Contemplating God

If God is love, why does He seem so concerned with Himself?

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly says that He acts for His own name’s sake. After delivering Israel from Egypt, the Psalmist reflects:

“Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known” (Psalm 106:8). 

Likewise, before the crossing of the Red Sea, God declares:

“I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 14:4). 

And through Isaiah He says:

“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it … And I will not give My glory to another” (Isaiah 48:11). 

These are not isolated texts. Again and again God acts “for His name’s sake” (Psalm 79:9; Psalm 143:11; Ezekiel 20:14). 

At first glance, this can sound strange. If God is perfectly loving, why is He so concerned with His own glory?

In his book The Love of God, John Peckham poses a question that helps us rethink the issue:

“What if God manifests a proper self-interest that is not in conflict with other interests but itself includes the best interests of all of His creatures?” 

That question gets to the heart of the matter.

Scripture distinguishes between selfishness and proper self-regard. Jesus commands us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), and to treat others as we ourselves wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). Likewise, Paul teaches that a husband who loves his wife loves himself, since “no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it” (Ephesians 5:28-29). Far from condemning all self-interest, these passages assume that proper concern for oneself can be extended outward in love toward others.

This distinction is important when we think about God. When people constantly seek their own praise and recognition, we call that pride because they are placing themselves in a position that belongs to God alone. But God is different. God is already the greatest, most Holy, and most beautiful being in existence. When God seeks His own glory, He is not exaggerating His worth – He is simply telling the truth about who He is.

This is why God’s concern for His own name is not selfishness. God’s concern for His name is not an attempt to protect a public image. His name represents who He truly is. When God acts for His name’s sake, He is acting in a way that reveals His faithfulness, mercy, justice, and love.

We see this most clearly at the cross.

Many Christians assume that self-sacrifice is the very definition of love. Certainly, Christ’s death on the cross is the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen. Yet Scripture never presents suffering or sacrifice as the ultimate goal of love.

The theologian Eberhard Jüngel observed that a love story that consists only of suffering would ultimately contradict the very nature of love. In the same way, the New Testament does not tell the story of Christ’s passion as a lamentation. The cross is not the destination of the story; it is the means by which God accomplishes something greater. The suffering of Christ serves the larger purpose of reconciling God and humanity.

This is why Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). Christ did not suffer because suffering itself was the highest good. He endured the cross because of what lay beyond it. Before Him was the joy of defeating evil, redeeming His people, restoring fellowship between God and humanity, and bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1). Even as He moved toward the cross, Christ’s concern for the Father’s glory was inseparable from His concern for the salvation of His people. These were not competing purposes but one unified mission.

The cross therefore reveals something profound about the love of God. God’s love for His own glory and God’s love for humanity are not in conflict. Rather, they meet perfectly at Calvary. God glorifies Himself by displaying His mercy, justice, faithfulness, and love, and sinners are saved through that very revelation of His character.

The God who repeatedly acts for His name’s sake is the same God who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). His love for Himself does not exclude us. 

At the cross, God’s glory and God’s love are not competing realities but one and the same story. The God who refuses to give His glory to another is also the God who gave Himself for the world. Far from excluding us, God’s love for His own glory became the very means by which He redeemed us.

The wonder of the gospel is that the God who is perfectly devoted to His own glory has chosen to share the joy of that glory with us. In Christ, we see that God’s pursuit of His own name and God’s love for His people are not rival purposes but a single, beautiful reality. The God who seeks His glory is the very God who welcomes us into it (John 17:24).