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Deus caritas est (English: "God is Love"), subtitled De Christiano Amore (Of Christian Love), is a 2005 encyclical, the first written by Pope Benedict XVI, in large part derived from writings by his late predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Its subject is love, as seen from a Christian perspective, and God's place within all love.
The word agape received a broader usage under later Christian writers as the word that specifically denoted Christian love or charity (1 Corinthians 13:1–8), or even God himself. The expression "God is love" (ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν) occurs twice in the New Testament: 1 John 4:8;16. Agape was also used by the early Christians to ...
As for love between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See life with the wife you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The Biblical book Song of Songs is considered a romantically phrased metaphor of love between God and his people, but in its plain reading reads like a love song.
Love is a key attribute of God in Christianity. 1 John 4:8 and 16 state that "God is love; and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." [13] [14] John 3:16 states: "God so loved the world..." [15] In the New Testament, God's love for humanity or the world is expressed in Greek as agape (ἀγάπη).
Love can have other meanings in English, but as used in the New Testament it almost always refers to the virtue of caritas. Many times when charity is mentioned in English-language bibles, it refers to "love of God", which is a spiritual love that is extended from God to man and then reflected by man, who is made in the image of God, back to God.
The love of Christ for his disciples and for humanity as a whole is a theme that repeats both in Johannine writings and in several of the Pauline Epistles. [12] John 13:1, which begins the narrative of the Last Supper, describes the love of Christ for his disciples: "having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end."
The verb form of the word "agape" goes as far back as Homer. In a Christian context, agape means "love: esp. unconditional love, charity; the love of God for person and of person for God". [3] Agape is also used to refer to a love feast. [4] The christian priest and philosopher Thomas Aquinas describe agape as "to will the good of another". [5]
Christians believe that to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself are the two most important things in life (the greatest commandment of the Jewish Torah, according to Jesus; cf. Gospel of Mark 12:28–34). Saint Augustine summarized this when he wrote "Love God, and do as thou wilt." [51]