What does the Bible say about loving someone?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible teaches that loving someone means seeking their true good with patient, self-giving, holy love that reflects God’s love for us in Christ. First Corinthians 13:4-13 describes love as patient, kind, truthful, and enduring, not selfish or easily angered. Jesus commands His people in John 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them. This love is not mere feeling; it honors God’s design for faithfulness and purity, including in marriage, as Hebrews 13:4 teaches. Because believers belong to God, body and soul, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 calls them to love in ways that honor Him. God’s grace sustains us through temptation and hardship, and His sovereign goodness gives hope as we learn to love faithfully.
Top passages, ranked by readers
Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-13
[4] Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud, [5] doesn't behave itself inappropriately, doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; [6] doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; [7] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [8] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. [9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; [10] but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. [11] When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. [12] For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. [13] But now faith, hope, and love remain--these three. The greatest of these is love.
- John 15:12
"This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
- Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
- Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[19] Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, [20] for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
- Isaiah 41:10
Don't you be afraid, for I am with you; don't be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
- James 5:16
Confess your offenses to one another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective, earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerfully effective.
- John 8:34
Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
- John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Related topics
Go deeper
Ask Explain Bible AI about loving someone and get a fuller answer from a Reformed theological perspective.
Ask what the Bible says about loving someone