Subject: Does separation from God mean no love? |
Bible Note: Hi Scooter, Well, the things you mention as being "mixed" with love, are not love. The later three, they are emotions; now that's not to say that love does not evoke emotion, man, does it ever! But the love that is being spoken of in the Bible, is not the kind of love you would normaly mix with those negative kinds of emotions, envy, greed, jealousy, etc. and, "perversion" is another issue altogether, perversion stems form a desire to have un-biblical or, i.e. sex outside of the guidelines set-forth by God, that is also a part of what is called erotic love, or Eros, I think in greek, that is not love, that is a misunderstanding that man has adopted, and is quite popular, [unfortunately]; what that is, is lust! Agape love, which is pure love, cannot be experienced apart from God. Here is something els that may help you. God bless John : Easton's Bible Dictionary LOVE This word seems to require explanation only in the case of its use by our Lord in his interview with "Simon, the son of Jonas," after his resurrection (John 21:16, 17). When our Lord says, "Lovest thou me?" he uses the Greek word _agapas_; and when Simon answers, he uses the Greek word _philo_, i.e., "I love." This is the usage in the first and second questions put by our Lord; but in the third our Lord uses Simon's word. The distinction between these two Greek words is thus fitly described by Trench:, "_Agapan_ has more of judgment and deliberate choice; _philein_ has more of attachment and peculiar personal affection. Thus the 'Lovest thou' (Gr. agapas) on the lips of the Lord seems to Peter at this moment too cold a word, as though his Lord were keeping him at a distance, or at least not inviting him to draw near, as in the passionate yearning of his heart he desired now to do. Therefore he puts by the word and substitutes his own stronger 'I love' (Gr. philo) in its room. A second time he does the same. And now he has conquered; for when the Lord demands a third time whether he loves him, he does it in the word which alone will satisfy Peter ('Lovest thou,' Gr. phileis), which alone claims from him that personal attachment and affection with which indeed he knows that his heart is full." In 1 Corinthians 13 the apostle sets forth the excellency of love, as the word "charity" there is rendered in the Revised Version. |