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Bible Verses About Love

What does the Bible say about love?

What can we learn about love in the Bible? Let’s dive deep into 100 inspirational love verses that will revamp your understanding of biblical love.

“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12)

"Where Love Is, God Is." Henry Drummond - What does the Bible say about love?

So, what is love? How does God define it? How does God love us?

How do we love the unlovable? Let’s explore these questions and more.

Christian quotes about love

“Where love is, God is.” Henry Drummond

“Love is the doorway through which the human soul passes from selfishness to service.” Jack Hyles

“The art of love is God at work through you.” Wilferd A. Peterson

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.” C.S. Lewis

“The biblical concept of love says no to acts of selfishness within marital and other human relationships.” R. C. Sproul

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us” Augustine

What is love in the Bible?

Most people think of love as a feeling of attraction and affection for someone (or something), which creates a sense of well-being but also a sense of care and commitment.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us. 1 John 4:10

God’s idea of love is much deeper. God’s love for us, and His expectation of our love for Him and others, includes self-sacrifice.

After all, He loved us so much He gave His only Son! God’s love includes more than emotions – it includes putting aside one’s own needs or comfort for the benefit of another.

Love isn’t always reciprocal. God loves even those who don’t love Him: “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” (Romans 5:10) He expects us to do the same: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

1. 1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

2. 1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

3. Romans 5:10 “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

4. John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

5. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

6. Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

7. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”

8. 1 Corinthians 13:2 “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

9. Ephesians 3:16-19 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

10. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Types of love in the Bible

Eros love

The Bible talks about various types of love, including eros or romantic, sexual love. Although the Bible doesn’t actually use this word, the Song of Solomon celebrates sexual intimacy, and we see it in the love of Isaac for Rebekah (Genesis 26:8) and Jacob for Rachel (Genesis 29:10-11, 18, 20, 30).

Storge love

Storge love is family love. Perhaps no love is more intense than the love of a mother or father for their child, and this is the love God has for us! “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15)

Philos love

Romans 12:10 says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.” The word translated “devoted” is philostorgos, combining storge with philos or friendship love. A philos friend is that person you can wake up in the middle of the night when you’re in a bit of an emergency. (Luke 11:5-8) Our love for other believers is a combination of family love and best friend love (and also agape love, which we’ll get to next): people we prefer to be with, share interests with, can depend on, and trust as confidants.

Wonderful news! We are friends of Jesus! We share this kind of love with Him. In John 15:15, Jesus spoke of the disciples as moving from a servant-master relationship to a philos friend relationship, where they (and now we) are partnering with Jesus in His revealed plan to go and bear fruit for His kingdom.

Agape love

A fourth type of love in the Bible is agape love, which is described in 1 Corinthians 13. This is the love of God for us, of God for Christ, of us toward God and toward other believers. We are friends with God and with other believers, but we also have this different level of love. It is a love from soul to soul, flamed into fire by the Holy Spirit. Agape love is pure and selfless; it is a choice of the will, desiring and striving for the best for the one loved, and expecting nothing in return.

The New Testament uses agape love over 200 times. When God commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves, He uses the word agape. When God describes the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13, He uses the word agape.

Agape love is patient and kind. It isn’t jealous, it doesn’t demand attention, it’s not arrogant, dishonorable, self-seeking, easily provoked, and doesn’t hold grudges. It doesn’t delight in being hurtful but rejoices in sincerity. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Agape love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13).

11. 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

12. Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

13. Ephesians 5:2 “and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

14. Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

15. John 11:33-36 “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

16. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

17. Song of Solomon 1:2 “Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine.”

18. Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

Definition for love in the Bible

What is God’s love? God’s love is unwavering and unfailing and unconditional, even when our love for Him may grow cold. God’s love is seen in the beauty of the gospel of Christ for unbelievers. God’s love is so intense, there’s nothing He won’t do to restore relationship with us – even sacrifice His own Son.

No matter what you are struggling with, no matter how broken you are, no matter how deep into sin you have sunk, God loves you with a mind-blowing, incomprehensible, love. God is for you! Through His love, you can overwhelmingly conquer[KB1]  whatever is keeping you down. Nothing can separate you from God’s love. Nothing! (Romans 8:31-39)

God is wholly love. His nature is love. His love surpasses our human knowledge, and yet, through His Spirit, and when Christ dwells in our hearts through faith, and when we’re rooted and grounded in love, we can begin to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of His love. And when we know His love, we can be filled up to all the fullness of God! (Ephesians 3:16-19)

19. Romans 5:8 “But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

20. John 3:16 “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.”

21. Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.”

