Love

One of the great leitmotifs of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ethical and theological thought is his threefold conception of love comprising the categories of eros, philia, and agape. "Eros is a sort of aesthetic love.... Everybody has experienced eros in all of its beauty when you find some individual that is attractive to you and that you pour out all of your like and your love on that individual. Philia, however, "is a sort of intimate affection between personal friends. On this level, you like a person because that person likes you. You love on this level, because there’s something about the person you love that is likeable to you."

Of these three, agape represents highest form of love for King because it does not depend on personal preference but upon recognition of the other as a fellow child of God. It is this kind of love that is intended in Jesus's admonition to love your enemies. King explains it:

Agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but be cause God loves them. You look at every man, and you love him because you know God loves him. And he might be the worst.