15 Characteristics Of Agape Love

The True Meaning Of Agape Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

We have been dissecting for the past 3 weeks in our Sunday school class 1 Corinthians 8:1-8.  It’s a long teaching but we received great feedback from it. Our prayer is that this teaching will bless you and your marriage the way it did to many others and ours. Please feel free to share with others. And as always please leave your feedback we love to hear from you.

There are 15 Characteristics of Agape Love, in this teaching we will break down each characteristic and see what instructions Paul tells about applying them to your marriage.

As you read this study please take a moment and reflect on your own marriage and what characteristics you may be lacking and ask God to turn your weaknesses’ into strengths.

15 Characteristics of Agape Love

Agape Love is the highest level of love in this world. It's a love that gives, gives, and gives. Even if it's never responded to. Thanked or acknowledged. It's a love that isn't based on a response but on a decision to keep on loving. Regardless of the response or lack of response you get. It's an unconditional love. It's the highest form of love that exists.

 It is the kind of love that God expects us to demonstrate as believers.

1- Charity (agape love) Suffereth Long:

Which means the patient restraint of anger- long suffering. To be patient

Ex: like someone waiting for his or her spouse to come around, make progress, change. Or hear what you are trying to communicate or teach them.

Agape love doesn't QUIT! The harder the fight or longer the struggle the more committed AGAPE love becomes.

 Many of us think we can’t do this, but your wrong. You can do this you can because God already bestowed a sufficient love to be able to be long suffering. READ Roman 5:5 Agape love has already been "shed abroad" which means to spill out, dispersed, discharged.

All we have to do is ask The Holy Spirit to help us. And he will release a river of divine love to flow from you to help you when you have someone who is frustrating you much.

2- Kind:

To be adaptable or compliant to others needs. Which means you don't demand for others to be like you but instead you bend over backwards to become what's others need you to be for them. So we need to be able to serve and change in order to meet others needs. Another thing we need to make sure of is that our speech or talk to our loved ones is Kind. Especially our tone of voice we use.

3- Envieth Not:

 Someone who is consumed with his own desires and plans.

Someone who cares about only getting their way and they don’t care how they get it. They would sacrifice anything. They are very self-centered.

4- LOVE VAUNTETH NOT:

A lot of self-talk. Someone who always promotes himself and exaggerates his own virtues. We have to remember love does not go around talking about itself all the time constantly exaggerating and twisting the facts to make themselves look better or more important than others.

Agape love is so strong, pure and confident that it doesn't need to speak of itself or accomplishments. Even if they are greater than everyone else’s. Instead it focuses on the accomplishments of others. In order to build them up and make them feel more valuable and secure. Remember agape love is focused on giving of itself in order to meet the other people’s needs.

5- Love " Is Not Puffed Up".

Which means to be proud of or to be swollen or inflated.

Someone who is filled with PRIDE. Or arrogance.

Paul tells that LOVE is never deceived into thinking to highly of itself.

Paul was telling the Corinthian church that the arrogance of the leaders was the primary source of division and rivalry in the church. All the leaders were very proud and arrogant and did not show Love to others. They thought they were better than everyone else. We have to remember how Christ showed Love to his disciples and follow that example.

 Paul tells the Corinthians that "knowledge puffs up but love edifies".

Love does not behave in prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish or clannish matter.

6- Unseemly:

In the Greek the word meant, "to act in an unbecoming manner"

Meaning someone who is tactless or thoughtless. Or careless and inconsiderate of others. The person would have bad manners to others. They would use harsh and brutal language. Showing that the person is uncaring, insensitive and unkind. Basically someone who acts UGLY.

If you put character 5 and 6 together it could sound like this.

Love doesn't go around talking about itself all the time, constantly exaggerating an embellishing the facts to make it look more important to the site of others; love does not behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish or clannish matter, love is not rude or discourteous. It's not careless or thoughtless, nor does it carry on in a fashion that would be considered insensitive to others.

7- Love Seeks Not It's Own

This is a person who is in such a pursuit to get his way or what he wants that he would search, seek, investigate, twist the facts, puts words in other peoples mouths, try to keep people to promises they never made or seek various other methods to turn situations to his benefit. In other words this person is a Manipulator!

Someone who is a manipulator is not showing Love what they are showing is how to be dishonest. Remember speaking half- truths or white lies is not the way agape love behaves. Love does not manipulate situations or devise a plan that will twist situations to their own advantage.

8- Love Is Not Easily Provoked

Provoked- portrays someone coming along side another and begins to poke or prick or stick someone with a sharp object. Or provoking with words. We all know what words to say to provoke our spouse in a negative way. Even though we know the outcome of what will happen if we provoke them we still do it. And they will keep doing this until the other person becomes provoked, because they finally had enough of the other persons relentless actions that they respond violently or aggressively. Usually ending up in a fight.

Remember love does not deliberately engage in actions or words that are so sharp, they cause an ugly or violent response.

