What Does the Bible Say About Love?

Here we are in the month of February already. Can you believe we have already completed an entire month of 2026? I am struggling with that concept. February is known as the month of love. Everyone thinks about Valentine’s Day whether you celebrate it or not. You can’t help but see all the hearts and cards and of course my favorite chocolate everywhere you look. But that is only sharing one aspect of love and if that is all you know about love then your view about it can be very skewed. 

We have a much better example of love that we can look at. The biblical version of love. It’s not just romantic, it’s also familial and sacrificial. It includes not just a romantic partner but extends to our families and our friends. And dare I say even strangers. One of my favorite studies that I have done (and you will hear more about in the future) is what the Bible calls the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. 

“1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I 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 shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (NKJV)

The first 3 verses tells you that you can do all the things and yet still not have love and when doing all the things without love it doesn’t reward you. 

Verses 4-7 tells you what biblical love actually looks like. It really makes you think about yourself and how you treat others around you. Verse 4 tells us that love is kind, not jealous and is not egotistical. 5 says that it’s not rude, it doesn’t seek attention for him or herself, isn’t easily provoked and doesn’t think evil. Then verse 6 says it doesn’t rejoice in sin but rejoices in truth. And verse 7, if you read it in the NIV, says that it protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.  

You may think these things are hard to do. But the reality is we can still do them. As with anything in life we can’t do it without God’s help. When we try we mess up. 

Verse 8-10 talks about prophecy and tongues will pass away. Only love is eternal. One of the notes in my Spirit Filled Life Study Bible says “love is the basis of all gifts. It is also the qualifying factor for biblical exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those who exercise spiritual gifts must follow love as well as desire spiritual gifts.”

A quote from The Daily Study Bible Series the Letters to the Corinthians by William Barclay says “Great as faith and hope are, love is still greater. Faith without love is cold, and hope without love is grim. Love is the fire which kindles faith and it is the light which turns hope into certainty.” 

Love is not just about being intimate or romantic, it’s much more than that. It’s about how you treat your fellow human beings. Everyone thinks of love as a feeling but we know by definition that love is an action not an emotion. Like is an emotion. Love is so much more. 

The Bible’s greatest example of love is, of course, expressed in John 3:16. That God loved the world so much he sent his only son to die on the cross. Then you see the friendship between David and Jonathan who loved each other like brothers. There was Ruth’s love for Naomi. A daughter-in-law who loved her mother-in-law so much that she left everything she knew behind to return with her to her homeland of Israel.  There are so many wonderful examples of love throughout the scripture that you will spend a lifetime studying and learning about it. 

For the month of February I have created a free download for you. It contains 28 sets of verses that will help you get started on studying what the Bible says about love. I suggest using them as a jumping off point for your daily devotional time.