10 Most Important Bible Verses on
Love
If you had to choose one, which is the most important love verse
in the Bible? Why would you choose one over the other? What seems
to be the most important verses in the Bible on love?
For God So Loved the World
John 3:16 “God
so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.”
Some manuscripts take the first part of this verse, “God so loved the world” and render it as “for
this is how God loved the world.” I like that very
much. When we get closer to the literal Greek wording of this verse, it
gets even better. We could read it as: “For this is how God loved the world, that He gave His one
and unique Son, that whoever believes in Him will never perish but have
everlasting life.” Either way you read it, this Bible verse
may be the most important verse of all for it displays such a sacrificial love
– a life-giving love – which is unequaled and unmatched in all the world.
Love is a verb and it’s what you do…and this act at Calvary was the most
supreme act of love that has ever been displayed. That Christ died for us
while we were still His enemies and most unworthy sinners at that, shows that
love is an act of the will and not a feeling in the heart.
Greater Love Has No Man
John 15:13 “Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
We could paraphrase this verse to read, “No one has a greater love than that which he or she would
willingly die for their friend.” This reminds me of the many veterans who are serving and who have
ever served their countries for their nation’s freedom. Many did give
their lives to defend what we often take for granted. I have heard true
stories of veterans who threw themselves on hand grenades to save their fellow
soldiers lives but didn‘t live to tell about it. Those whom they saved
retell this most selfless act. That kind of love reflects the agape love
of God. The agape love is the greatest love that there is and it is
the type of love that gives a person over to sacrificing their own life to save
another. This love was most abundantly displayed on the cross by Jesus
Christ. He gave His life as a ransom for the many (Mark 10:45, 1 Tim 2:6).
Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-45 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I
tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you
may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil
and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
It is natural to love your family and friends, but to love those
who hate you and persecute you? Wow. God loved us before we even
existed (Eph 1) and died for us while we were still sinners and His
enemies. By the way, anytime Jesus says “You have heard it said” He is referring to the
Old Testament laws and so when Jesus follows that by saying “but I say to you,” He is
referring to the New and better Testament. This is a difficult one indeed
and it can’t be done in human strength but only by the power of the Holy
Spirit. In this reference in Matthew, Jesus says that God is gracious
even to those who are sinners, sending sunshine and rain to them…which are
essential to life. The analogy might be that God even gives the sinner’s
good things in life because He is a benevolent God. This is why good
things sometimes happen to bad people.
Love Is Unselfish
First Corinthians 12:4-8 “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.”
First Corinthians chapter 13 may be the greatest chapter on love
in all the Bible and love is displayed here by many tangible evidences.
It is patient; with people and circumstances. It is kind; to people and
animals. It doesn’t brag; about self but brags about others and glorifies
God and gives Him the credit. It isn’t arrogant; lording over people your
position, power, or knowledge. It isn’t rude; but polite and displays
manners and proper etiquette. It doesn’t insist on its own way; but give
precedence and priorities to others, even if it has to compromise. It
isn’t irritable; it is not easily provoked to anger by people or
circumstances. It isn’t resentful; it rejoices when others succeed, even
at their own expense. It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; it never delights
in other people’s sins…instead, it rejoices in the truth of the Bible, it bears
all thing (all means all), believes all things
(gives people the benefit of the doubt), hopes all things (hopes for the best
for all concerned) and endures all (all,
like being used, abused, persecuted and so on). These things are love.
Love Your Neighbor as Your Self
Mark 12:30-31 “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.’ The second is this: You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than
these.”
The religious leaders were trying to trip Jesus up by asking Him
which was the greatest commandment and Jesus nailed it spot on when He said
that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, might, mind, and
soul. But we are also to love our neighbors. Who are our
neighbors? In the Parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus showed that all men and women are our neighbors and so
we should love them as well, even if they were a “Samaritan” to us. Part
of this command is not obeyed by many good Christians…the
part where we are to love ourselves as our neighbors. When we hate
ourselves and are extremely hard on ourselves, we are breaking this commandment
where we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Love One Another
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.”
