Bible Verses About Love: A List by Theme

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

— John 3:16 (NIV)

Bible verses about love do not describe one mood. They say God is love, that he loved the world by giving his Son, and that the people who know him love one another in a way that is patient, kind, and hard to pry away from the truth. The list below groups verses by theme. Each line has a short quotation from the NIV, one sentence of context, and a link to the page that stays with that verse. For the verse that says God is love, see the God is love Bible verse.

The wedding reading, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, is a portrait of one passage, not this whole list. That portrait has its own 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 deep dive. The chapter around it is 1 Corinthians 13. Readings chosen for a wedding ceremony are Wedding Bible verses. Readings for the years after that day are Anniversary Bible verses. Verses about the marriage covenant itself are Bible verses about marriage. The direct answer to what the Bible says about that covenant is What does the Bible say about marriage. The question these verses answer, in plain sentences, is What does the Bible say about love. A free thirty-day printable of these themes is 30 Days of Love Verses. One passage for the current date, with a short reflection, is Bible Verse of the Day. A short quiz that sets five ways of receiving love next to a verse is the Bible love language quiz. A count of the word love in the King James Version, book by book and by Strong's number, is Love in the Bible by the numbers. The Father's Beloved Son, and people called beloved, are Bible verses about the beloved. The Ephesus warning about the love you had at first is Bible verses about first love. For Rachel, whom Jacob served seven years for and whom God remembered, open Bible verses about Rachel.

God's love

John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God's love is shown by giving his Son, so that whoever believes has eternal life.

1 John 4:8. "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." Love is not only something God does. John says it is what God is, which is why a person who does not love does not know him.

Romans 5:8. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This love is demonstrated while we are still sinners, not after we have cleaned ourselves up.

Love for others

Matthew 22:37-39. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus calls love for God the greatest commandment, and love for a neighbor the one like it.

John 13:34. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." The measure of that love is the way Jesus has loved his own, not ordinary affection.

1 Peter 4:8. "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Peter puts deep love above the other instructions in that chapter, and says that love covers sins.

Colossians 3:14. "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Paul tells the church to put love on over the other virtues, because love is what holds them together.

Marriage and romantic love

Song of Solomon 8:6. "Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death." The speaker asks to be kept as close as a seal, and says this love is as strong as death. People read it at weddings for that claim.

Ephesians 5:25. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Married love is compared to Christ's self-giving, not to a feeling that arrives and leaves. A list that stays on marriage is Bible verses about marriage.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7. "Love is patient, love is kind." Couples hear this at weddings because it describes how love treats a person. The verses sit with the rest of the chapter in the next section, and the longer study is the 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 deep dive.

1 Corinthians 13

This is the love chapter. Read the whole of 1 Corinthians 13 when you want the argument from gifts, to the portrait, to "the greatest of these is love." The four verses people quote first have a 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 deep dive.

1 Corinthians 13:1. "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." Speech and spiritual gifts without love are noise.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Paul defines love as a way of treating people: patient and kind, and unwilling to envy, boast, or keep a record of wrongs. The meaning page stays on the lines. The deep dive stays with the same portrait at more length.

1 Corinthians 13:7. "It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Many Bibles say "bears all things" for the same line. It is love's endurance, not a command to hide harm.

1 Corinthians 13:8. "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." Love does not end. The gifts the church was ranking do.

1 Corinthians 13:11. "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." The picture is partial knowledge being set aside when what is complete arrives.

1 Corinthians 13:12. "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." The King James line is "through a glass, darkly." Now is partial. Then is face to face.

1 Corinthians 13:13. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Faith, hope, and love last, and love is the greatest of the three.

Fear and assurance

1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment." John is talking about the fear of punishment, and about the love that drives that fear out.

Romans 8:38-39. "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." Nothing in that list, and nothing left outside it, can cut off the love of God in Christ.

1 John 4:19. "We love because he first loved us." The love we give starts as a response to love we have already received.

Questions people ask

What are good Bible verses about love?

Start with John 3:16, 1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 John 4:18, and Romans 8:38-39. The sections above group those verses, and others, by theme. Each one links to a page that stays with that verse instead of mixing them into one essay.

What does the Bible say about love?

The direct answer is What does the Bible say about love: God is love, he loved the world by giving his Son, and the people who know him love one another. 1 Corinthians 13 says love is patient and kind, and that love outlasts the gifts people use to impress one another. This page is the list of the verses.

Where is the love chapter in the Bible?

The love chapter is 1 Corinthians 13. It says that without love, even impressive gifts are nothing, that love is patient and kind, that love never fails, and that the greatest of faith, hope, and love is love. The chapter page is 1 Corinthians 13.

What does 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 mean?

It means love is a way of treating people: patient, kind, and unwilling to envy, boast, shame, or keep score. It rejoices with the truth, and it keeps protecting, trusting, hoping, and persevering. The line-by-line page is 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 meaning. The longer study is the 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 deep dive.

Which verse says "God is love"?

1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:16 says "God is love" again, after John has told his readers to know and rely on the love God has for them. The page for verse 8 is 1 John 4:8 meaning.

Which verse says nothing can separate us from God's love?

Romans 8:38-39. Paul says he is convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That page is Romans 8:38-39 meaning.