This signally distinguishes him from the animal creation and links him in a special way with God and his fellow men. In the sense of Father-Creator God is the Father of all men. In the New Testament, the relation of God to His creation is pictured in terms of Fatherhood. Consider the lilies of the field . . . In relation to fallen man, the evil and the unjust, His fatherly provision is undiscriminating.
Love is characteristic of a father and fatherhood is expressed in loving concern.
To say that God is love is but another way of saying that God is a Father. The love or fatherly concern is not cut off or dried up by man's sin. It abides in spite of the sinner's sin and is prior to his response. While the Father-son relationship may be broken by rebellion and repudiation and cannot be fulfilled without a response of faith, love and obedience, the Father remains a Father with a fatherly concern and the son remains a son although he is no longer worthy to be called a son. This is the picture presented in the parable of the prodigal son.