We throw the word love around a LOT. In English, we use the same word for:
“I love pizza.”
“I love my spouse.”
“God loves you.”

But the Bible wasn’t written in English. In Greek, there are multiple words translated as love—and they don’t mean the same thing.

1. Éros (ἔρως) – Romantic, passionate love.
This is physical attraction and desire. The Bible affirms marital passion (see Song of Solomon), but this is not the word used when Scripture says, “God is love.”

2. Philía (φιλία) – Brotherly love, friendship.
Deep affection between companions. Loyalty. Shared bond. This is the love between friends.

3. Storgē (στοργή) – Familial love.
The natural affection between parents and children.

4. Agápē (ἀγάπη) – Selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. This is the word used in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.”

Not emotion.
Not chemistry.
Not convenience.
Covenant. Choice. Sacrifice.

Agápē loves when it’s not reciprocated.
Agápē loves when it costs something.
Agápē lays its life down.

So when we read, “God is love,” we are reading that God is self-giving, sacrificial, covenant-keeping love. The God kind of love is not something you fall into.

It’s something you choose.