy | August 30, 2008 | Reply
[...] Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, 2.340-341; this quote, found through a post by Tony Reinke, comes from the 22 volumes set (!). [...]

Pingback by Thomas Manton « | August 30, 2008 | Reply
[...] Tony Reinke of Miscellanies (formerly Shepherd’s Scrapbook) leaves a very insightful quote by Puritan Thomas Manton (wiki). The quote comes from a sermon on John 3.16 (Reinke cites the [...]

Pingback by Reason to begin reading Thomas Manton « lessofjohn | August 30, 2008 | Reply
[...] does God love us? Thanks to my friend Tony for spotting this quote for us (and for the fine [...]

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[...] Tony Reinke quotes Thomas Manton: [...]

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[...] Tony Reinke writer, Miscellanies: A Cross-Centered Blog, posted this beautiful quote from the Puritan, Thomas Manton on the unconditional electing love of [...]

Pingback by God Loves Us Because He Loves Us » The Glorious Deeds of Christ | September 2, 2008 | Reply

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Tony Reinke

Whether by intention or accident you are looking at the blog Miscellanies (formerly The Shepherd’s Scrapbook).

Normally this blog is a stream of miscellanies, but at its center I feature quotes and essays on the Cross of Christ. No series has received more attention than a little tutorial on how to rip a Bible through a table saw on the way to manufacturing a splendid Blank Bible! (Watch your fingers.)

As you can see, we focus on books. I enjoy reading, reviewing, and talking about books (cool) and photographing books (nerd). At times we pull the blanket off newly released reformed Christian books. And an annual highlight is our book of the year award. View all the 2008 winners here.

Welcome aboard! -Tony

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FEATURED BOOKS

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See my 15 favorite books of 2008 here.

Purchase any book through this blog and you will (1) improve your library and (2) help fund this blog. Thanks!

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For Tony’s current reading schedule click here.

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Who is Tony? My name is Tony Reinke. Like a well-dressed but heart-hardened Pharisee I spent 22-years hiding from God in self-righteous ‘faithfulness.’ That was until one morning my heart–numbed by my empty morality and trapped in a deceptively low standard of ‘goodness’–was subdued by God’s sovereign grace (Eph. 2). During a sermon by Paige Patterson in Lincoln, NE on Luke 18:9-14, I perceived the Gospel as the great exchange, released my self-righteousness, and clung to the saving righteousness of Jesus Christ. That morning this Pharisee became a broken tax collector and, though once blind, I could now see the reality of life, the gravity of sin, and the preciousness of Christ’s redeeming blood. Now there is nothing more precious to me than knowing Jesus Christ, the One who died for me and gave me His righteousness in place of my sinfulness (Phil. 3:7-9). Pursuing further up and further into the Cross has become the center of my life and this blog is intended as a place to share the pursuit.

Though I wouldn’t survive long in the wild, I consider myself agrarian (a farm boy from Nebraska). I was a short-term sports writer and a long-term carpenter who loves to tinker with gizmos and design web content. My story is part Mayberry part BlackBerry. Educationally, I graduated from a little private business school in Omaha with a degree in Liberal Arts. Theologically, I’m an autodidact made possible by the patient and wise direction of pastors in a local church. I’ve been married for 11 years to the wife of my youth (Karalee) and we have three precious kids, a majority of whom are named after dead preachers. I now *work* full time as the editorial and research assistant to my living hero of the faith, C.J. Mahaney. My line of work is a mix of theological research, reading, writing, journalism, photography, all integrated into social media (blogs). For fun I administrate Herman Bavinck dot org .

Email/comments. I’m grateful for your readership and would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment on any post to get in touch. Often I can respond to email but sometimes that’s not possible. Here’s the address: crede.ut.intelligas AT mac.com .

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“If you find me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity. If you find me besides the truth in anything, impute that to my infirmity. But if you find anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on you and me. Yours to serve you with what little I have.” John Bunyan (Works, 1:336).

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Book wishlist. I hope to have all these valuable books added to my library one day. All from the The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale editions) …

Vol. 1: Freedom of the Will (a gift from my friend Robin)
Vol. 8: Ethical Writings (purchased)
Vol. 21: Trinity, Grace, and Faith (purchased)
Vol. 2: Religious Affections (a gift from my friend Josh)
Vol. 3: Original Sin
Vol. 4: The Great Awakening
Vol. 20: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 833-1152 )
Vol. 23: The ‘Miscellanies’ ( No. 1153–1360 )
Vol. 17: Sermons and Discourses ( 1730-1733 )
Vol. 22: Sermons and Discourses ( 1739-1742 )
Vol. 15: Notes on Scripture

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Princeton Cemetery. I don’t know how I did it, but in the Spring of 2006 I convinced my wife and kids it would be fun to spend the day at Princeton cemetery. Princeton is famous for its school and less famous for its rich evangelical history. I took several photographs at Princeton Cemetery (where Edwards, Hodge, Warfield and the Alexanders are buried). These photos always remind me to be Cross-centered.

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Do-it-yourself Blank Bible. Of all the books we promote, none compare with God’s Word. We pursue the Cross as God opens His Word to us. In this anticipation, we encourage you to make your own blank bible like Jonathan Edwards.’ Building a blank bible shows both a commitment to serious, life-long reflection and the anticipation of God’s illuminating Spirit. To date, over 15,000 readers have accessed the Blank Bible Index.

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Humble Calvinism. Early this year we started a series on Humble Calvinism, a study through John Calvin’s Institutes. Especially noteworthy is Calvin’s experiential sensitivity to the contours of godliness. Join us as we continue learning humble and holistic Calvinism as Calvin intended. See the Humble Calvinism series index here.

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The Puritan Study. The Puritans were Cross-boasters. So how do we use the wealth of Puritan literature in our personal devotions and expositional studies? Our series on building and using a Puritan Study answered this important question. For more see the full Puritan Study series index.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Miscellanies.

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