How do you do you gain the love overflowing from the Absolute Love? Same as always, from Abraham until the culmination of this world, by faith.
Rom 4:13-22 "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring--not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"--in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness."
"How radically this faith involves our whole life is shown by the New Testament's equation of faith with obedience. So it is clear that, because of the nature of faith, no tension can exist between 'Christ alone' and the 'addition' of faith. Faith lives solely from Christ, and is filled by what He has done. Stated in eschatological terms, Christ's attainment of the goal for us (but without us) and his attainment of the goal in us are not concurrent.
Yet it is this very emptiness of faith in itself which leads to its decisive character. Because it is directed solely to Christ and his work for us, faith is necessary-and its lack excludes one from salvation. Without faith, God's goal in us is not reached. Precisely because faith is neither a human accomplishment nor a human contribution, but rather a confession that everything has been done for us by Christ, we have no Christ without faith. This is why Scripture speaks so strongly about the necessity, value and power of faith. Faith receives value only from its object. And because of faiths necessity we are bound to speak of the mortal peril of unbelief. 9Rom. 9:30-33; 11:20-23; Heb. 3:18,19; 4:1-11)" Adrio Konig
The Eclipse of Christ in Eschatology: Towards a Christ-Centered Approach p 159
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1989.
Rom 4:13-22 "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring--not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"--in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness."
"How radically this faith involves our whole life is shown by the New Testament's equation of faith with obedience. So it is clear that, because of the nature of faith, no tension can exist between 'Christ alone' and the 'addition' of faith. Faith lives solely from Christ, and is filled by what He has done. Stated in eschatological terms, Christ's attainment of the goal for us (but without us) and his attainment of the goal in us are not concurrent.
Yet it is this very emptiness of faith in itself which leads to its decisive character. Because it is directed solely to Christ and his work for us, faith is necessary-and its lack excludes one from salvation. Without faith, God's goal in us is not reached. Precisely because faith is neither a human accomplishment nor a human contribution, but rather a confession that everything has been done for us by Christ, we have no Christ without faith. This is why Scripture speaks so strongly about the necessity, value and power of faith. Faith receives value only from its object. And because of faiths necessity we are bound to speak of the mortal peril of unbelief. 9Rom. 9:30-33; 11:20-23; Heb. 3:18,19; 4:1-11)" Adrio Konig
The Eclipse of Christ in Eschatology: Towards a Christ-Centered Approach p 159
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing 1989.
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