In the Bible a relationship of self-giving. In the OT, the term can have a wide range of meaning, including love between the sexes (Gen 24:67; Gen 29:20), within a family (Gen 22:2; Gen 25:28; Ruth 4:15); among friends (Ps 38:12; Jer 20:4-6), and between superior and inferior or slave and master (Deut 15:16). Especially significant is the command that Israelites are to love God (Deut 6:4-6), their neighbors, that is, fellow Israelites (Lev 19:18), and also foreigners or strangers (Lev 19:34). God is the source of love, and the depth of God’s compassionate love is manifested throughout the OT (Deut 7:12-13), but may come to fullest expressions in the prophetic writings of Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah (see, e.g., Hos 11:1, Hos 11:8-9). In the NT, love of God and neighbor are specified as the greatest of God’s commandments (Mark 12:28-34; Matt 22:34-40; Luke 20:39-40), and the concept of “neighbor love” is augmented to include love for enemies (Matt 5:44). The Gospel and Letters of John emphasize that God’s love for the world motivated the sending of Christ for human salvation (John 3:16) and that for believers to “love one another” is the primary expectation of Christian community (John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23; John 14:24; John 15:9; John 15:12; John 15:17; 1John 2:7; 1John 3:23; 2John 1:6). Paul writes poetically of love in (1Cor 13), describing it as the greatest of God’s gifts. Love becomes the primary term for describing the result of faith for both the believer and the community in Christ (Rom 5:5; Rom 5:8; 2Cor 2:4).
