# “The love of God is treasured up in Christ” by John Newton

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2025/07/18/the-love-of-god-is-treasured-up-in-christ/
- Published: 2025-07-18T14:30:00-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“My dear Friend,

Having no letter to answer, I must fill up my paper as I can. It would be a shame
to say, I have no subject.

There is one subject which can never be exhausted: the love of Christ, which is 
the fountain from whence all our spiritual blessings flow and the the ocean to which
they tend.

_The love of God towards sinners is in Christ Jesus our Lord._ It is treasured up
in Him; it is manifested in Him; it is communicated through Him.

Permit my pen to enlarge a little upon this thought.

The love of God is treasured up in Christ. He is the Head of His church; and all
spiritual and eternal blessings are given in Him, and for His sake alone (**Ephesians
1:3-4**).

The promise of life is in Him; and to Him we are directed to look, as He in whom
alone the Father is well pleased (**Matthew 3:17**).

God beheld our lost, miserable condition, and designed us mercy; but mercy must 
be dispensed in a way agreeable to His holiness, justice, and truth.

Therefore, in the covenant of grace, sinners are no further considered than as the
persons who are to reap the benefit; but the whole undertaking, both as to the burden
and the honour of it, was transacted with, and devolved upon, Jesus Christ the Lord,
who freely engaged to be their Saviour and Surety.

_The manifestation of the love of God to sinners, is in Christ Jesus._ His goodness
and forbearance are, indeed, displayed in every morsel of food, and in every breath
we draw; but His love to our souls is only revealed in Christ.

And, oh, what love was this, to give His own only Son! In this gift, in this way
of redemption, He has commended His love to us, set it forth to the highest advantage
possible, so that neither men nor angels can fully conceive its glory (**Romans 
5:8**).

And the apostle there emphatically styles it την εαυτου αγαπην, His own love: love
peculiar to Himself, and of which we can find no shadow or resemblance among creatures.

_The effects of His love are communicated only through Christ Jesus._ He is made
of God unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

“_All fullness is in Him_.” He has received, and He bestows, every good and perfect
gift. He gives grace, and He will give glory.

All our springs of life, strength, peace, and comfort, are in Him; and without Him
we can do nothing.

I trust, my dear Sir, in expressing my own sentiments on this point, I express your’s
also.

That Jesus, who was once a man of sorrows, who now reigns the Lord of glory in that
nature in which He suffered, is your hope and your joy.

Yes, the Lord who has given you many seeming advantages, as He did to St. Paul, 
has enabled you, like him, to sacrifice them at the foot of the cross, and to say,‘
_The things which were once gain to me, I count loss for Christ: yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus my 
Lord_,’ (**Philippians 3:5–10**).

This is to build upon a rock, to build for eternity, to rest upon a plea, which 
will overrule every charge in life, at death, and at judgment.

They that put their trust in Him, shall be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved.

And there is no ther way of attaining stable peace, or receiving power to withstand
and overcome the world.

Believe me to be, dear Sir,

Your obliged and affectionate humble servant,

John Newton”

–John Newton, [_The Works of John Newton, Vol. 6_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848715110?tag=toletaupanre-20),
Ed. Richard Cecil (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 6: 225-227. Newton wrote
this letter on July 7, 1771.

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