Discover Characteristics of Agape Love. The Greek word agape is often translated as “love” in the New Testament. In the Greek language used when the New Testament was written, there are four different words for love – with each describing a specific attitude and application. Agape love is one of the four. How is “agape love” different from other types of love? It refers to God’s in-depth love for people, and people’s love for both God and others. The essence of agape love is goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. Unlike our English word love, agape is not employed in the New Testament to refer to romantic or sexual love. Nor does it refer to brotherly or close friendship love, for which the Greek word Philia is used. Agape love involves commitment, faithfulness, and an act of the will.
Although the word agape is used in a variety of contexts outside of the New Testament, in the vast majority of instances in the New Testament it carries a distinct meaning. Agape is almost always used to describe the love of and from God, whose very nature is love itself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God does not merely love, He is love. Everything the Lord God does flows from His love. Agape is also used to describe our love for the Lord God (Luke 10:27), a servant’s faithful respect to his master (Matthew 6:24), and a man’s attachment to things (John 3:19).
It is distinguished from the other types of love by its lofty moral nature. Agape love is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13. In the English language, we have only one word for love. It can mean many things – from loving your spouse to loving something.
Characteristics of Agape Love
According to 1 John 4:8, God is love or “agape.” The verse equally says that “he who does not love” – meaning someone who does not respond with that depth of love – does not really “know” the full depth of friendship, family love, or even sexual/romantic love. Agape love is the highest form of love. The love of God for man and of man for God. In its very nature, it embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstances. Only God Himself is 100% Agape love, but He accepts and assists those who wish to learn what it is and helps them put it into practice. Brethren, it is always a good thing to be on the Lord’s side. The opposite side always loses! The type of love that characterizes God is not a sappy, sentimental feeling such as we often hear portrayed.
Behold, God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence that we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He is true to His nature. Agape love is always shown by what it does. God’s love is displayed most clearly on the cross. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “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—” Brethren, we did not deserve such a great sacrifice, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Scriptural Facts About Agape Love
God’s Agape love is unmerited, gracious, and constantly seeking the benefits of the one He loves. Scripture says that we are the underserving recipients of God’s lavish agape love (1 John 3:1). God’s demonstration of agape love led to the sacrifice of the Son of God for those He loves. We are to love others with agape love, whether they are fellow believers (John 13:34) or bitter enemies (Matthew 5:44). Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us. Notice that agape love as modeled by Jesus Christ is not based on a feeling; rather, it is a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own.
Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our Fallen Nature, we are incapable of producing such love. If we are to love as the Lord God loves, that love – that agape – can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became God’s beloved children through Christ (Romans 5:5; cf. Galatians 5:22).1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Because of the Lord God’s love towards us, we are able to love one another. John 13:34 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.“
The 4 Types of Love
1. storgē
storgē (Pronounced as STOR-jay) is the kind of love in the Bible that many people are not familiar with. This Greek word clearly points to what we can refer to as Family Love. It is the affectionate bond that naturally develops between parents and children, brothers and sisters. There are lots of Biblical examples pointing to this kind of love. To list a few, we’ll point to the mutual protection between Noah and his wife, the strong love that Martha and her sister Mary had for their brother Lazarus whom Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, and the love that Jacob had for his sons. It is in this very light that we are commanded in Romans 12:10 to be devoted to one another with brotherly affection. The word “devoted” is a compound word using storge, “philostorgos,”
2. eros
Eros (Pronounced: AIR-ohs) is a Greek word for romantic or sensual love. It is more of a physical and romantic kind of love. This kind of love is much like what we regularly see at the end of most Hallmark movies. The Biblical book titled “Song of Songs” is filled with this type of love. Let’s get some examples by reading the following scriptures. Song of Songs 1:2 – “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth- for your love is more delightful than wine.” Let’s further read Song of Songs 1:4 – “Take me away with you- let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.” The term Eros originated from the methodological Greek God of love. Such includes physical attraction and the desires that we know. Promiscuity of all types was rampant in ancient Greek in the name of Erotic Love.
3. Philos
Philos also referred to as Philia (Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh) is the love between friends. It is the type of intimate love in the Bible that Christians practice toward each other. This Greek term directly points to the powerful emotional bond that exists within a true friendship. It is the most general type of love that we regularly encounter when reading the Holy Scriptures. It encompasses love for fellow humans, respect, care, and compassion for those in need.
The religious concept of brotherly love that unites believers is unique to Christianity. Jesus Christ said in his prayers that Philia love will be an identifier of his followers before being crucified. Proverbs – “A friend loves at all times.” The friendship between David and Jonathan testifies to this kind of love. Although Jesus Christ had thousands of disciples, he held twelve closer than the rest. Even within the twelve, three were intensely close to him. Among the three, John was his closest friend.
4. Agape
Agape (Pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay) is the highest and most important kind of love in the Bible. It is a term used to define God’s unconditional, incomparable, and immeasurable love for humankind. Such is the divine love that comes from God, the Father of Creation who rules over Heaven and Earth. Agape love is unconditional, perfect, pure, and sacrificial. The way Jesus Christ lived and died demonstrates this kind of love for his Father. When we love using Agape, we are seeking to give of ourselves.
This is best demonstrated in the willingness of God to give up His only son to be sacrificed for our sake. Jesus Christ in turn accepted his Father’s will and offered himself without reserve for our sake. That’s He endured suffering, persecution, and insults for our sake on the cross at Calvary. There is nothing that we have to provide God that will bring him any gain. He simply loves us without waiting for anything in return. 1 Corinthians 13:12 – “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greater of these is love.”
