The Greek word Agape (ἀγάπη) is the New Testament’s most-used word for love — appearing over 320 times in the noun and verb forms combined. Greek had several words for love, and Agape was, before the New Testament, one of the less-used ones. The early Christian writers consciously chose Agape — and partly redefined it — to name a kind of love the surrounding world did not have a strong word for: a chosen, sacrificial, other-focused love that is grounded in the character of the lover rather than the attractiveness of the beloved. Agape is the love by which God loves the world, the love that took Jesus to the cross, and the love that Christians are called to extend to friends, strangers, and even enemies.
The four Greek words for love
Pop teaching often lists four Greek words for love. Three of them are well-attested in ancient Greek; the fourth (storgē) is real but less common. Briefly:
- Eros (ἔρως) — romantic or passionate love. Not used in the New Testament.
- Philia (φιλία) — friendship love, affection between equals. Used in the New Testament, often as a sibling to agape.
- Storgē (στοργή) — familial affection (parents and children, especially). Used rarely in the New Testament.
- Agape (ἀγάπη) — a chosen, willed love directed at the good of the other. The New Testament’s primary word.
Each Greek word for love captured something the other words did not. Christian writers had options when they chose which to use. They chose Agape most of the time, deliberately.
Why Agape?
Three reasons stand out.
1. Agape was available
In secular Greek before the New Testament, Agape was a fairly colorless word — used, but not loaded with a specific philosophical or romantic freight. Eros came with centuries of Greek poetry about passion; philia came with Aristotle’s analysis of friendship. Agape was, comparatively speaking, an empty vessel waiting to be filled.
The Septuagint translators of the Hebrew Bible had used Agape to render the Hebrew ahavah (love), including the love of God for Israel and the command in Deuteronomy 6:5 — “thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart.” So when the New Testament writers reached for a word, Agape had already been doing serious theological work in their Bibles.
2. Agape describes a chosen love
The deepest distinction Agape made was the difference between love that responds to attractiveness and love that originates in the lover. Eros tends to respond — to beauty, to virtue, to desirability. Philia tends to respond — to companionship, to shared affection.
Agape, in Christian usage, is different. It is the love by which God chooses to love sinners. It is not produced by anything in us; it is produced by the heart of God. Paul says it directly: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 KJV). The love came before there was anything lovable to respond to.
This is why Agape can be commanded. Romans cannot command erotic love; you cannot will it. The New Testament can command Agape, because Agape is a posture of the will toward the good of the other.
3. Agape was perfect for naming what Jesus did
The cross does not fit any of the other Greek words for love. Eros does not die on crosses; it gives up when the beloved is no longer attractive. Philia does not die on crosses for enemies; it dies for friends. The cross is Agape — the chosen, sacrificial, other-focused love of the God who loves a world that is in active rebellion against Him.
When John writes, “God so loved (ēgapēsen) the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), the Greek verb is the agape family. The love is willed, costly, and grounded entirely in the heart of the Giver.
The Agape chapter: 1 Corinthians 13
Paul’s famous description of Agape in 1 Corinthians 13 is the most thorough definition in Scripture. It is worth reading carefully — the word translated charity in the KJV is Agape throughout:
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth…” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8 KJV)
Read it again and notice what Agape is not doing. It is not waiting for the beloved to deserve it; it is suffering long. It is not announcing itself; it vaunteth not itself. It is not insisting on its own way; it seeketh not her own. Agape is, in Paul’s portrait, a love that has decided not to keep score and not to give up.
Agape and Philia in John 21
A famous example of the two words working together. After the resurrection, Jesus restores Peter on the beach. The conversation in John 21 plays on the two Greek words:
- Jesus’ first two questions: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” — using agapas. (Do you love me with chosen, sacrificial love?)
- Peter’s answers: “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” — using philō. (You know I have affection for you, that I am your friend.)
- Jesus’ third question shifts: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” — using phileis, the same word Peter has been using. (Do you even have affection for me?)
- Peter, “grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?”, responds with affection: “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” — philō.
Some scholars have argued the distinction between Agape and Philia is the whole point of the conversation; others argue John uses the verbs interchangeably for variety. The honest answer is probably both at once: there is a real distinction in the words, and John is not heavy-handed about it. Peter, having denied Jesus three times, cannot bring himself to claim the strong love. Jesus restores him three times anyway, meeting him where he is, gently lowering the question to where Peter can answer it.
What this teaches us
A few things, gently.
The love God shows us is not earned. Agape does not respond to our worthiness; it originates in His character. The most important thing about God’s love is that it has nothing to do with how lovable we are. That truth has lifted countless people out of the trap of trying to deserve it.
The love we are called to is also a choice. The command to love our enemies — “love your enemies, bless them that curse you” (Matt. 5:44) — uses the Agape verb. It is not asking us to feel warmly about people who have wronged us. It is asking us to choose their good. That is a love a Christian can offer even on the hardest day.
And the only place this kind of love is sustainably possible is in being loved by it first. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The Christian does not generate Agape from her own resources; she receives it and passes it on. The source is the Father; the channel is us.
Reading the Agape passages in context
For more on Agape — its background in the Septuagint, the distinction from eros, philia, and storgē, the early church’s reading of 1 Corinthians 13 and John 21, and the cross-references between God’s love in Romans 5 and the command of Matthew 5, The Context Bible opens up five lenses on every verse. Open it in your browser or download free.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” — John 13:35 KJV
