Qfyilyi

If we have to be forgiving and love our enemies to follow The Nature of God The Father and be as His Children, then doesn't that mean that God loves satan?

Matthew 5:44-45 King James Version (KJV)

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Luke 6:35-36 King James Version (KJV)

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

The short answer to the question is "YES". A slightly longer answer observes that God is Love (1 John 4:8, 16) and so Love is the very essence of His being.

Matt 5:44, 45 and Luke 6:35, 36 simply reinforces the main point - we are to love all people, even our enemies. Let us notice several other verses on this topic:

• Rom 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


• We love because Jesus first loved us. 1 John 4:11, 19, Eph 5:1, 2.

Note that when God loves us, not all of us love God reciprocally - many do not love God but that does not stop God loving them and blessing all people with bounties of God as described in Matt 5:44, 45.

How could God ever love evil or anything that is the opposite of holiness? And that is what Satan is – the personification of evil and wickedness. Satan represents everything that God is opposed to. This is what the Bible tells us about Satan:

Satan is the evil one: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13)

Satan is a liar and a murderer: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44)

Satan is the accuser of God’s people: “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God” (Revelation 12:10)

Satan would set himself above God: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Revelation chapter 20 informs us of God’s holy and righteous judgment against Satan and all who follow him:

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that she might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while... And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

The concluding comments from the article below show that Jesus’ instructions about loving our enemies did not include loving wickedness, evil or Satan:

Satan represents everything that God hates. The heart of Satan is fixed and confirmed in his hatred of God, his judgment is final, and his destruction is sure. Revelation 20 describes God’s future plan for Satan, and love for Satan has no part in it.

Jesus’ command that we love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) is meant to govern interpersonal relationships in this world. We love God, and we love people (even our enemies), who are made in God’s image. Angels are not made in God’s image. We are never told to love the holy angels, and we are certainly never told to love the evil angels. Since Satan is everything that is antithetical to the God we love, we cannot love Satan. If we loved Satan, we would be forced to hate God, because holiness is the opposite of sin.

God has already determined that there will be no forgiveness for Satan; we are the objects of God’s sacrificial love, shown on the cross. As God was lovingly redeeming mankind, He was putting Satan “to open shame” (Colossians 2:15). God’s judgment of Satan will be part of His great love for us.

Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-love-Satan.html

The John and Luke passages cited in the question do not explicitly say anything about God loving Satan so any response to the question will rest more in broader theology such as the assertion that God is love. As such this question is off topic.

I will however point out a couple of things:

• Hebrews says that God [is] love


• this must mean that his motivations are never selfish or petty but are also benevolent and oriented toward accomplishing the highest possible good


• in addition God joins himself by covenant to his creatures in certain situations that may involve a commitment to that person or group's benefit. This commitment is often referred to by commentators as a "covenant love". An example is God's covenant with David and the "sure mercies" God would show to Solomon et al.


• there does not seem to be any such divine covenant with the Satan

The best discussion I've found on the attributes of love are from Charles Finney:

...2. God is love, and to love is to be like God, and to be perfect in love is to be perfect as God is perfect.
All God's moral attributes consist in love, acting under certain circumstances and for certain ends. God's justice in punishing the wicked, his anger at sin, and the like, are only exercises of his love to the general happiness of his kingdom. So it is in man. All that is good in man is some modification of love. Hatred to sin, is only love to virtue acting itself out in opposing whatever is opposed to virtue. So true faith implies and includes love, and faith which has no love in it, or that does not work by love, is no part of religion. The faith that belongs to religion is an affectionate confidence in God. There is a kind of faith in God, which has no love in it. The devil has that kind of faith. The convicted sinner has it. But there is no religion in it. Faith might rise even to the faith of miracles, and yet if there is no love in it, it amounts to nothing. The apostle Paul, in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, says, "Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."
Just so it is with repentance. The repentance that does not include love is not "repentance towards God." True repentance implies obedience to the law of love, and consequent opposition to sin...