22. 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. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

23. 1 John 4:17 “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.”

24. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

25. 1 Chronicles 16:34 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

26. Exodus 34:6 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”

27. Jeremiah 31:3 “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

28. Psalm 63:3 “Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”

29. Romans 4:25 “He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.”

30. Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?”

31. Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

32. Colossians 1:22 “But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence.”

33. Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Characteristics of love in the Bible

Love is patient, love is kind 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Aside from the characteristics of love previously mentioned from 1 Corinthians 13, other characteristics include:

  • There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)
  • We can’t love the world and the Father at the same time (1 John 2:15)
  • We can’t love God and hate a brother or sister at the same time (1 John 4:20)
  • Love does no harm to a neighbor (Romans 13:10)
  • When we walk in love, we give ourselves up, as Christ did (Ephesians 5:2, 25)
  • Love nourishes and cherishes the one loved (Ephesians 5:29-30)
  • Love isn’t just words – it is actions – actions of self-sacrifice and care for those in need (1 John 3:16-18)

34. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

35. 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

36. 1 John 3:18-19 “Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him.”

Psalms of love

The intimate love of God is revealed in Psalm 139, which reminds us we are known by God, and we are loved by Him. “You have searched me and known me . . . You understand my thoughts . . . and are intimately acquainted with all my ways . . . You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand on me . . . You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb . . . How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!”

In Psalm 143, David the psalmist is praying for deliverance and guidance. His spirit is overwhelmed, and he feels crushed and persecuted by the enemy. But then he stretches out his hands to God, perhaps like a small child stretching his hands to be picked up by his parent. His soul longs for God, like one thirsting for water in a parched land. “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning!”

Psalm 85, written by the sons of Korah, begs for God to restore and revive His people. “Show us Your lovingkindness, O Lord.” And then, rejoicing in God’s answer – God’s kiss of restoration: “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Psalm 18 begins, “I love You, O Lord, my strength.” This is David’s love song to his rock, his fortress, his deliverer. When David called out to God for help, God came thundering to David’s rescue, with smoke coming out of His nostrils. “He rescued me, because He delighted in me.” God delights in us when we return the great love He has for us!

37. Psalm 139:1-3 “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”

38. Psalm 57:10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

39. Psalm 143:8 “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

40. Psalm 23:6 “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

41. Psalm 143:8 “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.”

42. Psalm 103:11 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.”

43. Psalm 108:4 “Your constant love reaches above the heavens; your faithfulness touches the skies.”

44. Psalm 18:1 “He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, LORD, my strength.”

45. Psalm 59:17 “O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.”

46. Psalm 85:10-11 “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.”

What is the link between love and obedience?

All God’s commands are summed up in loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:30-31)

The book of 1 John deals poignantly with the relationship between love (of God and others) and obedience.

47. “Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.” (1 John 2:5)

48. “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10)

49. “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.” (1 John 3:23)”

50. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)

51. 1 John 4:20–21 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

52. John 14:23-24 “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

53. 1 John 3:8-10 “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.”

Scriptures for love and marriage

Several times in Scripture, instructions are given to married couples and what their relationship should look like.

Husbands are told to love their wives and given specific examples of how to love them:

  • “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25)
  • “Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies.” (Ephesians 5:28)
  • “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh against them.” (Colossians 3:19)

Likewise, the older women were to “encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” (Titus 2:4-5)

Marriage between a Christian man and woman is meant to be a portrait of the marriage of Christ and the church. Truly a picture is worth a thousand words! If you are married, what do people see when they look at the relationship between you and your spouse? Joy in marriage comes when we sacrifice our own pleasure for what brings pleasure to our spouse. And guess what? Their pleasure brings us pleasure as well.

When one sacrifices themselves for their spouse, it doesn’t mean a loss of identity. It doesn’t mean giving up one’s own desires and dreams. What it means is giving up selfishness, giving up considering oneself as “number one.” Jesus didn’t give up His identity for the church, but He sublimated it, for a time. He humbled Himself to lift us up! But in the end, both Christ and the church are glorified! (Revelation 19:1-9)

54. Colossians 3:12-14 “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. 14 In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

55. 1 Corinthians 7:3 “The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.”

56. Isaiah 62:5 “As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

57. 1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.”

58. Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

59. Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.”

