Not only did the Father so loved us that he sent his only begotten and his beloved Son to be our Savior. But the Son  came out of love for the Father and for us. He himself said, "Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends." St. Paul, however, helps us to put this love  into perspective. "Now someone might barely be willing to die for the sake of justice, for example, perhaps someone might dare to die for sake of a good man. But God demonstrates his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, at the proper time, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-9).

A little later in the same Letter to the Romans St Paul adds, "So, what should we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare even his own Son, but handed him over for the sake of us all, how could he not also, with him, have given us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32). Can we with any justification doubt God's love for us? At the same time, can we with any justification withhold our love from God?