Agape Love Examples
To the Greeks, proper agape meant a general empathy or lovingkindness for all people. Though in the Bible, Christians are indeed expected to care for all in the name of Christ, Christianity took this a step further.
The Lord God is the standard for true agape. The Lord God is agape love, He loves us with agape love, and commands us to love others with agape love. Agape is a choice, a deliberate striving for another’s highest good, and is demonstrated through action. God set the standard for agape love by sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners. The New Testament references agape over 200 times. Matthew 22:37-39, also known as “The Greatest Commandments,” instructs us to agapao God and our neighbors, while Matthew 5:43-46 instructs us to even agapao our enemies. However, a person can also experience agape or wholeheartedly love the wrong things. 1 John 2:15 warns believers not to love the things of the world.
1 Corinthians 13 lays out a list of things that define agape. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Furthermore, Matthew 22:36-40 says, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 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. …”
Love Drives Out Fear
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (this is again the word agape). Behold, the .dismissal of the fear of condemnation is one of the main functions of God’s love. The person without Christ is under judgment and has plenty to fear, but once a person is in Christ, the fear of judgment is gone. John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
As Christians, part of understanding the love of God is knowing that God’s judgment fell on Jesus at the cross so we can be spared. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus Christ is the Savior in whom anyone who believes is saved. We learn from the Scriptures that the only person who must fear judgment is the one who rejects Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches that nothing can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.”
God’s love for sinners is why Christ died on the Cross of Calvary. God’s love for those who trust in Christ is why He holds them in His hand and promises never to let them go (John 10:29).
Characteristics of Agape Love
1 John 4:8 – “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
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.”
Romans 5:8 – “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.“
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.”
John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.“
1 Corinthians 13:7 – “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.“
Luke 10:27 – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Group 1 – Characteristics of Agape Love
John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.“
1 John 4:7 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:10 – “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.“
John 14:21 – “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant“
John 21:15-17 – “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.“
Group 2 – Characteristics of Agape Love
1 John 3:16 – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 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; …“
Colossians 3:14 – “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
John 16:27 – “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
1 John 4:20-21 – “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Group 3 – Characteristics of Agape Love
John 13:34 – “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.”
1 John 4:16 – “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
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.“
Romans 12:10 – “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 – “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
John 13:35 – “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Romans 5:5 – “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.“
Group 4 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
Mark 12:31 – “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Romans 13:8-10 – “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Matthew 22:37 – 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.
Matthew 5:43-44 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,“
Mark 12:30 – “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.’“
John 15:12 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.“
Group 5 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.“
Matthew 5:43-48 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? …“
Romans 8:39 – “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.”
Romans 8:39 – “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.”
John 21:15 – When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
Group 6 – Characteristics of Agape Love
1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
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.“
Matthew 22:39 – “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 13:10 – “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Psalm 59:10 – “My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.“
John 17:26 – “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Group 7 – Characteristics of Agape Love
1 Corinthians 13:6 – “It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
John 15:12-13 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.“
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.”
2 Timothy 4:10 – “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”
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.“
Group 8 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Revelation 1:5 – “And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood“
Ephesians 1:1-23 – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, …“
1 John 4:19 – “We love because he first loved us.“
2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.“
John 3:19 – “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.“
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.”
Group 9 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,“
1 Corinthians 13:8 – “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.“
Romans 5:10 – “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
John 1:1-51 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. …“
Matthew 24:12 – “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.“
Luke 11:42 – “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.“
John 21:17 – He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Group 10 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Matthew 5:44 – “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.“
1 Corinthians 13:5 – “Or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;“
John 15:10 – “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.“
John 5:20 – “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.“
Romans 12:9 – “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
Romans 14:15 – “For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.”
Galatians 5:13 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.“
2 John 1:6 – “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”
Group 11 – Characteristics of Agape Love
John 21:16 – He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Jude 1:12 – “These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;“
Leviticus 19:18 – “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 16:14 – “Let all that you do be done in love.“
Romans 13:8 – “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
John 21:1-25 – After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” …
Group 12 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Galatians 5:14 – For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Ephesians 2:4 – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,“
1 John 4:20 – “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – “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. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.“
Luke 11:43 – “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.“
John 15:9-10 – “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.“
Matthew 9:36 – “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Matthew 5:45 – “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.“
Group 13 – Characteristics of Agape Love
1 John 4:21 – “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.“
1 Corinthians 8:1 – “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.“
1 Corinthians 13:1 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.“
Revelation 2:4 – “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.“
John 15:9 – “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.“
Colossians 3:19 – “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”
2 Corinthians 12:15 – “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?“
Ephesians 2:1-22 – “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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— …“
Group 14 – Characteristics of Agape Love
John 15:17 – “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Revelation 1:1-20 – “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. …“
Ephesians 5:1-2 – “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.“
Romans 5:1-6:23 – “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. …“
Group 15 – Characteristics of Agape Love
Psalm 85:1-13 – “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? …“
Matthew 5:43 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’“
John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.“
Also Read
- What Does the Bible Say About Goodness?
- What Does the Bible Say About Compassion?
- Bible Verses About Loving Your Neighbor
- Bible Verses About Following Jesus Christ
- What is Lovingkindness in the Bible?
- What Does the Bible Say About God’s Promise
- Bible Verses About the Bible
- Bible Verses About Brotherhood
- What Does the Bible Say About the Truth?
- What Does the Bible Say About Give and Take?
- Bible Verses for Funerals
- Bible Verses for Awe
- What Age do you Become a Man in the Bible?
- What Does the Bible Say About Having Good Relationships with Others?
