What does agape love mean in the Bible?
Agape (G26) is not primarily an emotion. Greek had other words for affection and friendship — notably phileo — but the New Testament writers reached for agape to describe love as a settled act of the will: choosing another person's good at your own cost.
It is the word John uses for God's own nature:
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”1 John 4:8 (KJV)
And the word behind the most famous verse in the Bible — God's love expressed as giving:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”John 3:16 (KJV)
In 1 Corinthians 13 the KJV renders agape as "charity" — an old English word for love-in-action — which is why the chapter describes what love does rather than what it feels: it suffereth long, is kind, envieth not.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,”1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV)See all 106 occurrences of agape →
Word studies behind this answer
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