In this article you will:

• Take a quick look into what the Scriptures reveal about God’s love
• Discover 49 Bible verses about love that include 1 Corinthians Chapter 13

“Does God really love me?”
“I mean, if God really loved me, then why does He let bad things happen to me?”
“If He really loved us, then why do so many bad things happen to so many good people every day?”
“What is love, anyway?”

These are real questions, from real people, who truly wish to understand what love is and if God really loves us the way we’ve been told He does.

Therefore, in the following Bible verses about love, it is the writer’s deepest prayers you will come to a much better understanding of what Biblical love truly is, and the unmatched, unconditional love God has for you.  So let us begin with 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.”

Chapter 3, verse 16 in the Gospel of John, we find one of, if not the most popular verse in the Bible.  And regardless if you are a Christian or not, when one reads this verse it is easy to extract the following:

1. God loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son.  Which means He allowed His only Son (Jesus) to die for us.
2. Whomever believes in his Son (Jesus) will have eternal life.

However, the story of God’s love doesn’t simply begin and end there.  This isn’t just a simple sentence in a book that any rational person can quickly read and move on from.  This is a spectacular sacrifice, not just because of the way Christ died for the world, but to the human’s way of thinking, it is spectacular due to the unfair circumstances surrounding the event.

John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

From this verse, John seems to clarify that Christ set the bar when it comes to showing one’s love; by laying down one’s life for a friend.  Aha! But that isn’t “exactly” what Jesus did, is it?  For, Christ did not only lay down his life for his friends.  No.  He laid down his life even for the ungodly.  The Apostle Paul shines a spotlight on this fact in Romans 5:6-8.

Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

To state it very pragmatically, sin separates us from God.  Sin is unholy and ungodly.  When we choose to sin, we are choosing to be ungodly, to be unlike God.  And oddly enough, when we sin, it appears our sin compels us to turn from God and begin walking, if not running in the opposite direction.  A heartbreaking example of this can be found in the story of Adam and Eve.

If you have a child, I ask that you think of the following story as an event between you and your son or you and your daughter.

Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit of which He had commanded them not to eat.  And later when hearing God walking in the Garden, the two hid from God among some trees.

The Bible tells us that God called out to Adam saying, “Where are you?”  And Adam’s response is nothing short of earthshattering and heartbreaking when he responds, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid…”

As a parent, can you imagine how heartbreaking it would be if your child, whom you’d raised and loved with all your heart and soul, were to tell you he was afraid of you?

In this case a perfect God had loved his creation perfectly, and had given his creation the perfect living conditions.  God had done absolutely nothing wrong and yet, Adam was afraid.  

Therefore, we discover it was Adam and Eve who:

• Sinned against God
• Ran from God
• Set themselves apart from God
• Chose to be unlike the One who created them

And the Apostle Paul explains this scenario between Man and God perfectly in Romans 5:6-8 when writing, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And this infers that:

• While we were still willfully sinning against God
• While we were still running from God
• While we were still choosing to be unlike God

… God sent His One and Only Son to die for us.

In the aforementioned Scriptures on love, God:

• Explained to us the meaning of the Greatest love
• Demonstrated that love, by sending His only Son to die for the sins of the world

Shortly before his death, burial and resurrection, Christ taught his followers, saying:

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.”

Jesus is explaining that in order to be like our Father in heaven, then we must not only love our neighbor, but we must love and pray for our enemies as well.

He then gives us an example of this love of the Father, explaining that God causes the sun to rise not only for the good people, but those who are evil as well.  And God sends rain for the crops, not only for the righteous, but the unrighteous as well. 

Now, when I first began meditating on everything you just read, I could only conclude that this kind of love is out of this world.  It is entirely foreign from my own way of thinking.  The very thought of being asked to “love my enemies” is almost offensive.  I was quick to  rationalize this as an insane request; as though it was only adding insult to injury.

Then it hit me!  “That’s exactly what my initial response should be when first learning about God’s love!” Why?  Because the sin inside me is what separates me from God.  It causes me to want to run away from Him; to be afraid of Him, and prevents me loving the way that God loves.

Before moving on, let’s look at a couple more Bible verses about God’s love:

Luke 14:21 – “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Luke 14:23-24 – “Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Matthew 5:43-44 – “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..”

Mark 12:30-31 – “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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

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.”

John 13:1 – “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

John 13:34-35 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 21:15-17 – When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.”

Romans 13:8-10 – “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Romans 5:5 – “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Quoted from the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 6:5 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

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.’

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”

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