Bible Verses About Love

God's love for us

Every command to love in Scripture rests on a prior fact: God loved first, and He proved it at the cross.

1. 1.

   1 John 4:9–10

   "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

   Love is defined here, not felt. It is God absorbing His own wrath against our sin in the person of His Son.

2. 2.

   John 3:16

   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

   The love is measured by the gift, and the gift is received by faith — not by sincerity or effort.

3. 3.

   Romans 5:8

   "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

   He did not wait until we were worth loving. That is the whole point of the verse.

4. 4.

   Ephesians 2:4–5

   "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved."

   Dead people do not cooperate. Love here is God doing what we could not do for ourselves.

5. 5.

   Romans 8:38–39

   "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

   The security is not in the strength of your grip on Him but in the love that holds you in Christ.

6. 6.

   1 John 3:1

   "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."

   Adoption, not merely pardon. He did not just clear the record; He gave a name and a home.

7. 7.

   Zephaniah 3:17

   "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

   Spoken to a people God was restoring after judgment — His delight rests on those He has redeemed.

What love actually looks like

1. 8.

   1 Corinthians 13:4–7

   "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

   Read every line as a description of Christ before reading it as a standard for yourself.

2. 9.

   1 Corinthians 13:13

   "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

   Faith and hope will one day be sight. Love is what carries into eternity.

3. 10.

   1 John 3:18

   "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

   Love that costs nothing and does nothing is not the love Scripture means.

4. 11.

   John 15:13

   "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

   Jesus said it days before doing it. The definition and the demonstration came from the same mouth.

5. 12.

   1 Peter 4:8

   "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."

   Covering is not excusing. It is refusing to broadcast or rehearse another's failures.

6. 13.

   Proverbs 10:12

   "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses."

   Two responses to the same offense. One multiplies it; the other ends it.

The command to love

1. 14.

   Matthew 22:37–39

   "And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.""

   Order matters. Love for neighbor flows out of love for God, never replaces it.

2. 15.

   John 13:34–35

   "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

   The church's love for one another is meant to be visible evidence to a watching world.

3. 16.

   1 John 4:19

   "We love because he first loved us."

   Christian love is always a response. Try to generate it independently and it runs dry.

4. 17.

   Matthew 5:44

   "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

   The clearest proof that this love is supernatural: it is aimed at people who cannot repay it.

5. 18.

   Romans 12:9–10

   "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

   Genuine love is not indifferent to evil. Holiness and love are not rivals.

6. 19.

   Galatians 5:22–23

   "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

   Love heads the list because it is fruit, not willpower — the Spirit's work in a changed heart.

7. 20.

   Colossians 3:14

   "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

   Love is the garment that holds every other Christian virtue in place.