The concept of love, specifically agape (G26), emerges as a profound theme in the narrative of Abraham and Isaac. This love, characterized as unconditional and sacrificial, parallels the range of meanings from brotherly care to the deepest form of devotion. In the story, God's description of Abraham's affection for Isaac introduces this significant idea of love, reflecting a human echo of the divine bond between the Father and the Son. God emphasizes Abraham's love for his son to highlight a broader truth, pointing toward His own boundless love for His Son, Jesus Christ. This fatherly love, showcased in Abraham's relationship with Isaac, serves as a type, illustrating the foundational love of the Father for the Son, which underpins the process of salvation and the extension of that love to all of God's children. Through the first mentions of love in the gospels, this theme expands, revealing not only the Father's singular affection for His Son but also His encompassing love for the world, aiming ultimately to benefit every human being through the sacrifice of His beloved Son. Thus, the love between the Father and the Son stands as the cornerstone of salvation, initiating a process that invites all to share in this divine relationship and to extend such love to others through the Holy Spirit.

God's love, as described in I John 4:8 and 16, embodies thought, motive, and action, always leading to deeds in the best interest of others and aligned with God's plan and purpose. There is no conflict between God's love and God's law; His commandments reflect His way of life, and keeping them is an expression of agape, as seen in John 14:21, 15:10, and I John 5:3. Walking in love ensures no harm comes to a neighbor, as it is inherently tied to doing what is best for everyone. Jesus Christ builds on the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, emphasizing a deeper spirit of love by commanding us to love as He loves, even to the point of laying down one's life for friends, as stated in John 13:34 and 15:12-13. God's love is not based on emotion or merit; it is given freely, reflecting God's Spirit, which extends love to the undeserving, just as He did for us when we were sinners. In Luke 6:35-36, Jesus teaches that to become like God, we must walk in His Spirit, showing kindness and mercy to all, even to the unthankful and evil. I Corinthians 13:4 highlights that God's love is kind, a simple yet profound trait linked with mercy, often interchangeable with lovingkindness in the Old Testament, as seen in Hosea 6:6. God's Spirit is rich in mercy and kindness, saving us through unmerited grace. Jesus commands us to love one another without ethnic or social boundaries, as illustrated in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, where mercy and lovingkindness are shown to an enemy in need. He instructs us to go and do likewise, extending love through acts of kindness and mercy to anyone in need, just as He did for us. God's love, poured into our hearts, motivates us to reflect His nature by walking in good works of lovingkindness and mercy, as we are created to be like Him.

The concept of agape (G26), as godly love, stands in stark contrast to the superficial notions of love often depicted in popular music. This divine love originates from God Himself, expressed eternally between the Father and the Son, demonstrating an outgoing concern that seeks the good of others. It is not a love that remains inward or self-focused but one that manifests in relationships and actions, beginning with the mutual love within the God Family before extending to creation and humanity. God's agape is the foundation of His plan to share this love with billions of beings, whom He desires to call His children. This love expressed itself in the creation of angels, matter, and ultimately Adam and Eve, showing through outward acts and deeds rather than mere words. Even when humanity sinned, God's agape provided redemption through the predetermined sacrifice of Jesus Christ, planned from the foundation of the world, revealing a profound love that covers sin for all, even the most wicked, if they accept and repent. This agape is not distant but personal, poured abundantly into the hearts of those called into God's Family through His Spirit. It works from the inside out, transforming individuals into the image of His Son, enabling them to comprehend the vast dimensions of Christ's love and ultimately to be filled with the fullness of God. This transformative love is central to becoming like God, producing His attributes rather than those of human nature. However, practicing agape requires active effort. It is not enough to merely possess God's Spirit; one must put this love into practice through loving both God and neighbor, as these two commandments are inseparably linked. Loving God must come first, but it must not neglect love for neighbor, as demonstrated in the teachings of Jesus Christ. True agape imitates God's impartial love, extending even to enemies, and serves as a gauge of one's love for God. The love shown to brethren directly reflects love for Christ, manifesting in practical acts such as feeding, clothing, visiting, and helping others. These actions, rather than mere words, reveal the depth of one's love for God. Practicing this real godly love for others is essential for spiritual growth and perfection, aligning with the ultimate goal of reflecting the perfect character of the Father and Christ in preparation for entering His Kingdom.

