47 Transformative Verses on Love in the Bible That Will Change Your Heart

Updated February 3, 2025  

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In This Article

Verses on love in the bible talk about the different types of love and present biblical truths for practicing love across different life situations.

If God is love, and the Bible is his word to us, then, it is wise to esteem the Bible as the most authoritative source for the topic of love. Let it shape our understanding of what it means to love and how to practice it.

Camp Chieflings is dedicated to raising steward leaders for the new age; so if you are looking to improve your love walk, or are searching for biblical evidence in support of a virtuous demonstration of love, you have come to the right place.

WARNING: On the pages of this blog article, lie principle-backed (and value-based) strategies for real character transformation and successful personal relationships.

God’s Love.

One of the most profound realizations I have made about God’s character is that he leads by example. If God gives an instruction of devotion, the chances are that God already went first or exemplified it in Jesus.

Bringing it home, God didn’t just instruct us to love, he demonstrated his love for us in no ordinary way.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Till tomorrow, it will remain the standard for Christian loving and the very mechanism by which we are able to love.

Learn more about the love of God when you read; “Agape: 17 Bible Verses About God’s Love That Would Melt Your Heart.

Love: The Greatest Commandment in the Bible

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.

Mark 12:30-31

In the above verse on Love, we see Jesus astutely describe Love as the greatest commandment. He goes on to say that essentially, all the 613 commandments in the Law and Prophet could be summarized in this one action word, ‘Love’.

I don’t about you but this changed my perspective about love. I began to esteem love differently seeing it no longer as a casual phenomenon but as a force with great spiritual significance.

“No other commandment is greater than these.” The phrase “no other commandment” emphasizes the singularity and supremacy of love as the foundation of Christian ethics and behavior.

Verses of love in the Bible hold practical truth across different relationships. Here are several applications of bible verses on love;

Love for God

Loving God with All Your Heart – Luke 10:27

verses on love in the bible graphic

“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…”

As fallen human beings in a fallen world (Genesis 3:6-12), this is very hard, perhaps impossible, for even the godliest to fully accomplish on Earth. Nonetheless, it should be our first and most important goal, as God wills it so.

It can only be achieved through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and full surrender of ourselves to Jesus Christ.

Want to make this a practical reality? In this article, we discuss 7 powerful steps to loving God more and more every day.

Discover More: Love The Lord Your God More Than Anything using these 7 Powerful Steps.

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”

In order to Love God with all your heart, you must make a conscious decision to give your heart to God, allowing Him to guide and transform it.

Bible Verses About Loving Others

Silhouette of people
Photo by Keith Wako on Pexels

Loving Others is probably one of the hardest things to do as a Christian.

How can you love the people who wronged you? The people who lied to you? The people who never seem to change and all they want to do is take and take?

It’s difficult but we all eventually fall short and ask God for forgiveness and expect him to forgive us. All the more reason to have love for others as the one God has for us.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Leviticus 19:18

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

The Greek word for “love” here is “agapē,” which denotes a selfless, sacrificial love that seeks the best for others. This is not merely an emotional affection but an active commitment to the well-being of others. The term “neighbor” (Greek: “plēsion”) extends beyond immediate family or community to include all of humanity, reflecting the universal scope of God’s love.

1 John 4:8

“He who does NOT love does not KNOW God, for God is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:7

“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.

1 John 4:19

“We love because he first loved us.”

Love One Another Bible Verse

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.”

1 Samuel 18:1-3

After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David in his service and did not let him return to his father’s house. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

Family Love in the Bible

Family love holds a special place in scripture, demonstrated through various relationships and teachings. Here are key verses that illuminate the importance of family love:

Ephesians 6:4

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:21

“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

Proverbs 4:3-4

“When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.'”

Proverbs 10:1

“The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.”

2 John 1:5

“And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.”

1 John 5:2

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”

Special Types of Love

Bible Verses About Love and Marriage.

Marriage is a very beautiful thing, and it is sad when I hear bad stories about it. God established marriage as a holy covenant that symbolizes the bond between the Church and Christ. A solid and long-lasting marriage is based on love, which is the cornerstone of this holy institution.

These love verses emphasize the importance of love, respect, care, and faithfulness within the marital relationship, reflecting the depth and commitment that spouses should have for one another.

Below are love verses in the Bible for Couples;

Ephesians 5:25

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Colossians 3:19

“Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”

1 Peter 3:7

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Ephesians 5:28-29

“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“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.”

Proverbs 5:18-19

“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”

Proverbs 18:22

“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Genesis 2:24

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Colossians 3:14

“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Proverbs 18:22

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”

Ephesians 5:33

“Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Mark 10:9

“Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

1 Peter 4:8

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.'”

Proverbs 31:10

“Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”

1 Corinthians 7:3

“Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.”

Hebrews 13:4

“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

Ruth 1:16

“But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'”

Bible Verses About Romantic Love

The Bible is not quiet on romantic love either. Here are several bible verses about the “eros” kind of love.

Song of Solomon 2:16

“My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies.”

Song of Solomon 8:7

“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.”

Song of Solomon 2:4

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.”

Bible Verses About Loving Animals

The Bible speaks to the importance of taking care of animals, as they are also God’s creatures. It is important to state immediately that this section is NOT an advocacy for bestiality. On the contrary, it promotes the natural and divine order for the relationship between man and animals.

Dominion mandate: With it came a call to faithful stewarding as animals are after all created by God.

The lesson from the classic goose story is based on biblical wisdom; it is wise to take care of the asset producing the results. Stephen R. Covey, in his bestseller 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, calls it “maintaining P/PC balance” where P is ‘production’ and PC is the ‘production capacity’.

Proverbs 12:10

“A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

Proverbs 27:23

“Be well acquainted with the condition of your flocks, Give attention to your herds.”

Deuteronomy 25:4

“You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”

Leviticus 20:15-16

“If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

Bible Verses for Death of Loved One

Psalm 34:18

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Romans 8:28

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”

John 14:1

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

Bible verses about Self-Love.

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People frequently become mired in misconceptions regarding this topic. They mistake self-love with pride, conceit, or selfishness. The problem is that self-love isn’t about that! Biblical teachings on self-love focus more on treating oneself with compassion and respect and realizing your value as God’s creation; One in His Image.

The phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself” provides an intersection to explore self-love. This command presupposes that we have a healthy love for ourselves as the standard by which we measure our love for others.

Below are some quotes in the Bible for self-love;

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Mark 12:29-31

The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…Love your neighbor as yourself.

Ephesians 5:29-30

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”

Matthew 5:14

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

FAQs around verses on love in the Bible

Which Bible verse says love God love others?

One of the bible verses that says to love God and others is Mark 12:29-31.

“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.'””

Mark 12:29-31

Other references from across the New Testament bible are John 13:34-35 (NIV), and Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV). This core teaching appears in multiple gospels and encapsulates the essence of Christian faith and practice.

What Bible verse says to love others as God has loved you?

A Bible verse that talks about loving others as God loves us is John 13:34-35. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘Love Another’ Bible verse

“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.”

This verse establishes the divine standard for human love, calling believers to emulate God’s love in their relationships with others.

Conclusion

In a world growing increasingly social and interdependent, learning to love is an endeavor to make and a skill to build. Verses in the bible carry biblical principles that would not only improve your love walk but will also build people skills.

Love is the universally accepted language through by humans communicate and bond socially with those around them and devotionally with their Creator.

What is one instruction from the scriptures of love in the Bible you are leaving with and practicing this week?
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Achinike Amadi
Hello there, I am Archie. I share and curate digital resources to help you practice self-leadership.
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