What Christianity says about love

Asked to rank the commandments, Jesus gave two and joined them together. Most Christian teaching about love is built on that pair, and the tradition is unusually specific about what it looks like in practice: who counts as a neighbour, what is owed to an enemy, and how the whole thing is to be measured. These nine concepts from the library's Christian collection set that out, each with its chapter and verse.

The First and Greatest Commandment

Asked which command is greatest, Jesus names loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength. The list covers feeling, will, thought and effort, so nothing is left outside it.

Gospel of Mark 12:30

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

The second command is not presented as a lesser one. Loving a neighbour means extending the care a person already gives themselves without having to be persuaded.

Gospel of Mark 12:31

Agape - Divine Unconditional Love

In this letter love is not something God does but what God is. The order runs from God first, which makes human love a response rather than an achievement.

1 John 4:10

The Greatest of These Is Love

Paul ranks love above every spiritual gift, and above faith and hope as well. He then defines it by conduct, patience and kindness and not keeping score, rather than by feeling.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Love One Another

Jesus makes mutual love the mark by which his followers are to be recognised. What is new is not love but the standard set for it: as I have loved you.

Gospel of John 13:34

Love Your Enemies

The command to love enemies is grounded in an observation about the weather. The sun rises on good and bad alike, so love that has been earned is not the model.

Gospel of Matthew 5:44-45

The Good Samaritan

A Samaritan, an outsider, stops for a beaten stranger after two religious officials have walked past. The question of who counts as a neighbour is answered by need rather than by desert.

Gospel of Luke 10:36-37

Loving the Least of These

Jesus places himself among the hungry, the sick, the stranger and the prisoner, and says what was done for them was done for him. Love is counted here in meals, clothes and visits.

Gospel of Matthew 25:40

Overcoming Evil with Good

Paul's instruction is not to mirror evil but to answer it with good. The reasoning is practical: retaliation keeps the cycle turning, and something unexpected can stop it.

Romans 12:21

One detail keeps this from turning sentimental. In nearly every passage here, love is described by what it does: stopping on a road, visiting a prison, handing over food, declining to hit back. Feeling is not ruled out, but it is never the thing being asked for.