First sentence: God is love, says Scripture. It’s one of weightiest and most precious truths imaginable for a Christian.

Would it be too bold to say upfront that this is one of the best books I've read in 2018? I'm going to do it anyway. This is the book I didn't know I needed...only to discover that I desperately needed such a book.

What is love? What is authority? How does the world define "love" and "authority"? How does God define love and authority? Why does the world's definitions clash with God's definitions? Is the church being overly influenced by the world? What are the dangers of letting the world's definitions impact how we live out our beliefs and doctrines? How can the church do a better job of reflecting God's definitions of love and authority?

The Rule of Love is engaging, compelling, thought-provoking. Perhaps because it is God-centered. Perhaps because it's practical and packed with applications for the church. Perhaps because it's packed with literature references.

Leeman first introduces us to the idea that God is love making sure to point out that "love" isn't all God is. He writes, "God’s own character gives us the definition and standards of love. Dictionary writers should observe God and then draft their definition of love on that basis. Anything called love that does not have its source in God is not love." Most people get "love" wrong. Because they're not looking to GOD to define it.

He concludes,
"We’re no longer interested in the God who is love. Rather, we’re interested in our own ideas of love, which become god. Love—or our notion of it—becomes the supreme justifier, boundary setter, and object of worship. That’s what a god is and does. So now we carry around something called love which possesses all the moral authority of God himself. The trouble is, it’s not God. It’s nothing more or less than our own desires—especially the desire to rule ourselves."
Modern day notions of love make assumptions--big assumptions--that clash with historic (and biblical) definitions of love.

Assumption 1. No moral boundaries or judgments can be placed on love. Rather, love establishes all the boundaries. You can justify anything by saying that it’s loving or motivated by love.
Assumption 2. Love means unconditional acceptance and the end of judgment.
Assumption 3. Love and authority have nothing to do with one another. Authority restrains. Love frees. Authority exploits. Love empowers. Authority steals life. Love saves life. This disassociation between love and authority is nothing new. They have been divided ever since the Serpent suggested to Adam and Eve that God’s love and God’s authority could not coexist.
Assumption 4. It follows that love is anti-institutional. Institutions, after all, impose authority on relationships. They are rule structures. In our minds, the words love and institution just don’t fit together. Love helps relationships. Institutions hurt them.

Essentially, he argues that "The world presumes to understand love and authority, like it presumes to understand God. Yet it understands these things only in their fallen forms, not in their created or redeemed forms... The main goal of this book, then, is to refashion our views of God’s love and authority and their relationship together."

There are SEVEN chapters: "Love in the Culture," "Love among the Theologians," "God's Love for God, Part 1," "God's Love for God, Part 2," "God's Love for Sinners," "Love and Judgment," and "Love and Authority."

In the first chapter, he examines the idol we've made called LOVE. How does culture see and define love? How did our culture come to view love in this way? (It hasn't always.) How is this cultural definition of love infiltrate the church?

In the second chapter, Leeman traces how theologians have defined and discussed love throughout the centuries. What kinds of love are there? How does God love us? Does God love in only one way? With which kind of love does God love us? Is his love unconditional or conditional? How can understanding God's love impact how I love others?

Chapters three and four focus on God's love for God. These chapters are admittedly the most complex and perhaps the most intense. It gets abstract, but he does use an analogy or two to help us out. One of his analogies is a boomerang.

The fifth chapter is "God's Love For Sinners." How did sin impact love? How has our fallenness shaped or distorted our view of love? If God loves sinners, why does he love them? how does he love them? Does he love conditionally or unconditionally?

It is finally--FINALLY--in this chapter that he reaches a definition of love. "Love is affectionately affirming that which is from God in the beloved, and giving oneself to seeing God exalted in the beloved." He points out, "Biblical love always begins with the love of God, and therefore it will affirm only what is from God. Sin and folly are never from God. Yet, when God rests lightly on our hearts, we begin to affirm sin and think we are serving both God and love in doing so. The trouble is, sin produces death, and so affirming sin is not love at all, but cowardice and hate...Love’s uppermost goal, whether in speaking or acting, is for people to know God in Christ. This is the demand of holy love."

The sixth chapter is "Love and Judgment." In this chapter he looks at judgment--and the undeniable connection between love and judgment. You might be surprised--I know I was at first--that these two are so closely related. But he convinced me.

The seventh and final chapter is, "Love and Authority." This is a dramatic chapter. Our ideas of authority aren't always all that biblical. By nature, by our fallen nature, we tend to not like authority...ever. What is the connection between love and authority? Can the two ever be separated? Why do we want them to be when God has designed them to go together perfectly? How can the church illustrate biblical authority?

As I mentioned at the start, I found this a GREAT book. It's MEATY and thought-provoking. Easily it is one of the best I've read this year. And I'm not just saying that because he discusses Les Miserables by Victor Hugo!