Agape: The Greek Word for God's Love

Agape (Greek ἀγάπη, Strong's G26) is the New Testament's characteristic word for love — a deliberate, self-giving love that seeks the good of the other regardless of merit or return. Where Greek could say eros (desire) or philia (friendship), the apostles reached for agape to describe the love God is (1 John 4:8), the love shown at the cross (John 3:16), and the love commanded of believers (John 13:34).

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love [agapē] is of God… for God is love.”1 John 4:7–8 (KJV)

How agape is written in Greek letters

Letter by letter, ἀγάπη is alpha (ἀ) – gamma (γ) – alpha (ά) – pi (π) – eta (η). Two marks above the first letter matter: the smooth breathing (ἀ) tells you there is no “h” sound before the vowel, and the acute accent (ά) marks the stressed syllable — a-GA-pe, not A-ga-pe. The final eta (η) is a long “ay”, which is why transliterations write agapē with a bar over the e.

You will meet the word in several forms, because Greek nouns change ending by grammatical case: ἀγάπη (subject), ἀγάπην (object), ἀγάπης (“of love”), ἀγάπῃ (“in/with love”). The verb is ἀγαπάω (agapaō, G25) — the form used in John 3:16 and in Jesus' command to love your enemies. All of them share the same root and the same Strong's family, which is why searching a lexicon by Strong's number finds every occurrence at once.

A common word made holy

Classical Greek had richer words for love than English does — erōs for desire, philia for friendship, storgē for family affection. Agapē was the plainest of the set, and comparatively rare in secular literature. That blankness became the apostles' opportunity: the Septuagint and then the New Testament poured meaning into it until agapē named something the pagan world had no word for — the unprovoked, covenantal, self-spending love of God. By 1 Corinthians 13 it is not an emotion being described but a way of acting: patient, kind, keeping no ledger of wrongs.

Agape among the four Greek words for love

English has one word where Greek had four. Seeing them side by side is the quickest way to feel what agape is carrying:

Read the full comparison of all four loves →

What makes agape different

• It originates in the giver, not the worthiness of the receiver. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
• It is an act of will, so it can be commanded. Feelings can't be ordered; agape can: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another” (John 13:34) — even “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44, the verb agapaō).
• It is the family likeness of God's children. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
• It outlasts everything. Prophecies fail, tongues cease, knowledge vanishes — “but the greatest of these is charity [agapē]” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Agape and philia, side by side

John 21 stages the two words. Jesus asks Peter, “lovest thou me?” using agapaō; Peter answers with phileō, friendship-love. Twice. The third time Jesus descends to Peter's word — “lovest thou [phileis] me?” — and Peter is grieved. Whether the alternation is emphatic or stylistic, scholars debate; that the passage rewards knowing the Greek words is beyond debate. This is exactly the kind of texture a word study recovers and a translation cannot.

Key verses to trace agape through

• John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world” — the verb at the Bible's best-known address.
• 1 Corinthians 13 — agape defined by fifteen verbs.
• Romans 8:35–39 — nothing separates us from it.
• 1 John 4:7–12 — God is it; his children inherit the trait.
• Galatians 5:22 — first fruit of the Spirit.

Frequently asked questions