Love from God or Love for God
January 24th, 2022 by G.
And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
-4th Nephi
I always assumed this meant they loved God so much that they lived in peace with each other.
But “of” in English is a slippery word. It can mean love for God, like I assumed. It can also mean love from God, or more precisely, God’s love, the love that God possesses.
I like that second understanding better. They possessed what God possessed, as heirs and joint heirs.
I wonder how the phrase gets translated in languages where they have precision prepositions?
Comments (5)
Filed under: We transcend your bourgeois categories | No Tag
Filed under: We transcend your bourgeois categories | No Tag
January 24th, 2022 16:41:58
Ben Pratt
January 25, 2022
In Portuguese it says “amor a Deus” = love for God.
Eric
January 26, 2022
“Liefde voor God” in Dutch; love for God.
WJT
January 27, 2022
In defense of the other reading, cf. Mormon 3:12, in which Mormon says he “loved them [his people] according to the love of God which was in me.” See also “charity is the pure love of Christ” (Moroni 7:47); one would hardly speak of Christ as an object of charity!
WJT
January 27, 2022
In both of the passages I have quoted, the Portuguese has “amor de” rather than “amor a.” Not that anyone is claiming the Portuguese translation is inspired.
G.
January 27, 2022
I really taken with that reading that charity is the pure love for Christ.
I agree that’s not the intended reading and is kind of unlikely but I still love it