Agape is the well-known Greek word translated as love in Matthew 24:12, referring to the love people have only because God has given it to them, and thus it applies to those whom God has called into a relationship with Him. This love differs from phileo love, which indicates affection or fondness, and from philadelphia love, which denotes fraternal or brotherly affection, because agape is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty, and propriety. It is manifested first toward God as a dutiful, submissive, obedient love that does what is right regardless of feelings, possessing a moral rather than emotional core, and it is shown through obedience and submission to His law. Agape is shown to others through sacrifice, following the example of Jesus Christ. In the Olivet Prophecy, Jesus states that because lawlessness will abound, agape will grow cold, even while brotherly love, kindness, and human affection may remain; the increase in disobedience directly causes this cooling since agape toward God is expressed through the opposite of lawlessness. The same pattern appears when the Ephesians left their first agape and were commanded to repent of their lawlessness. Jesus identifies false prophets who compromise God's standard of holiness as a cause of this deterioration in relationship with Him, which is the source of agape. Determining whether agape is cooling can be difficult because the term is subjective and each person reflects only certain facets of God's love imperfectly rather than its complete totality, so sacrificial expressions vary and may not match what one expects. All demonstrate agape imperfectly because sin consists of failing to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself. When agape appears to be waning, the required response is patient endurance that suffers long, bears all things, and thinks no evil rather than responding with carnality, while the ongoing responsibility remains to perfect agape through continued submission to God and sacrifice for others.

John's word for love in I John 4:7-8, 16, where he twice declares that God is love, is the Greek agape, and it has little to do with the modern, worldly concept of love. Because God is love and is its source, knowing Him depends on our willingness and capacity to love, so understanding agape as John intended is vital to seeking God and reflecting His will toward all people. Agape is a selfless, outgoing, unifying attribute that defines God's nature. It is the mark Christ gave His disciples when He commanded them to love one another as He loved them. The world uses love for preferences, desires, sexual intercourse, a score in tennis, and fleeting emotion, and it treats love as madness, a trap, or a battlefield. Charities often reduce love to a good feeling in response to doing good. The self-love movement reverses love's direction from outward to inward, and in the end places love of self above love for God. Satan, the old deluder, works to blur, dilute, and reshape the meaning of love so that people never know or love God and others as He commands. The antidote is to read, study, and comprehend Scripture, where God reveals His nature through creation, His commandments, Christ's incarnation, His Spirit, and His inspired Word.

First love, Greek protos agape, means the foremost love, and Christ rebuked the Ephesians for leaving it (Revelation 2:4). Scripture does not define it explicitly, but Christ names the first and great commandment as unconditional love for God (Matthew 22:36-38; Deuteronomy 6:5). This love is humanity's first and foremost responsibility, and it enables love for God's law and for one another (I John 4:7, 21; 5:2-3). The new believers who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost first experienced it as enthusiastic love for God joined with unconditional love for each other (Acts 2:41-47; 4:31-35). In Ephesus, false teachers and corrupt men from within led the church astray, as Paul foretold. Disputes and division arose, many drifted away, and the loving fellowship of earlier years waned. Paul told Timothy that the goal of the charge is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith, from which many had strayed. The same decline in love and devotion afflicted other churches. The Galatians sought justification by law, so Paul urged them to fulfill the spirit of the law through love, gentleness, and empathy, and not to grow weary in doing good. The Corinthians suffered strife and division. When faith falters, first love soon follows.

