Love in the Bible

In the Bible, love is the essence of God’s character and the defining quality of his selfless, life-giving relationship with humanity. The biblical authors display the meaning of love through stories, poetry, and discourse. Hebrew words such as khesed (loyal love) and ahavah (affectionate, caring love) teach us about specific qualities essential to the concept of real love. And Greek terms such as agápe (divine love) and philia (familial love) emphasize the unique ways that God, friends, family, partners, and enemies can love one another. Beyond specific terms, the overarching story of the Bible ultimately describes love as the act of putting others before oneself—serving the interest and well-being of another.

The love of God can describe God’s love for humanity or humanity’s love for God. The biblical authors show us how God’s love for humanity is selfless, just, and unbreakable. They also show how God acts in love toward people, and how people respond to God’s love, while inviting readers to love God with everything they’ve got.

Everywhere! The whole Bible displays God’s love and demonstrates how humans love (or neglect to love) God and one another. Here are a few examples of the way the Bible talks about love.

• God instructs the Israelites to treat refugees and immigrants as natives and to love them as they love themselves (Lev. 19:34).
• Moses teaches the people God’s command to listen and love God with all their heart, soul, and strength (Deut. 6:4-5).
• Jonathan dedicates his loyalty to his friend David “because he loved him as himself” (1 Sam. 18:3).
• A woman pursues the man she loves, searching but not finding him (Song of Songs 3:2)
• Fearful leaders hide their faith because they love human admiration (John 12:42-43).
• John says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
• In his letter to Corinth, Paul describes how crucial love is to our identity while defining what love is (e.g., patient, kind) and what it’s not (e.g., proud, rude; see 1 Cor. 13).

Once you learn to look for it, you’ll see that the entire Bible talks about love.

The biblical authors use storytelling, poetry, and discourse to describe love. We can relate to the characters and emotions as they learn the meaning of love through the plot of a story (e.g., Luke 15:11-32) or the metaphors used in poetry (e.g., Song of Songs 8:6-7). We can also find direct messages about the self-giving nature of love in discourse texts (letters/epistles) like 1 John 3:16: “We know love by this, that [Jesus] laid down his life for us.”

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, Paul describes the nature and activity of real love. He says that even if we do impressive things with great faith, none of it matters if we do not have love. A loving person has learned to be patient, kind, hopeful, and enduring. A loving person turns away from all forms of violence or coercion and refuses to entertain jealous, boastful, arrogant, rude, selfish, or quick-tempered thoughts and behaviors.

John says that God is love (1 John 4:16). In other words, it is the essence of who God is. So when we learn to love in the way the Bible describes love, we are learning to live according to God’s character.

In the Hebrew Bible, the authors symbolize love through characters in stories, such as the story of Ruth’s faithful relationship to her mother-in-law, Naomi (Ruth 1:14-22). In Song of Songs, the author compares love to a banner (Song of Songs 2:4), representing one’s allegiance and loyalty. And when Moses raises the bronze serpent so that the people can live (Num. 21:6-9), it is a symbol of God’s healing love. Jesus recalls this symbol when he is teaching about his own love for humanity (John 3:14-16).

And not only does blood symbolize life and death in the Bible, it also becomes a poignant symbol of love. Losing blood means losing life, and humbly giving one’s life for the well-being of another is the ultimate form of love. We see this most notably in the sacrifice of Jesus. The biblical authors say that Jesus poured out his blood for the good of all humanity (Matt. 26:28; 1 John 1:7)—the ultimate act of love.

The whole Bible tells the story of God’s love for humanity through these and many other symbols.

The Bible has a lot to say about love—authors use several terms to describe love, and they refer to it hundreds of times throughout Scripture. Here are a few key quotes to start with.

The Apostle Paul describes love in several letters, perhaps most famously in 1 Corinthians. He says even if we do good deeds and have strong spiritual gifts and faith, none of it matters without love. Paul then gives us a practical list to explain what love looks like—what it does and does not do. Love is patient, kind, hopeful, and enduring. Love is not jealous, boastful, arrogant, rude, selfish, or quick-tempered (1 Cor. 13:1-8).

John, a disciple of Jesus and an apostle, says that God is love (1 John 4:16). Love characterizes God’s core essence. We see examples of God’s patient, kind, and enduring love throughout the Scriptures, especially in the story of Jesus’ non-violent responses to Roman oppression and religious coercion. Rather than fighting back with the power of force, he humbly offers his own life to bless and heal all humanity (1 John 3:16). Jesus’ selfless and compassionate treatment toward all people (including his enemies) shows us what true love looks like.

Jesus taught about the nature of true love. And he didn’t just talk about it—he actively loved everyone he met without partiality.

Here are a few examples of Jesus’ words about love.

Here are a few examples of Jesus’ loving actions.

Because the whole Bible points to God’s ultimate act of love in Jesus, every book of the Bible is, in its own way, about the love of God. But there are specific books of the Bible where the theme of love takes a more central role. Here are a few examples.

• Deuteronomy mentions love more than any other book of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible).
• The books of Psalms and Proverbs include a variety of songs and wise sayings about love.
• Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon) is a collection of Hebrew love poems.
• The Gospel of John emphasizes love more than the other gospels.
• John’s letters to the churches also highlight the theme of love, especially 1 John.

In the book of Mark, Jesus responds to a question from the scribes about which of God’s commands are the most important of all. He says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Notice how he fused two commands into one: “There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Loving our neighbors is important to God, so much so that he describes loving one’s neighbor as one aspect of loving God himself. The two are different parts of the same love. So what does loving our neighbor look like?

In the Bible, love includes positive affection for others, but it also transcends a person’s emotions to include actions—the way a person cares for the well-being of another. Loving one’s neighbor is about actively caring for the neighbor’s health and well-being in the same way we might care for our own lives. And Jesus takes it a step further, inviting his followers to consider the radical way he has been loving and caring for them, and he tells them to do the same for their neighbors (John 13:34).

To learn more about what it means to love our neighbors, especially when they happen to be enemies, dive into day 10 of our Youversion reading plan, “A Journey Through Luke & Acts.”