Yes. He loved us while we were still sinners, and nothing will be able to separate us from his love. In Romans 5:8, the Greek word is agapē (G26): love that wants the good of the other person: affection and goodwill.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind the word “love” in this verse is the Greek word agapē (said ah-GAH-pay).
It means love that wants the good of the other person: affection and goodwill.
Here it is a noun, a naming word. Its ending, -ēn, marks it as the thing God “proves”, that is, shows.
In the Berean Standard Bible, this same Greek word is “love” 112 of its 114 times, as in the chapter on love: “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4):
Word by word
| τὴν | ἑαυτοῦ | ἀγάπην | εἰς | ἡμᾶς | ὁ | θεὸς |
| the | his own | love | toward | us | the | God |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul has spent the first chapters of Romans showing that no one stands right before God on their own. Now he turns to what God did about it: “For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). He even admits how rare that is among people: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man” (Romans 5:7). The word for “love” here is agapē: love that wants the good of the other person, and acts on it. Notice the order in the verse. God did not wait for us to improve: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Paul says God “proves” this love in the present tense. The cross keeps on showing it. John says the same thing in his own words: “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). And again: “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Think of a parent who runs into the street to pull a child out of the way of a car. The child did nothing to earn it; the love moved first. If you keep sinning and wonder whether God has given up on you, this verse answers from the other end. He loved you before you were any better than you are today.
What the original says
In this verse the Berean says “His great love for us”. Behind those words Paul wrote two love words: the noun agapē, and right after it the verb agapaō (said ah-gah-PAH-oh), ‘he loved’. Here we look at the verb.
It simply means to love. It is the action word that goes with agapē, the love you met in Romans 5:8.
This form is a verb, an action word, meaning ‘he loved’. Its form describes a completed action: something God has already done. Word for word Paul writes ‘his great love with which he loved us’; the Berean folds the verb into “for us”.
In the Berean Standard Bible, this word is almost always ‘love’: 134 of its 141 places. A few times it is ‘beloved’:
Word by word
| πολλὴν | ἀγάπην | αὐτοῦ | ἣν | ἠγάπησεν | ἡμᾶς |
| great | love | his | which | he loved | us |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul begins this chapter with a hard description: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). He includes himself: “All of us also lived among them at one time” (Ephesians 2:3). Then the whole sentence turns on one small word: “But because of His great love for us”. The word behind “love” here is agapaō, the action word that goes with agapē: to love, to act in love. Word for word Paul writes ‘his great love with which he loved us’. Love is the reason God acted, and the action is bold: he “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses.” Dead people cannot help themselves, and Paul knows it. That is why he breaks off to say, “It is by grace you have been saved!” A few verses later he says it again: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Jesus tells of a father who says the same of his son: “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again!” (Luke 15:24). Whatever you see in yourself today, Paul’s word for God is “rich in mercy”. His love does not wait for you to feel alive before it acts.
What the original says
Behind the word “love” in this verse is the Greek word phileō (said fee-LEH-oh).
It means to love as a friend loves: warm, personal affection, the love of someone close to you.
This form means “I love”. Jesus himself is speaking.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘love’ 22 times and ‘kiss’ 3 times. It is also the word for Jesus’ love for his friend Lazarus: “the one You love is sick” (John 11:3):
Word by word
| ἐγὼ | ὅσους | ἐὰν | φιλῶ | ἐλέγχω | καὶ | παιδεύω |
| I | as many as | (ever) | I love | I rebuke | and | I chasten |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea, and his words are blunt: “you are neither cold nor hot” (Revelation 3:15). The church tells itself, “I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing,” but Jesus says they do not see that they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). The word for “love” here is phileō: the warm love of a friend, someone close to you. That is the surprise of this verse. The hard words come from affection: “Those I love, I rebuke and discipline.” Correction is not a sign that Jesus has stepped back. It is a sign that he is still near enough to speak. Proverbs said it long before: “for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12). And the very next verse in Revelation shows what kind of love this is: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). The rebuke is a knock, not a slammed door. If you feel God’s correction in your life right now, this verse lets you read it as love. What follows it is an invitation: to open the door and eat with him.
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind the word “love” in this verse is the Greek word agapē (said ah-GAH-pay), the same word you met in Romans 5:8.
It is the same word you met in Romans 5:8: love that wants the good of the other person.
Here the ending -ēs means ‘of’ or ‘from’ love: nothing can separate us from the love.
You saw how the Berean Standard Bible translates it in Romans 5:8:
Word by word
| δυνήσεται | ἡμᾶς | χωρίσαι | ἀπὸ | τῆς | ἀγάπης | τοῦ | θεοῦ |
| will be able | us | to separate | from | the | love | of the | God |
Original form
What this tells us
This is the end of one of the most loved chapters in Paul’s letters. He has asked, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31), and “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35). These are real dangers, not imaginary ones. The word for “love” is agapē again, the love you met in Romans 5:8. Paul’s list now reaches as far as he can think: “neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future” (Romans 8:38), “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation”. None of it “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus says something similar about those who belong to him: “No one can snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). Christians discuss how promises like this fit with the Bible’s calls to keep going in faith, but they agree on what Paul says here: the love itself does not let go. Think of a parent holding a small child’s hand in a crowd. It is the parent’s grip that holds, not the child’s. Whatever you fear might cut you off from God fits inside Paul’s ‘anything else in all creation’. And he says it cannot separate you from his love.
