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NASB | John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 13:34 "I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. |
Bible Question:
Xerxes I have no interest in being inquisitioned here by you or anyone else. My words speak for themselves. If you can't figure them out I'm afraid I don't possess the ability to express them in a manner you could. However I find it hard to imagine you and the one or two others find them so un-comprehension-able while I have so little of a problem explaining myself with others in all my other posts on this forum. As for your other questions perhaps since I’m unable to make myself clear to you it would be better to explain how you see “Love” do you see it as emotion or action? To you see it being motivator to good works or do you see it as completion in and of itself? If you say you love your father, what does that really mean? Does it motivate any action in you, does it establish any standard of performance in you? How do you interpret 1 John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” ? To you does this imply that we need to do more than just have the emotion of loving? I hope you will answer these questions since I unable to effectively convey my thinking to you perhaps your able to convey your thinking to me. EdB |
Bible Answer: You know Ed, I want to answer these questions for you, but seeing your post, I'm inclined instead to first ask: What in the world is your problem!? Was this really necessary: "I have no interest in being inquisitioned here by you or anyone else."? Darn near every one of your responses has some sort of snide, sarcastic, condescending, or contemptuous comment in it. I seem unable to get the sweet from you without the sour. Again, what is your problem? I haven't done you any wrong. I haven't challenged your Christianity. I haven't called you names. I haven't insulted anything you've posted. All I've done is ask you for a more clear understanding on your perspective so I could meet you at your level and be of one mind in discussing the issue. Furthermore, the questions I asked were simple ones, asked in order to gain information and understanding, and instead of answering them with clear and concise answers so we could continue, you instead treat this whole thing like I'm playing some kind of game with you and mask your answers as though you're trying to avoid the simple yes or no that would have sufficed. I'm not playing a game. I think, however, that you need to decide if you are, because your defenses make conversation with you extremely difficult. What can I say that will not offend you or fetch some sort of rude comment? That said, I'm going to answer the questions as I promised I would: 1) Love is an emotion AND an action. Love, in its typical English rendering, is a noun. This would be the reckoning you are understanding. An emotion that is just there. A "person, place, or thing." The word "agapao," used in all the commands to "love," is a verb, and that means that love is not an emotion Biblically speaking. Love, in and of itself, is an action. [A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament]: agapao: love (primarily of Christian love); show or prove one’s love; long for, desire, place first in one’s affections. [An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon]: agapao, f. eso: pf. egapeka: Ep. aor. 1 agapesa: (agape): I. of persons, to treat with affection, to caress, love, be fond of, c. acc., Att. for agapazo, Plato, etc.:—Pass. to be beloved, Id., Demosthenes. 2. in N.T. to regard with brotherly love, v. agape. II. of things, to be well pleased or contented at or with a thing, c. dat., Demosthenes, etc.:—also c. acc. rei, Id.:—absol. to be content, Lucian:—ag. oti. ., ei. ., ean. ., to be well pleased that. . Thucydides, etc. [NASB Hebrew and Greek Dictionary]: agapao: of unc. or.; to love. Agape is the emotion. Agapao is the action. You feel agape. You do Agapao. A new commandment I give you, that you agapao one another as I have agapao you. By this standard, to "Agapao your neighbor as yourself," is identical in context to, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." This is not an emotion, but an action. So when Paul says that agapao is the fulfillment of the law, and that there is no commandment we have that is not summed up by "Agapao your neighbor as yourself," it is not a motivator, it is an action that is the completion in and of itself. If you say you agape your father, that means you have feelings for him, and it establishes the motivation to agapao. Since agape is defined in 1 Cor. 13:4-8, I would have to say that it does, in fact, establish a standard of performance in us. We should agapao according to the standards of agape in 1 Cor. 1 John 3:18 "My little children, let us not agapao in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." He is saying that we should not say we are performing the action, but actually do it. This does, in fact, not only imply but say, that we should agapao, and not simply sit back and agape. Your thoughts? Xerxes |