I have recently decided to do a study on love and its context in the New Testament. As an FYI, the word love is in 506 verses in the Bible, and 184 of those verses in the New Testament.

Before we start digging into the first time it appears in the NT, we should define love. Actually, we need to let God’s Word define love, and He does that through the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 13:

1Corinthians 13:4-6 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

These 3 verses tell us what love is, and what it is not.

First, what love is not: