Michael Wolter and ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (Rom 5:5)

Subjective or objective genitive? is a common question. Is, say, Augustine right (human love to God)? Or, say, Cranfield, who argues that a “statement of the fact of God’s love for us is a more cogent proof of the security of our hope than a statement of the fact of our love for Him would be”.

Michael Wolter, when commenting on this verse in Der Brief an die Römer (Teilband 1), 328, makes the following point:

Die Liebe Gottes ist nicht bei Gott geblieben, sondern sie ist zu einem Teil der von ihm Geliebten geworden

In other words, Paul is speaking about God's love, but precisely because it is God's love, it also becomes our love.