What the original says
Behind the words “love them” in this verse is the Hebrew word ahav (said ah-HAHV).
It means to love, to have deep affection for someone. It is the word behind most of the Old Testament’s “love”.
This one Hebrew word has two pieces: אֹהֲבֵ ‘I will love’ and ם ‘them’. Hebrew often attaches ‘them’ to the end of the verb.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘love’ 166 times, and also ‘lover’ (18) and ‘friend’ (11). God calls Abraham “My friend” with this word (Isaiah 41:8):
Word by word
| אֶרְפָּא | מְשׁוּבָתָם | אֹהֲבֵם | נְדָבָה |
| I will heal | backsliding · their | I will love · them | freely |
Original form
What this tells us
Hosea is the prophet whose own marriage became a picture of God and Israel. The LORD told him, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress” (Hosea 3:1). The whole book is about a people who kept turning away. In its last chapter comes the call: “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1). The word for “love” here is ahav: to love, to hold someone dear. Notice what God promises people who have wandered: “I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them.” The word behind “freely” is the one used for a freewill offering. This is love given because God wants to give it, not because anyone has paid for it. A few chapters earlier God speaks almost like a hurting parent: “How could I give you up, O Ephraim?” and “My compassion is stirred!” (Hosea 11:8). After this verse the picture turns green and gentle: “I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily” (Hosea 14:5). Healing comes before blossoming, and love comes before both. If you have turned away again and again, this is what God says to people exactly like that. His answer is not a cold welcome but healing, and love he gives freely.
What the original says
Behind the word “love” in this verse is the Hebrew word ahavah (said ah-hah-VAH).
It means love itself, the noun. It comes from ahav, the verb you just met in Hosea.
Here the form is ahavat, ‘love of’, joined to the next word, olam, ‘forever’. Together: ‘a love of forever’.
In the Berean Standard Bible, this word is translated ‘love’ every time, 38 times:
Word by word
| וְאַהֲבַת | עוֹלָם | אֲהַבְתִּיךְ | עַל |
| and · love of | forever | I have loved · you | upon |
Original form
What this tells us
Jeremiah lived through the fall of Jerusalem, and much of his book is grief. But chapters 30 and 31 are full of hope, and this verse sits in the middle of them. Just before it the LORD says that the survivors “found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest” (Jeremiah 31:2). The word for “love” here is ahavah, love itself, the noun. Word for word the Hebrew says ‘a love of forever’, and the Berean puts it as “an everlasting love”. Then God says what that love did: “therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.” This love does not only wait for people to come back. It draws them. The next verse promises rebuilding and dancing: “Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel” (Jeremiah 31:4). Later in the same chapter God promises a new covenant and says, “For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Think of a rope drawing a boat in to the dock, steady and patient, until it is home. An everlasting love was there before you sinned, and it will still be there after. The question this verse leaves you with is whether you will let yourself be drawn.
What the original says
Behind the words “loving devotion” in this verse is the Hebrew word chesed (said KHEH-sed).
It means kindness, the kind that is shown in what someone does, not only felt.
Here it is plural, chasdei, ‘kindnesses of’, joined to the next word, the LORD. The Berean puts the plural into one phrase: “the loving devotion of the LORD”.
The Berean Standard Bible translates it ‘loving devotion’ 188 times. It is also ‘kindness’ 32 times, and only 4 times ‘love’:
Word by word
| חַסְדֵי | יְהוָה | כִּי | לֹא | תָמְנוּ |
| mercies of | the LORD | that | not | we are consumed |
Original form
What this tells us
Lamentations is five poems of grief over Jerusalem in ruins. It opens, “How lonely lies the city, once so full of people!” (Lamentations 1:1), and chapter 3 begins, “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath” (Lamentations 3:1). Then, near the middle of the book, the writer stops himself: “Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope” (Lamentations 3:21). What he calls to mind is chesed, the word behind “loving devotion”: kindness shown in what someone does, loyal love that keeps its promise. Here it is plural, ‘kindnesses’, and the writer says they are the reason “we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.” The next verse goes on: “They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:23). A psalm uses the same word as a refrain, over and over: “His loving devotion endures forever” (Psalm 136:1). Hope in this book does not come from things getting better. The city is still in ruins when he writes. It comes from remembering who God is. If your life feels like ruins today, this verse was written from that very place. The LORD’s loving devotion is still there, and it is new this morning.
Behind "love" are 15 different words
Your English Bible says "love" 493 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
Read Hosea 14:4 slowly, and hear ‘me’ where it says ‘their’ and ‘them’:
Name it
What do you keep falling into? Tell God plainly. Romans 5:8 was written about “sinners”, so it’s for you.
Carry with you
Where do you most need to hear that nothing “will be able to separate us”?