Bible word study

Agape (Strong’s G26): Meaning in the Bible

Agape (ἀγάπη) is the Greek word numbered G26 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast. In the King James Bible it is translated (feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love..

• Original wordἀγάπη
• Transliterationagápē
• Pronunciationag-ah'-pay
• Strong’s numberG26
• LanguageGreek

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. from G25;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Agape appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Agape (G26) stands behind 117 English renderings in 106 verses across 24 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in 1 John (18), 1 Corinthians (14), Ephesians (10).

How the King James Bible renders Agape, by count

• love81 of 117 (69 percent)
• charity28 of 117 (24 percent)
• the love4 of 117 (3 percent)
• charitably1 of 117 (1 percent)
• dear1 of 117 (1 percent)
• loves1 of 117 (1 percent)

Three places to read Agape

• Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
• 1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

And Christ

Christians read the cross as this love made visible: God gave his Son not because we deserved it but because he chose to. Jesus made it the mark of his followers, that they love one another as he has loved them.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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