The claim that “God is love” is either the most comforting truth in the universe or the hardest promise to believe, depending on what you’re facing. When life is going well, God’s love seems obvious and easy to embrace. But when you’re drowning in suffering, watching loved ones die, or experiencing betrayal and injustice, the declaration that God is love can feel like a cruel joke or empty religious platitude.
Yet Scripture doesn’t present God’s love as a feel-good sentiment that only makes sense in comfortable circumstances. The Bible reveals a love so profound that it moved God to become human and die for people who rejected Him. This is love that pursues the undeserving, sacrifices for enemies, and remains steadfast when everything else fails. God’s love isn’t proven by the absence of hardship but by His presence in the midst of it.
These verses don’t just claim that God loves us; they demonstrate it through His actions, His character, and His relentless pursuit of humanity. From creation to the cross to the promise of eternity, every page of Scripture reveals a God whose very nature is love and whose every action toward His people flows from that love.
Bible Verses Proving That God Is Love
1. 1 John 4:8 – God Is Love
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
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2. 1 John 4:16 – God Is Love, and Whoever Abides in Love
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3. John 3:16 – For God So Loved the World
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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4. Romans 5:8 – God Demonstrates His Own Love for Us
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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5. 1 John 4:9-10 – This Is How God Showed His Love
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
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6. Jeremiah 31:3 – I Have Loved You With an Everlasting Love
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
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7. Romans 8:38-39 – Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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8. Ephesians 2:4-5 – Because of His Great Love for Us
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
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9. Psalm 136:1 – His Love Endures Forever
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
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10. Zephaniah 3:17 – He Will Rejoice Over You With Singing
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
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11. 1 John 3:1 – See What Great Love the Father Has Lavished on Us
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
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12. John 15:13 – Greater Love Has No One Than This
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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13. Deuteronomy 7:9 – He Keeps His Covenant of Love
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
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14. Psalm 86:15 – Abounding in Love and Faithfulness
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
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15. Romans 8:35 – Who Shall Separate Us From the Love of Christ?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
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16. Ephesians 3:17-19 – To Grasp How Wide and Long and High and Deep
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
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17. Lamentations 3:22-23 – His Compassions Never Fail
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
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18. John 16:27 – The Father Himself Loves You
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
19. Hosea 11:4 – I Led Them With Cords of Human Kindness
I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.
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20. 2 Thessalonians 2:16 – God Our Father, Who Loved Us
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
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21. Psalm 63:3 – Your Love Is Better Than Life
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
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22. Isaiah 54:10 – My Unfailing Love for You Will Not Be Shaken
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
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23. Titus 3:4-5 – When the Kindness and Love of God Appeared
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
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24. Psalm 103:11 – As High as the Heavens Are Above the Earth
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
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25. Romans 5:5 – God’s Love Has Been Poured Into Our Hearts
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
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26. Psalm 107:1 – His Love Endures Forever
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
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27. John 17:23 – You Have Loved Them as You Have Loved Me
I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
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28. 1 John 4:18 – Perfect Love Drives Out Fear
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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29. Ephesians 5:2 – Walk in the Way of Love
And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
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30. Psalm 145:8-9 – The Lord Is Good to All
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
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31. Colossians 3:12 – As Dearly Loved
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
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32. Psalm 33:5 – The Earth Is Full of His Unfailing Love
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
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33. 1 Corinthians 13:13 – The Greatest of These Is Love
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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34. Psalm 36:7 – How Priceless Is Your Unfailing Love
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
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35. Romans 8:37 – More Than Conquerors Through Him Who Loved Us
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About God Being Love
The declaration that “God is love” isn’t just one attribute among many that describes Him. It’s a statement about His essential nature. Everything God does flows from love: His creation of the universe, His pursuit of humanity after the fall, His giving of the Law, His patience with Israel’s rebellion, and supremely, His sending of Jesus to die for sinners. Love isn’t something God does occasionally; it’s who He is fundamentally.
What makes God’s love so remarkable is its unconditional and initiating nature. We didn’t love God first; He loved us while we were still sinners, enemies, and rebels against Him. His love isn’t based on our worthiness, performance, or lovability. It’s grounded in His character, which means it’s unchanging and unshakeable. Nothing we do can make Him love us more, and nothing we do can make Him love us less.
The cross is the ultimate proof of God’s love. It’s where we see love’s full cost and full extent. God didn’t just feel affection for us from a distance; He entered into our suffering, took our sin upon Himself, and died the death we deserved. This sacrificial love transforms how we see God, ourselves, and how we’re called to love others.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for being love itself. When I struggle to believe that You truly love me, remind me of the cross where Your love was demonstrated most clearly. Help me to grasp how wide and long and high and deep Your love for me really is.
Thank You that Your love isn’t based on my performance or my worthiness. Thank You that You loved me while I was still a sinner, before I ever turned to You. Thank You that nothing can separate me from Your love, not my failures, not my circumstances, not even death itself.
When I face hardship and pain, help me to trust that Your love is still present and active even when I can’t see or feel it. Teach me that Your love is proven not by the absence of suffering but by Your presence in the midst of it and Your promise to work all things for my good.
Let Your love transform how I see myself and how I love others. Fill me with Your love so that it overflows to those around me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Evang. Anabelle Thompson is the founder of Believers Refuge, a Scripture-based resource that helps Christians to find biblical guidance for life’s challenges.
With over 15 years of ministry experience and a decade of dedicated Bible study, she creates content that connects believers with relevant Scripture for their daily struggles.
Her work has reached over 76,000 monthly readers (which is projected to reach 100,000 readers by the end of 2025) seeking practical faith applications, biblical encouragement, and spiritual guidance rooted in God’s Word.
She writes from personal experience, having walked through seasons of waiting, breakthrough, and spiritual growth that inform her teaching.
Evang. Thompson brings 12 years of active ministry and evangelism experience, along with over 10 years of systematic Bible study and theological research.
As a former small group leader and Sunday school teacher, she has published over 200 biblical resources and devotional studies.
She specializes in applying Scripture to everyday life challenges and regularly studies the original Hebrew and Greek texts for a deeper biblical understanding.