Is God Always Loving Even Before Creation Existed? A Comparative Look at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Jewish theology has long wrestled with the question of whether God's attributes—especially love—are eternal or relational. The dominant answer, rooted in the Hebrew Bible and later rabbinic thought, is that God's chesed (steadfast love, lovingkindness) is not contingent on creation. It belongs to God's very being.

Psalm 90:2 sets the stage dramatically: "from eternity to eternity You are God" Psalms 90:2. The Psalmist isn't merely saying God is old—he's asserting that God's existence, and by extension His character, transcends time altogether. Before mountains, before earth, before any creature drew breath, God simply was. Attributes like love aren't add-ons that God acquired once He had someone to love.

Psalm 136 hammers this home with a liturgical refrain repeated twenty-six times: God's chesed is eternal Psalms 136:2. Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1138–1204), in his Mishneh Torah, argued that God's attributes are not separate from His essence—meaning love isn't something God does situationally; it's something God is essentially. This view makes pre-creation divine love not just possible but logically necessary.

Psalm 103:8 reinforces the character portrait: God is "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love" Psalms 103:8. Rabbinic commentators like Rashi noted these qualities were revealed to Moses as God's intrinsic nature—not behaviors adopted after creation began. The 20th-century theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel offered a different but complementary angle, arguing that God's love is a form of divine pathos—a genuine emotional engagement that, while expressed in time, reflects an eternal disposition.

There is some internal disagreement: certain rationalist strands of medieval Jewish philosophy were cautious about attributing emotions like love to God at all, preferring negative theology. But the mainstream liturgical and mystical traditions (Kabbalah especially) enthusiastically affirm eternal divine love as foundational.

Christianity inherits the Jewish scriptural tradition and intensifies the claim about God's eternal love by grounding it in Trinitarian theology. The argument goes like this: if God is a Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—then love wasn't waiting for creation to have an object. Love was already flowing eternally between the divine persons before a single atom of the universe existed.

The New Testament's famous declaration, "God is love" (1 John 4:8), is read by most Christian theologians not as a description of God's behavior but as an ontological statement about His nature. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) was among the first to systematically argue that the Trinity itself is the eternal structure of love—Lover, Beloved, and the Love between them.

Psalm 90:2 remains foundational in Christian reading too: God's existence from "eternity to eternity" Psalms 90:2 implies His attributes—including love—are equally eternal. Psalm 103:8's portrait of a God "abounding in steadfast love" Psalms 103:8 is read christologically by many Christian theologians, seeing the fullest expression of that love in the Incarnation, but insisting the love itself predates it infinitely.

Psalm 136's refrain that God's steadfast love is eternal Psalms 136:2 is regularly cited in Christian worship and theology as evidence that love isn't a divine response to human need—it's a divine constant. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) argued in the Summa Theologica that God's will to love is identical with His essence, making it as eternal as God Himself.

There's genuine disagreement among Christian theologians about what pre-creation love looks like. Open theists like Gregory Boyd argue God's love is genuinely relational and responsive, while classical theists like Paul Helm insist it's entirely impassible and unchanging. But virtually all agree the love itself is eternal.

Islam's answer to this question is clear and rooted in the doctrine of the divine names (Asma' Allah al-Husna). God's names and attributes are eternal—they don't come into being when creation does. Among those names is Al-Wadud, typically translated as "the Loving" or "the Affectionate" Quran 85:14Quran 85:14.

Quran 85:14 states simply: "And He is the Forgiving, the Loving" Quran 85:14. Classical Islamic theology, particularly the Ash'ari school developed by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936 AD), holds that God's attributes are eternal and subsist in His essence. This means Al-Wadud isn't a title God earned or adopted—it's an eternal reality about who God is.

The Quran also acknowledges the radical contingency of creation: "Doth not man remember that We created him before, when he was naught?" Quran 19:67. This verse underscores that humanity was literally nothing before God brought it into existence. Yet God's loving nature predates that act of creation entirely. Ibn Kathir (1301–1373), the influential Quranic exegete, commenting on Al-Wadud, emphasized that God's love is not dependent on creatures—it's self-subsisting.

It's worth noting that Islamic theology is careful here: God's love in Islam is expressed through mercy, forgiveness, and guidance, and some classical scholars distinguished between God's eternal attribute of love and its temporal expression toward creation. The Mu'tazilite school, for instance, was more cautious about affirming eternal divine attributes to avoid any suggestion of multiplicity in God's unity (tawhid). However, the mainstream Sunni position firmly holds that Al-Wadud is an eternal divine name, not a created or contingent one.

Tanakh affirms both God’s eternity and God’s steadfast love. Psalm 90:2 declares God is from “eternity to eternity,” prior to the world’s formation Psalms 90:2. Psalm 136 repeatedly praises God “whose steadfast love is eternal,” grounding love in God’s enduring nature rather than in temporal events Psalms 136:2. Psalm 103:8 likewise describes God as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,” showing love as a defining attribute of God Psalms 103:8. Read together, these texts support the conclusion that God’s loving character is eternal, not dependent on creation’s existence Psalms 90:2Psalms 136:2Psalms 103:8.

Christian Scripture includes the Psalms, which witness that God is eternal and that His love endures forever. Psalm 90:2 affirms God’s existence “from eternity to eternity,” prior to creation Psalms 90:2. Psalm 136:2 praises “the God of gods,—whose steadfast love is eternal,” indicating that love characterizes God beyond temporal bounds Psalms 136:2. Psalm 103:8 further depicts God as “compassionate and gracious… abounding in steadfast love,” reinforcing love as intrinsic to God Psalms 103:8. Consequently, many Christians infer that God’s love does not begin with creation but is an eternal attribute of the eternal God Psalms 90:2Psalms 136:2Psalms 103:8.

The Qur’an explicitly names God as “the Loving” (al-Wadūd), identifying love as a divine name and attribute Quran 85:14Quran 85:14. It also reminds humans that God created them when they were “naught,” which implies God’s existence—together with His names and attributes—prior to creatures Quran 19:67. On this basis, Muslims affirm that God’s loving attribute is not contingent on creation but belongs to God eternally Quran 85:14Quran 19:67.