forelove

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ love.

Verb

forelove (third-person singular simple present foreloves, present participle foreloving, simple past and past participle foreloved)

1. (transitive) To love beforehand or in advance.
   • 2009, Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials:

     To foreknow is to “forelove.” For a reason known only to God he bestows his love on some.

   • 2012, Ron Craig, Are Christians Just Saved Sinners? - Page 125:

     Others, whom God did not choose to forelove and ordain to be saved, were deliberately passed over, and were therefore doomed to destruction; based entirely on God's mysterious, secret will.

   • 2015, Sam Storms, Kept for Jesus:

     [...] that these people never had covenantal relations with him; the Good Shepherd did not know them as his sheep, and they did not know him (John 10:14). Thus, to foreknow is to forelove.

Noun

forelove (uncountable)

1. Love in advance.
   • 2008, Brad J. Waggoner, E. Ray Clendenen, Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue - Page 211:

     Calvinists generally claim that in these instances God's foreknowledge should be understood as His “forelove.”