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Summary
- The Bible’s fullest description of love is 1 Corinthians 13:4–7: it “suffereth long, and is kind”, “seeketh not her own” and “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things”.
- The King James Version says “charity” in 1 Corinthians 13 for agapē, the same Greek word it translates “love” in 1 John 4; the word came from caritas in the Latin Vulgate.
- John’s first letter says “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and shows it in God sending his Son: “not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10).
- Of the four Greek words often listed, the New Testament uses agapē about 260 times as noun and verb, phileō 25 times and philia once, uses storgē only inside two compound words, and never uses erōs.
- The Old Testament’s main words are ahab and ahabah (love) and chesed, which the King James Version renders “mercy”, “kindness” and “lovingkindness”.
- Jesus named love of God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love of neighbour (Leviticus 19:18) as the two greatest commandments: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Westminster Larger Catechism both read the Ten Commandments as love of God and love of neighbour.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version: Exodus 34:6–7; Leviticus 19:18, 19:34; Deuteronomy 6:4–5, 7:7–8; 1 Samuel 18:1, 20:14–15; Psalm 136:1; Song of Solomon 4:10, 8:6–7; Jeremiah 31:3; Matthew 5:44, 22:36–40; Luke 10:27–29; John 5:20, 11:3, 13:2, 13:34, 15:13; Romans 1:31, 5:8, 12:10, 13:10; 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:4–7, 13:13; 2 Timothy 3:3; James 4:4; 1 John 3:18, 4:8–11, 4:16, 4:19–20, BibleGateway.
- Biblia Sacra Vulgata, 1 John 4:8 (“Deus caritas est”), BibleGateway.
- Strong’s Greek 26 (agapē), 794 (astorgos), 5368 (phileō), 5373 (philia) and 5387 (philostorgos), with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Bible Hub: 26, 794, 5368, 5373, 5387; occurrences of phileō, Englishman’s Concordance.
- Strong’s Hebrew 2617 (chesed), with Brown-Driver-Briggs, Bible Hub; occurrences, Englishman’s Concordance.
- Blue Letter Bible lexicon, KJV translation counts for Strong’s G26, G25, G5368, H157, H160 and H2617.
- Felix Just, S.J., “Friendship in the Bible”, Catholic Resources.
- Richard Chenevix Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, section xii, Precept Austin.
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Charity”, Bible Hub.
- Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (25 December 2005), sections 1 and 3, Holy See.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1822–1829, Holy See, and paragraph 2055, Holy See.
- The Westminster Larger Catechism, questions 102 and 122, Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
- “The Shema”, My Jewish Learning.
- Sifra, Kedoshim 4:12, on Leviticus 19:18, tr. Shraga Silverstein, Sefaria.
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