It is well known that the Greek word for love in the New Testament, agape, was not previously in common use. It was taken into the Greek of the New Testament specifically because the love of God, seen in Jesus of Nazareth, required a new word. God’s love completely transcends all human ideas or expressions of love. ‘It is a love for the utterly unworthy, a love which proceeds from a God who is love. It is a love lavished on others without a thought of whether they are worthy to receive it or not. It proceeds rather from the nature of the lover, than from any merit in the beloved.’ This is the love which, according to Jesus, has to characterize and control the Christian community, if it is in any sense to be recognized as Christian and if He is to be recognized as God’s Son and the world’s Saviour.

from The Message of 1 Corinthians by David Prior, pages 226-27. He quotes L. Morris’ 1 Corinthians (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries), page 181.