How Christ 'loved" the church -- Ephesians 5:25

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Petrus Van Mastricht:
The love: he "loved," ἠγάπησε, amavit, which with a more general meaning denotes the same thing as dilexit [brotherly love], he esteemed (1 John 2:10), but with a more specific and proper meaning, to love by clinging to something with the heart and soul, to rest in something such that you do not desire another thing (Matt. 6:21; 22:37). Αγαπάω says more than φιλέω [phileo -- brotherly love], inasmuch as it is a composite of ἄγαν, exceedingly, and πάω, I possess or παύομαι, I rest, for those things we love, we possess with the heart and rest in them. He "loved" with a propensity toward the church, not only that common propensity whereby God is inclined indiscriminately toward all his creatures (1 Tim. 4:10; Ps. 36:6), but with a propensity that is distinguishing, superlative, and saving (Ps. 36:7-10; 65:4; 1 Tim. 4:10).
[brackets mine]
(Theoritical-Practical Theology: The Application of Redemption and the Church, Volume 5, p. 324)