For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Bible Verses About Love
Love is not a peripheral theme in the Bible — it is the center. The entire Law, Jesus said, hangs on two commandments: love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37–40). The Apostle John summarizes God's nature in three words: 'God is love' (1 John 4:8). Not that God is loving as one of his attributes, but that love is the very essence of what he is.
The Bible uses several distinct Greek words for love. Agape — the word used in 1 Corinthians 13 and John 3:16 — is not primarily an emotion but a committed, self-giving action. It is the kind of love that 'bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.' Phileo is warm affection and friendship. Eros is romantic love. Scripture elevates agape as the model for how God loves us and how we are called to love others.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
We love because He first loved us.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth
Practicing Biblical Love
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 slowly and substitute your own name for 'love' — 'I am patient, I am kind, I am not easily angered.' This exercise, popularized by Tim Keller, reveals quickly where love breaks down. It also shows that love in Scripture is behavioral, not primarily emotional. You can choose patience even when you don't feel it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Love
What does the Bible say God's love is like?
Romans 5:8 says 'God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' This is the definition of agape — love that acts before the beloved deserves it. Lamentations 3:22–23 describes God's love as new every morning, never exhausted. Zephaniah 3:17 pictures God rejoicing over his people with singing.
What is the meaning of 'love your neighbor as yourself'?
In Mark 12:31, loving your neighbor as yourself is called the second greatest commandment. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) defines 'neighbor' broadly — anyone in need, even someone you would normally avoid. The standard ('as yourself') means you extend the same concern for their wellbeing that you naturally have for your own.
What Bible verse talks about unconditional love?
John 3:16 is the most famous expression of unconditional love: God gave his only Son not because the world was worthy, but because he loved it. Romans 8:38–39 gives a comprehensive list of things that cannot separate us from God's love — death, life, angels, demons, present, future, height, depth. Nothing qualifies as an exception.