ABSTRACT
Some time ago the State of Vermont’s Department of Motor Vehicles refused to issue a “vanity” license plate that read JOHN316. The grounds for the refusal were that the plate contravened the state’s policy not to allow license plates that are obscene or offensive, or that promote a particular political or religious viewpoint. Be assured, Gentle Reader, that I have not just transmitted an obscenity. The plate manqué conveyed a religious message by alluding to chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel According to John, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” I shall not discuss the merits of the DMV’s policy; mentioning it was a transparent attempt to capture your attention. My focus instead is on the John 3:16 text, and only a part of it at that. John describes an immensity of love that beggars human comprehension. I shall concentrate on a seemingly simple, preliminary question, trying to establish a beachhead, not to chart a limitless territory. Why does God love us at all? The question is not intended to prompt an inquiry into what it is about us that God fi nds lovable. It is, instead, a question about the metaphysics of divine love. How is it that a perfect being can love beings that are conspicuously imperfect?