The exchange between Jesus and Peter in John 21:15-17 draws out a crucial distinction obscured by most translations, since two different Greek words are rendered simply as "love." When Jesus twice asks Peter whether he has agape love for Him, Peter can only answer using phileo, a term denoting personal warmth, regard, and affection. Phileo is a more fickle, human love, whereas agape is a reasoned, intentional devotion with a moral core, originating from God and focused on what is right and best for another person regardless of feeling. Peter cannot honestly claim agape love because he had recently demonstrated, through his denial of Christ, that his devotion did not match his earlier claims. He possesses genuine affection for his Messiah, but when tested on whether he would place God's will above his own, he fell short. This reveals that the love of God cannot be separated from the will of God; God's will forms the very basis of agape, so that any act outside that will cannot qualify as agape love, no matter how sacrificial it may seem. Peter likely believed his earlier vow to die alongside Jesus was itself an act of agape, especially recalling Jesus' words that greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends. Yet because such a sacrifice was not God's will for Peter at that moment, it did not actually constitute divine love. The third question from Jesus shifts to the word phileo itself, lowering the bar to ask merely whether Peter feels affection for Him as a friend. This grieves Peter, whose recent failure and bitter weeping after his triple denial remain painfully fresh. A further linguistic nuance appears in the Greek words for "know": Peter's earlier answers use eido, meaning to perceive or comprehend, while his final answer uses ginosko, indicating experiential knowledge. Thus Peter acknowledges that Jesus has personally experienced his phileo love, yet he still will not claim that Christ has experienced agape from him. The lesson drawn is that agape love cannot be produced by human effort alone; it must be supplied by Christ Himself. When Christ is active within a person, even meager efforts, if aligned with His will, can become abundantly fruitful. This theme of agape as inseparable from divine will carries into Jesus' subsequent commands to Peter to feed and tend His lambs and sheep, and into the prophecy of Peter's future submission, culminating in the call to "Follow Me." Peter's earlier failure in attempting to demonstrate agape through his own initiative—without first seeking God's will—illustrates that even the deepest human regard and affection cannot substitute for divine love. True agape requires surrender to God's direction, waiting on His will rather than acting from personal impulse, so that whatever is done may genuinely reflect the love that originates from God rather than mere human devotion.

The corruption of humanity's heart from God's original pure image frames the entire discussion of agape (G26). Though created in God's holy image, our hearts have been contaminated by Satan's self-focused spirit, requiring a lifelong process of purification to be transformed back into God's pure image, which is fundamentally an image of give rather than get. I Samuel 2:2 establishes that God alone is truly holy and pure, while I Samuel 16:7 reveals that God looks not at outward appearance but at the heart, making purity of heart the central concern of the entire message. This purification is accomplished through the gift of God's living water, identified in John 4 with Jesus Christ Himself, whose living water springs up into everlasting life. Tracing back to John 3:16, this gift of God is understood as His Son and, more specifically, His Spirit of agape. I John 3:1-3 describes the manner of agape the Father has bestowed on His children, with the promise that when Christ is revealed, believers will be like Him, prompting present self-purification. Ephesians 5 reinforces this by calling believers to imitate God and walk in agape as Christ agaped them. God's greatest attribute, surpassing even His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, is declared to be His 100% pure agape—He is described as "omni-agape." Translating agape simply as "love" is considered degrading, since the word carries the very essence of God rather than a common human emotion. This essence is unpacked through I Corinthians 13, which describes agape through actions of a pure heart rather than feelings, transcending emotion and seeking not its own. The two greatest commandments call believers to agape God and neighbor, while Matthew 5 extends this to loving enemies, marking true children of God. Agape is unconditional, always seeking what is best for God's Family, even to the point that mercy might require ending suffering. I Timothy 1:5 identifies the ultimate purpose (telos) of God's commandment as agape from a pure heart, meaning the entire law exists to produce this pure agape image within us. Obedience to the law remains essential, yet law can be kept without agape, while agape cannot exist apart from keeping the law. I Corinthians 13:8 declares that agape never fails, using the Greek ekpipto to indicate it neither falls away nor ceases, marking it as everlasting and always producing the best outcome. I Corinthians 13:13 further calls agape the greatest (meizon), meaning both oldest and most valuable compared to faith and hope, which are needed only by imperfect humans and will no longer be necessary once believers become fully transformed, unlike agape, which becomes their very essence. John 7:37-38 pictures Christ inviting the spiritually thirsty to drink of Him, receiving rivers of living water that purify the heart. I Peter 1:22 concludes this progression, showing that purified souls, through sincere agape of the brethren, express fervent love from a pure heart, completing the transformation into God's own image of pure agape.

