God is love (agape)
1 John 4:8

Agape comes from God
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God – 1 John 4:7

We receive the Agape of God when we become saved and joined to Christ. It is his very nature, and this was only possible by Christ’s death and resurrection.

• Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. – 1 John 4:7
• and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love  with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. – John 17:26
• and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us – Romans 5:5

Agape is how we (and others) know whether or not we are born of God (Christians). Agape is “other-worldly” and does follow the world’s rules, therefore it stands out.

• The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. – 1 John 4:8
  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:35
• By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. – 1 John 3:10
• We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. – 1 John 3:14
• But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love  of God abide in him? – 1 John 3:17
• but whoever keeps His word, in him the love  of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him – 1 John 2:5
• (Jesus speaking to the Pharisees) “but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.” – John 5:42

When we love (agape), we are abiding in the very Life of God and walking in the Spirit at that very moment. As a result, we are fulfilling the law.

• The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. – 1 John 2:10
• God is love, and the one who abides in love  abides in God, and God abides in him. – 1 John 4:16
• No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. – 1 John 4:12
• “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.“ – John 15:9
• keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life – Jude 1:21
• Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves  his neighbor has fulfilled the law. – Rom 13:8
• For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE  YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” – Gal 5:14
• We have come to know and have believed the love  which God has for us. God is love,  and the one who abides in love  abides in God, and God abides in him. – 1 John 4:16
• and walk in love, just as Christ also loved  you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. – Eph 5:2

Everything we do should be done in Agape. It is a required ingredient for walking in the Spirit.

• Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Cor 16:14
• For the love of Christ controls us – 2 Cor 5:14
• If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. – 1 Cor 13:1-3