Love Feasts (W.E. Vine’s Notes)

“agapé (ἀγάπη, 26) is used in the plural in Jude 12, and in some mss. in 2 Pet. 2:13; RV marg., “many ancient authorities read ‘deceivings,’” (apatais); so the KJV. The love feasts arose from the common meals of the early churches (cf. 1 Cor. 11:21).

They may have had this origin in the private meals of Jewish households, with the addition of the observance of the Lord’s Supper. There were, however, similar common meals among the pagan religious brotherhoods. The evil dealt with at Corinth (l.c.) became enhanced by the presence of immoral persons, who degraded the feasts into wanton banquets, as mentioned in 2 Pet. and Jude. In later times the agapé became detached from the Lord’s Supper.” –W.E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, pp. 382-383