Agape (G26) emerges as the culmination of a broader exploration of love's completeness, permanence, and supremacy over other attributes, tracing its ultimate source back to God's own nature. Since God's nature is manifested through His acts, and His nature is love, everything He does flows from love; love itself is therefore not merely a feeling but an action directed toward the well-being of others. This distinguishes true godly love from a worldly notion that "all one needs is love," which, without direction, produces only a purposeless pseudo-Christianity. John's statement that the love of God consists in keeping His commandments clarifies that the commandments give love its proper channel, directing it toward both God and man. A crucial distinction is drawn between four Greek words for love. Storge denotes family affection; eros denotes sexual passion, absent from Scripture; philia denotes warm affection among close friends. Agape, by contrast, originally meant simply to welcome or be pleased with someone, but New Testament writers redefined it under inspiration to describe God's actions toward mankind. Unlike the other three loves, which arise unbidden and are largely beyond one's control, agape is an exercise of the will—an esteem, a direction of the will to act for another's benefit regardless of feeling. This is why Christ can command love for enemies: such love cannot rest on natural emotion, which would produce irritation or retaliation, but must be a determination of mind that acts for the good of the other, even administering necessary discipline for the other's cure rather than out of vengeance. Yet agape is not devoid of emotion. God Himself is emotional, and since He is the source of agape, His love carries proper affection with it, as shown by John's use of the same word when warning against loving ("agape-ing") the world. The right emotional dimension of agape is not immediate but develops as fruit of an ongoing relationship with God—one built through fellowship, time, attention, obedience, and shared experience, much like human relationships or marriage grow through mutual trust and loyalty. Without this cultivated fellowship, the correct feelings accompanying agape will never form, since emotions are shaped by experience. This fellowship, made possible only through Christ's sacrifice, allows trust to develop between God and believers, producing perseverance, character, and hope, and ultimately the pouring out of God's love in the heart via the Holy Spirit. This poured-out agape enables believers to love even enemies, seeing them as God does. Finally, agape toward God is tested by agape toward one's brother: love for the unseen God must be proven by tangible action toward the visible neighbor, confirming that true love is authenticated by keeping the commandments and expressed through concrete acts for another's good.

Agape represents the fourth and highest of the Greek terms for love, distinct from eros, storge, and phileo, and it stands as a superior, godly love rather than a mere synonym for phileo, despite claims by some theologians who see the two as interchangeable based on a few overlapping scriptural usages. In secular Greek, agape was originally a rather weak term, meaning simply to like or be satisfied with something, to give greetings, to honor a person, or to desire someone or something. However, it also carried the connotation of acting in love or giving on another's behalf, and this is the sense the New Testament writers elevated and transformed into a new, spiritual meaning. This parallels Herbert Armstrong's definition of agape as an unselfish, outgoing concern toward others. Romans 5:1-5 demonstrates that agape is God's love poured into believers' hearts through the Holy Spirit, showing that its source is heavenly rather than natural or human. Unlike phileo, which is spontaneous, emotional, and natural affection for those within one's preferred group, agape involves the entire personality—not only emotions but also the mind and will—and is grounded in esteem for the object loved or in reasons entirely outside that object, such as God's command. Agape therefore begins as a purposeful, conscientious way of living rather than a mere feeling; one may not feel like loving but chooses to obey God's command to do so. Over time, when combined with phileo, it should also become emotional, but it starts as an act of will rooted in obedience to the commandments, as stated in 1 John 5:3, and expands into selflessness and sacrifice according to God's will. Paul calls agape the greatest of godly virtues in 1 Corinthians 13:13, describing it as a purposeful way of living rather than simply an emotion. This love is reciprocal in origin—it does not originate within a person but comes from God, who loved first, and believers grow in it so they can learn to give it to others. Philippians 2:1-5 illustrates how agape manifests practically: being like-minded, avoiding selfish ambition, esteeming others above oneself, and looking out for others' interests rather than one's own. This is the mind of Christ, who divested Himself of glory to become a servant for the benefit of others, and believers are called to imitate this pattern through repetition until it becomes part of their character. Ultimately, agape connects to the two great commandments in Mark 12:29-31—loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself—representing the summit of the spectrum of love that begins with eros and moves through storge and phileo toward this godly, willed, and sacrificial love that God both commands and supplies through His Spirit.