In what is called the High Priestly Prayer in John 13 and 14,
Jesus gave the disciples, and by extension, all who would be His disciples, a
new commandment. This new commandment was to love one another “just as” or in the same
manner that Christ loves us. That is a big-time love my friend. By
this love we have for one another “all
people will know that you are my disciples” and so this love for
one another is evangelistic and it is diagnostic…diagnostic in the sense that
it proves that we are either His disciple or we are not. In the church
today there are both wheat and tares and Christ will separate them some
day. Those who are His inherit eternal life…those that are tares, are
plucked up and burned.
If You Love Me, Obey My Commandments
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
At first glance, this doesn’t appear to be worthy of being on
anyone’s top 10 list of Bible verses on love, but wait…let me explain why I
chose this one. We display our love for others when they ask us to do
something and we do it willingly because we love them. If we truly love
Jesus, why wouldn’t we want to please Him by obeying what He has told us to
do? Obedience is preferred over sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22). Samuel
asks a rhetorical question in this verse: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” God
would rather have a person obey Him than to offer many or costly sacrifices
because obedience shows respect and love for the one to whom it is given.
Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
First Peter 4:8 “Above
all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
My children and grandchildren sin and will sin again but no amount
of sins will ever stop me from loving them. My friends have sometimes
sinned against me too but to display my love for them, I am willing to forgive
them, whether they ask my forgiveness or not. Since we are all sinners, I
can not cast the first stone and many times I have caught them in a sin but
never mention it to anyone else. Love does not gossip and when see others
sin and don’t tell other people, we are covering for them. The exception
is that if it hurst the church…like gossip. If they acknowledge their
sin, repent of it, and confess it, then it is covered by God and so why would I
gossip to others to say, “Hey, did you hear about so and so and what he/she
did?” Jesus death on the cross, and the love displayed in that action,
covers all of our sins (2 Cor 5:21). Proverbs 17:9 says much the
same thing as the author writes, “Whoever
would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter
separates close friends” and that “love covers over all wrongs” (Prov 10:12b).
Love of a Friend
Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is
born for adversity.”
I have a close, special friend of mine who is a man and I am not
ashamed to tell him that I love him. I love him more than a
brother. This man is honest enough to tell me the truth, even when he
knows it hurts and he is open enough to hear a friends rebuke. King
David and Jonathan had a love like this as described in 1 Samuel 18:1 “As soon as he had finished speaking to
Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved
him as his own soul.” What a precious thing. Their souls were knit
together…they were made of the same fabric, so to speak. Jonathan loved
David “as his own soul”
which reminds me of Jesus’ second commandment of the two greatest…to love your
neighbor as yourself. This was repeated later in 1 Samuel 20:17 when “Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out
of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.”
Marital Love
Genesis 29:20 “Jacob
served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him
because of his love for her.”
Husband and wives love is reflective of Christ’s love for the
church and the church of her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:25-28
is one of the best descriptions of how a husband should love his wife, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself
in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy
and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
Men, there is no “plan B.” This is an imperative
command. Men are to love their wives as themselves and as Christ
loves the church and gave Himself for her. The greatest thing a husband
can do for his wife is to love her. Women, the greatest need for a man is
to have respect for him because respect is interpreted as love just as women
interprets love as respect for her. Men and women have different needs
and so for men it is to be respected and for women it is to be loved. The
husband and wife relationship is like that of Christ and the church in that it
is a sacrificial love. When a man loves his wife, he would willingly give
his life for her while the wife would more easily submit for a man willing to
do this.
Conclusion
To me, these are the 10 most important verses in the Bible on
love. You may have different ones. If you do, please leave a comment and
tell us which is your favorite Bible verse or verses on love. What Bible
verse is the most important to you and why? Add your favorite Bible verse
on love in the comments section below so that we might add it to our Bible
verse love bank and by doing so, we can accumulate a vast treasure trove of God’s
infinite love for those who Christ died for and even for those who are outside
of the faith. There is no greater love, there is no love more
sacrificial, and there is no love that dies in your place, than that of Jesus
Christ who died for us while we were still His enemies. Paul wrote of
this exact thing in Romans 5:6-8, “For while we were still weak, at the
right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a
righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.”
If you have not yet repented, confessed your sins, and trusted in
Christ to save you from God’s wrath, then you don’t know the full extent of
Gods’ love yet. John 3:36 says that “Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” because “Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). I pray that is not you.
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