Bible Question: What is love in regards to the bible |
Bible Answer: There's at least three kinds of love identified in the NT by the Greek writers: 1) Eros from which we get our word erotic. You can figure out this kind of love is just pure lust basically but it's beautiful when it's between a married man and his wife. 2) Philo is the Greek word for brotherly love as in family members, from which we formed the city name, Philadelphia. 3) Agape is the ultimate kind of Godly love that Jesus would have us aspire to; that which Gods loves, with no expectation or requirement of anything in return. It's the kind of love described in 1 Cor 13. I think there's a fourth type but I can't remember the details of that word. Sure beats the English language. You and I will tell the most precious being on this planet to us personnaly that we love that person and then turn around and we say we love pizza or ice cream. What a crazy world in which we live. Just another sidebar: Just before Jesus left this world, he asked his beloved disciple Peter, Do you love me, 3 times, using the Agape word the first two times. Peter's answer used Philo. Finally, on the thrid time, the Lord settled for Peter's answer. But both He and His Father would like to see us all graduate from this world or school of hard knocks and practice His kind of love. I'd like to think after getting help from the Holy Spirit, Peter did learn that lesson and did finally graduate along with all the other Apostles. God bless. |