The world today is driven not by love, but by Satan's way of living, marked by greed, hatred, lust, and self-seeking—the way of get, the way of self. What the world truly needs is not the fleeting, worldly idea of love or the passionate entanglements of youth, but the true love of man reflected across all mankind, bringing peace, harmony, joy, happiness, fulfillment, purpose, and brotherly love to heal this entire world. A lack of this true love reveals a deeper void, for hatred, animosity, greed, and wrath stem from another source: the prince of the power of the air. Those who fail to reflect God's love in their lives do not know Him, regardless of their knowledge of Scripture. In the end times, as lawlessness abounds, the love of many will grow cold, influenced by cruelty, persecutions, betrayals, and false teachings. This crumbling world, coupled with brethren drifting apart or losing zeal, puts pressure on us to abandon the fervor of our first love. The danger lies not in a lack of knowledge or understanding, but in a lack of application of what we know we should be doing. A lack of confidence or persistent fear—of job loss, illness, the economy, wars, or the unknown—demonstrates that our love and trust in God are not as complete as they should be. Perfect love casts out fear, and we must work to perfect our love, faith, and trust in Him, knowing He will help us. If we harbor hatred toward our spouses, fellow workers, or others, we do not possess the love of God. The world fails to grasp the depth of love Jesus desires from His disciples. Like the Ephesian era of the church, we risk losing our first love by focusing on the details of our calling while drifting from imitating the heart of Jesus Christ in our relationships with family, church members, and neighbors. We must not let down in maintaining a humble, serving attitude essential for those God selects for His Kingdom. True love requires active belief, not mere acknowledgment, prompting us to grow, apply His teachings, and move toward perfection without harboring grudges or anger toward others begotten by God.

First love, which Christ calls protos agape, is more than mere affection; it is an action. It is the God-centered love the Ephesians once showed, and they lost it even while keeping doctrinal purity and staying busy in service, settling for something more mechanical and less passionate. This love motivates the first works. A Christian's good works come from a sincere, zealous desire to serve God by serving man, with no thought of reward, recognition, or reciprocal service. When those selfish desires are set aside, God's nature rather than the believer's own motivates the work, so that it is without pretense and pleasing to both God and the recipient. Such love is the fulfillment of loving God with all the heart and loving one's neighbor, and it is patient and kind, as I Corinthians 13 describes. New believers usually experience it at baptism and initial justification, when the peace and grace of God give them the motivation to serve Him and others. The remedy for losing it is threefold: remember the former love by honest self-examination, repent, and return to the first works. Failure to recover it endangers salvation and risks the loss of the lampstand, which is expulsion from the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

The love commanded toward neighbor is expressed by the Greek verb agapao (Strong's 25), defined as having a warm regard for and interest in another, cherishing, and having affection for. That definition sounds like any kind of love, but Jesus elevates it to an unconditional love: a heartfelt response to do good for another as the occasion requires, no matter who the other is, whether family, friend, enemy, or stranger. It goes far beyond wishing someone well and extends to actively doing him good. It does not mean doing what pleases him, but choosing to benefit him by showing favor and good will. Its outworking may be kindness or provision, or even discipline and punishment, because the emphasis falls on what is good for the other person. The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows its breadth. The priest and Levite pass by the wounded man, while the despised Samaritan sets aside every antagonism and shows mercy, care, and cost-free generosity. Jesus' instruction is to go and do likewise, refusing to limit love to those of one's own race, group, or views. God the Father and Jesus Christ are the perfect embodiment of this love, having healed and paid for sinners who were wounded by sin, and Christians are to follow in Christ's steps.