The New Testament's central word for love, agape, describes commitment shown through action. First Corinthians 13 describes this love with patient, truthful, and enduring behavior, and Jesus commands it even toward enemies. Scripture grounds that demanding love in what God has already given: "We love because he first loved us."
Love is defined by what it does
The famous description in 1 Corinthians is a list of behaviors. Each one can guide a person's conduct even when warm feelings are absent.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Written to a congregation fighting over status and spiritual gifts, this chapter addresses a divided church. Patience and refusing to keep a record of wrongs answer the conflicts in Corinth.
7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John says that God is love, describing love as central to God's nature and actions.
37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment.39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus gives two. Love of God and love of neighbor belong together.
34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Given on the last night, with the identifying mark of his followers named as the love they show one another.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul ranks love above faith and hope at the end of a chapter arguing that gifted people without it amount to nothing.
Limits and common misreadings
1 Corinthians 13 is read at weddings so often that its actual setting gets lost. Paul wrote it to a church quarreling over whose spiritual gifts mattered most, so its words challenge a divided community. Love isn't identical to approval or silence. Romans 12:9 joins sincere love with hating evil, and Jesus sometimes spoke bluntly to people he loved. Love also isn't a reason to stay in danger. "Love covers a multitude of sins" describes patience with offenses; it must never be used to conceal abuse or silence someone who needs protection.
The word doing most of the work in these passages is agape. The New Testament
commands it, extends it to enemies, and describes it through concrete actions.
Its meaning reaches well beyond affection.
Feelings may come and go, but patience, truthfulness, and a willingness to stop
keeping score can still be practiced. That practical shape is what makes love a
meaningful command.
Common questions about love
What is the greatest commandment in the Bible?
In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus names loving God with all your heart, soul and mind as the greatest, then immediately adds love for your neighbor as yourself. He says all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commands, joining devotion to God with care for people.
What are the different Greek words for love in the Bible?
The New Testament mainly uses agape, committed self-giving love, and philia, the love of friendship. Eros, romantic love, does not appear in the New Testament, and storge, family affection, appears only in compound forms. Agape is the word used in 1 Corinthians 13 and in the command to love enemies, which is why it can be commanded.
What does "God is love" mean?
First John 4:8 describes God's nature, and the same letter grounds human love in God's prior action. The sentence doesn't reverse into "love is God" or make every claim labeled love divine. John remains deeply concerned with truth and with love demonstrated through action.