Self-Loving Deity

G. Reale, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The Schools of the Imperial Age, trans. John R. Catan (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990) 334.

...Plotinus derives the notion that the supreme Principle not only is the loveable, but likewise He is love, the love of self...

Plotinus was a third century Neo-Platonist. Here are some thoughts:

1. I'm don't entirely understand why Plotinus considered his deity to be so loveable. Christians love God because he sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for their sins, bringing eternal life to those who believe. Jews appreciate certain gifts that God has given to them: freedom from slavery at the Exodus, the Torah as a guide to life, hope of a Messianic redemption, etc. And both are grateful for the blessings that God has lovingly bestowed upon them. Add to that Muslims and others who believe in God.

But what is so lovable about Plotinus' God? I did not absorb everything that I read today, but what I got about Neo-Platonism is this: it says that all that exists is an extension of the deity, who is rational. So I guess that Neo-Platonists loved their God because he was the cause of everything and everyone. Most (if not all) theists would agree that we should be grateful to God for our very existence! Moreover, they would overlap with the Neo-Platonists in their view that God is rational and orderly (though some would say that God is not bound by our standard of reason). Jews especially would appreciate this aspect of Neo-Platonism, since they thank God for giving them the Torah, a source of order for their lives.

Am I correct in my characterization of Neo-Platonism, or am I off-base?

2. I once told an Intervarsity leader that I thought the God of the Bible was proud, since he often says great things about himself in the Bible. "Brag, brag, brag," I thought when I read such passages of Scripture. Here we're commanded to be humble, while God is so proud!

The IV leader replied that he didn't see God as proud, but as someone who had a healthy self-appreciation. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, since God is the highest being in the universe, and there are many things about him to admire, such as his love, his rationality, his creativity, etc.

3. Some Christians say that we can't love our neighbors if we don't love ourselves, since Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Other Christians retort that the Bible is not promoting self-love here, for it presumes that we already love ourselves, being as selfish and narcissistic as we are.

I see nothing wrong with self-love, since I agree with something Ayn Rand once said in her critique of altruism: Why should I assume that everyone else should get all the goodies, while I get none? We're all people of value, are we not?

Plus, God loves me, so why can't I love myself?

David Antion, a psychologist and former minister in the Worldwide Church of God and the Church of God (International), once said that love is a stream: if we don't love ourselves, then there is no source for us to love others. That may be true, or perhaps it's not the whole story. I don't know.