Gunton: "The Spirit is Love"

Colin Gunton, a 20th-century theologian, argued that the Spirit is love. He based this argument on the biblical understanding of the Spirit as the one who unites the Father and the Son, and on the Christian experience of the Spirit as the one who empowers us to love one another.Gunton argued that the Spirit is love because the Spirit is the one who brings about communion. In the Trinity, the Spirit is the one who unites the Father and the Son in love. This love is not a static quality, but a dynamic activity that is constantly drawing the Father and the Son closer together. The Spirit is also the one who empowers us to love one another. When we are filled with the Spirit, we are empowered to love our neighbors as ourselves.Gunton's understanding of the Spirit as love has been influential in recent Trinitarian theology. It has helped to correct the tendency to think of the Spirit as a less important member of the Trinity. It has also helped to emphasize the importance of love in Christian theology.Here are some of the things that Colin Gunton said about the Spirit is Love:

• The Spirit is the love of God poured out into our hearts (Romans 5:5).
• The Spirit is the one who unites us to Christ and to one another (1 Corinthians 12:13).
• The Spirit is the one who empowers us to love (Galatians 5:22-23).
• The Spirit is the one who enables us to live in the way of Jesus (John 14:26).

Gunton's understanding of the Spirit as Love is a helpful reminder that love is at the heart of the Christian faith. The Spirit is the one who brings us into relationship with God and with one another. The Spirit empowers us to love and to live in the way of Jesus.