The law of first mention and why the Bible defines its own terms
The first time the Bible uses a word, the surrounding context sets its definition. This is the text establishing its own vocabulary. The first occurrence of “love” is not about romance. The first occurrence of “hate” is not about personal feelings. The first occurrence of the Hebrew word behind “faith” is not translated as faith at all. Each first mention reveals what the word actually means before centuries of tradition reshape it.
Love: Genesis 22:2
The word ahav (讗指讛址讘 , “to love”) appears for the first time in Genesis 22:2 :
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Genesis 22:2 KJV
The Bible’s definition of love is set here: a father willing to give his only son.
Genesis 22:3 : “And Abraham rose up early in the morning.” The text records no hesitation. The first mention of love in Scripture is obedient sacrifice at the cost of everything.
The parallel to John 3:16 is not coincidental. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” The first mention in Genesis defines what that sentence means in John. A father gives his only son. That is what love is. Everything else the Bible says about love operates within this definition.
Hate: Genesis 24:60
The word sane (砖指讉谞值讗 , “to hate”) appears for the first time in Genesis 24:60 :
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. Genesis 24:60 KJV
The Bible reserves hate for enemies who would possess your gates and take your land and inheritance.
This is the context Jesus operates in when he expands the definition in Matthew 5:44 : “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Jesus does not redefine hate. He takes the existing definition and tells you how to respond to it. The people who hate you in the biblical sense are genuine adversaries, not merely difficult people. And the instruction is to love them anyway, with the Genesis 22 definition of love: sacrificial, costly, deliberate.
Faith: Exodus 17:12
The word emunah (讗直诪讜旨谞指讛 , “steadfastness, firmness”) is the Hebrew word behind “faith.” Its first occurrence in Scripture is Exodus 17:12 :
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Exodus 17:12 KJV
The KJV translates emunah here as “steady”. A search for “faith” in the English Bible will not locate this verse. But the Hebrew word is the same. Emunah comes from the root aman (讗指诪址谉 ), which carries the sense of firmness, reliability, being established. It is the root behind “amen.”
The first mention of emunah is a man holding his arms up in battle while two others support him, not letting go until the sun goes down. Faith in the Hebrew Bible is physical, costly, and sustained. It requires endurance, and sometimes it requires other people holding you up when your strength runs out.
Habakkuk 2:4 uses the same word: “the just shall live by his emunah.” Paul quotes this in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 . The word that enters the New Testament as “faith” (蟺委蟽蟿喂蟼 , pistis) was first defined on a battlefield, not in a theology lecture.