60. Titus 2:3-5 “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

61. Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

62. Revelation 19:6-9 “Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

63. 1 Corinthians 7:4 “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.”

64. Ephesians 5:33 “So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Beautiful wedding Bible verses about love

Ephesians 4:2-3 gives a picture of what a loving marriage relationship based on Christ should look like: “ . . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Going back to the beginning and studying the creation of man and woman in Genesis gives us a picture of why and how God instituted the covenant of marriage:

  • “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27) Both man and woman were created in God’s image. They were created to be a unit, and, in their oneness, to reflect the triune God in His oneness.
  • “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’” (Genesis 2:18) Adam was not complete within himself. He needed someone comparable to him to complete him. Just as the Trinity is three Persons in One, each working separately yet together, so is marriage meant to be the merging of two distinct people into one unit.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 describes the unquenchable, fierce strength of marital love:

65. Song of Solomon 8:6-7 “Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.”

66. Mark 10:8 “and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.”

67. 1 Corinthians 16:14 “Let all that you do be done in love.”

68. Colossians 3:14-15 “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

69. Mark 10:9 “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

70. Song of Solomon 6:3 “I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.”

71. Proverbs 5:19 “A loving doe, a graceful fawn–may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.”

72. Song of Songs 3:4 “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me.”

73. Song of Solomon 2:16 “My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.”

74. Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

75. Philippians 1:3-4 “I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”

76. Song of Solomon 4:9 “You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.”

77. Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

78. Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

79. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broke.”

80. Proverbs 31:10 “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.”

81. John 3:29 “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.”

82. Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.”

83. Song of Solomon 4:10 “Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices.”

God’s command to love one another

As noted earlier, God’s second greatest command is loving others as we love ourselves. (Mark 12:31) And if that other person is unlovable – even hateful, we’ve still got to love him or her. We’re to even love and pray for our enemies. How do we do that? God enables us to love others – even that person that has hurt you, that person who has done you wrong. With the Holy Spirit’s power, we can respond even to open hostility with a smile and with kindness. We can pray for that person.

84. 1 John 4:12 “If we love each another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

85. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

86. John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

87. 2 John 1:5 “And now I urge you, dear lady–not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning–that we love one another.”

88. Galatians 5:14 “The entire Law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

90. Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.”

91. Romans 13:8 “Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.”

92. 1 Peter 2:17 “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

93. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

What does the Bible say about love and forgiveness?

Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.” Another word for “conceal” can be “cover” or “forgive.” When we forgive those who have offended us, we’re prospering love. If we don’t forgive, but instead keep bringing the offense up and harping on it, this behavior can come between friends.

We cannot expect God to forgive us if we don’t forgive others who have hurt us. (Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25)

94. 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

95. Colossians 3:13 “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

96. Proverbs 17:9 “He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.”

97. John 20:23 “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Examples of love in the Bible

There are so many Bible stories about love. One of the greatest examples of love between two people is that of Jonathan and David. Jonathan, son of King Saul, and heir to his throne, befriended David just after he killed Goliath, and was standing in front of Saul with the giant’s head in his hands. “The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself . . . Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.” (1 Samuel 18:1, 3-4)

Even though David’s rising popularity with the people of Israel meant he could likely supplant Jonathan as the next king (as King Saul feared), Jonathan’s friendship with David was undiminished. He truly loved David as he loved himself and went to great lengths to protect David from his father’s jealousy and warn him when he was in danger.

The greatest example of love in the Bible is the love of God for us. The Creator of the universe loves each of us personally and intimately. Even when we run away from God, He loves us anyway. Even when we sin against God, He loves us and wants to restore relationship with us.

98. Genesis 24:66-67 “Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

99. 1 Samuel 18:3 “And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.”

100. Ruth 1:16-17 “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

101. Genesis 29:20 “So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.”

102. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third a according to the Scriptures.”

103. Ruth 1:16 “But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

104. Luke 10:25-35 “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

105. Genesis 4:1 “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

Conclusion

The all-encompassing love of Jesus is beautifully expressed in the old hymn by William Rees, which drove the Welsh revival of 1904-1905:

“Here is love, vast as the ocean, loving-kindness as the flood,

When the Prince of Life, our Ransom shed for us His precious blood.

Who His love will not remember? Who can cease to sing His praise?

He can never be forgotten throughout heaven’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion fountains opened deep and wide;

Through the floodgates of God’s mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide.

Grace and love, like mighty rivers, poured incessant from above,

And heaven’s peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love.”

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