Responsive love

He is not only concerned to assert His claim as "I"—the Lord—but He also cares for the human "Thou". He wills to "rule" in such a way that His sovereignty is freely accepted by man; His love desires to awaken responsive love in man, the "obedience of faith"—ὑπακοὴ πίστεως [hypakoē pisteōs]. True communion between God and man can only be expressed in the words: "Let us love Him, for He has first loved us". The love which God gives awakens in us an answering love through faith. It awakens us, however, in such a way that the fact that we are called means that we know we have to answer.—Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, 216