Love and the Bible

     This is technically a Valentine's day post, but I didn't quite make it on time for the 14th. But who says we can't talk about love every day, especially when it's God's love we're talking about? The Bible talks about love a lot. The passage most people probably think of when reminded of Biblical love is 1 Corinthians 13, which says:

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; 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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

     This passage makes it clear that love is more than a feeling; it is an action. A verb. There is a rather extensive list in 1 Corinthians 13 of what love is: patient, kind, hopeful, humble. This would be a good passage to pray through if struggling with not loving someone.

     Below are some more Scriptures about love. Some of them are about loving one another. A lot of them are about the only perfect love: God's love for us.

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 13:34-35

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.

1 John 4:18


You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
Job 10:12

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. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13

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

John 3:16

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.
1 John 4:10



For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.
Psalm 26:3

     

     There are a lot more verses about love I could post. One day I think I'll just sit down with my concordance and read all of the verses about love. :) If you try that, or if you do it for another word, or if you have a similar type of "Bible study" that you do, let me know in the comments section! I'd love to hear what y'all do to study God's word! :)

-Sarah :)