9- Thinketh No Evil:

Paul uses the word thinketh which in the Greek is logidzomai which is an accounting term that would be better translated to count or to reckon. It literally meant to credit to someone’s account.

Think about a bookkeeper that keeps very detailed records. Just as they keep records of every debit and credit in the books they also keep very detailed records of every wrongdoing that is done to them. They store in their memory every mistake, fault, grievances, disappointments and failures that someone has made against them. Rather than forgiving the person and letting it go, they will carefully maintain records of each wrong doing that was done to them. This is definitely NOT the way love behaves!

Imagine if God brought up every wrong doing you did in the past before him. Thank God he doesn't do that! God forgave us! God decided that he wouldn't deal with us according to our sins. Even though he could remember all of our faults and mistakes, he chose NOT to remember. And he NEVER will. Read Psalm 103:3

Psalm 103:12 says As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us!

This is huge! Thank God! That means he doesn't keep records of our past sins. Once they are under the blood of Jesus they are separated from you forever.

If you are ever tempted to keep mental records of wrong doings your spouse or someone you know has done to you be aware that you are not showing that person the same mercy that God has given to you. Someone who has been forgiven as much as you have been forgiven has not right to keep records of someone else’s mistakes!

Remember:

Love doesn't manipulate situations or schemes and devise methods that will twist situations to it's own advantage; love does not deliberately engage in actions or speak words that are so sharp, they cause an ugly or violent response; love doesn't deliberately keep records of wrongs or past mistakes.

10- Love Rejoices Not With Iniquity- but Rejoices In Truth.

Have you ever secretly rejoiced when you heard that someone you didn't like or someone you disapproved of had gotten in some kind of trouble? And because of the hardships that person went through you thought good for him that's what he deserves. After what he did to others and me it serves him right! If this describes you, this is not the way Gods love reacts to these types of situation.

In Corinthians 13:6 Paul wrote that rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in truth. What that means is- love does not feel over ours when it sees an injustice done to someone else. When things like this happen we need to pray for restoration. Because real love simply doesn't rejoice at someone else’s misfortunes. Paul also tells us that when someone else gains some kind of advantage in life that you have desired, love isn't threatened by that person’s success. Instead we should rejoice in the victory with them.

11- Love Bears all things, believes All Things, Hopes All Things, Endures All Things:

Paul uses the word bearerth. In the Greek it means to cover. As a roof covers a house. And could also mean protection. As a roof would protect or shield us in our house. Just as we go through different seasons of our life and some seasons are worst than others, Paul tells us that agape love serves as a protection for you. Like a roof does to a house. We need to take this and put in our marriage. As we go through difficult times in our marriage we must be there for one another and lift each other up when we are going through tough times. Rather than expose their flaws we must conceal, cover and protect our mates. We must hover over our mates as a protection to get through certain storms in their lives.

 12- Love Believeth All Things:

What Paul is telling us here is that we have to have a never give up attitude. That means what ever the situation is everything will turn out good. Or that love believes the best for every situation.

Doesn't mean that love is stupid or blind it just means that agape love is so filled with faith, it pushes all the negative realities out of the way. It doesn't ignore the problem or challenges. It just makes a choice to see beyond the problems and conflicts; it continues to look for the best attributes in every person. They see the potential in every person through the eyes of love instead of critising them.

13- Love Harpeth All Things:

What Paul is telling is here is that love not only hopes but it expects good of all things. What this means is that instead of assuming bad results in someone’s life agape love always expects the best in someone else. It doesn't only expect it but it anticipates to see the good things happen that they hoped for.

14- Love Endureth All Things:

 Paul is explaining to us here that when we are feeling like we are carrying the world on our shoulders and the pressure feels to heavy we still continue to move forward because they refuse to surrender to defeat because they know they are in the right place where God wants them to be. Agape love never quits or throws in the towel. Especially in our marriage.  We must remember the vows we said to one another and to God. It says I'm committed to be here! To stay with you and work it out. Regardless of cost or time involved. This kind of agape love is totally different from worldly or fleshly love, which says, “I’ve done all I'm going to do”. I'm not wasting any more of my life. I'm finished and I'm leaving!

We must remember that God doesn’t give up on us we give up on him. We must continue to push forward and persevere. With God all things are possible. As long as we have God we can’t get through anything. If Helene and I would of gave up in our third year of marriage we would not have seen the blessings God had for us that we see now. And it’s always a humbling experience when he uses us for his Glory!

 15- Love Never Fails:

Paul ends the 15 characters of love with a very powerful one. He tells us that Love never fails or disappoints us. Everyone in this world at some point in our lives will disappoint us. Our parents, family, children, spouses ect. But Gods love the Agape Love will never disappoint or fails us.

It's a love that is reliable and dependable. This love is constant, and never changing. It's a love that always reliable and true.

This study is taken from Sparkling Gems of the Greek