It may seem a simple question, what is love, but I've realized that it seems to be a concept that I don't understand, or at least don't think I practice. Everyone knows the popular versions of love: family love, friendship, couples, hooking up. Those are common in modern society. The church I've gone to says it to each other all the time. "I love you!" It's their common version of goodbye. Some couples make a big deal about those three big words, while others say them to manipulate or without really meaning them. Love is the goal in life for a lot of people. They spend their life looking for love, often in the wrong places. That is why there are so many divorces and broken hearts, why so many people refuse to love or be loved. I'm lucky in that I know I am loved by my family and I have some great friends. I've never been "in love" with a guy so I've never been broken-hearted. I've never needed to be loved through a hard time and I've never lost someone I love. Someone once said "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved before" and someone else said "you don't know what you got 'til it's gone." I've never lost love so I don't think I understand the abstract emotion of love. If I don't understand the emotion, how can I live it, see God's love in my life, or show other people love? Living our faith is often explained as loving everyone but how can I do that if I don't understand love?
I could search psychology books or create my own scientific study but I'm searching for an emotional answer. So where better to study love than in the Bible? Every Christian knows that God loves us and we should love others. There are so many verses about love that are well known and many not so well known that are just as powerful. But before I explore the verses, I want to clear something up that I find helpful in studying the Bible. In high school I learned that the Greeks, the people who created the language that the New Testament was originally written in, had three words for love. I found it a very useful distinction growing up and I think it will help in this study I mean to start. Americans know two of the three types of love. The word every American knows is philios. It is why Philadelphia is known as "the city of brotherly love". Looking it up in the Ancient Greek to English dictionary I have for class, I find it means so much more. Phileo is a verb that (like most of the old verbs) means a lot of things depending on its context. It can mean anything from being fond of a thing or action, being affectionate, kiss, befriend, and to be in the habit of doing something, to simplify the list. Compound words with phileo include words meaning "loving one's husband," "love wine," benevolence/love of mankind," "fondness for making enemies," and a lot of other wide ranging words. Hmm, I was always told it meant friendship. The ancient word doesn't seem to be as clean-cut as that.
The next word American culture most likely knows is eros. The noun means "love: desire for a thing". This word has much fewer compounds and they have to do with "mad love" or "darling" or "a little cupid". Again, I expected a simple sexual love and instead got definitions that in modern times seem either sexual or affectionate. Either way, eros is specifically the love between a loving couple.
That brings me to the third word, which I have understood as God's unconditional love. Again, it's not that simple. Agapao is a verb that means "to welcome, entertain", "to be fond of, to love dearly", to be well pleased, to be well-pleased, to be content at or with a thing" and finally "to be wont to do, like phileo". There aren't very many compounds but some are "dearly beloved: worthy of love", "disposed to love, affection", "an object of love" and "the feeling of love".
Hm, that isn't very helpful. To be honest, that dictionary is the small version of the HUGE Classical Greek dictionary that many colleges own and it is intended to translate Classical Greek, not Koine Greek. That is about a four hundred year difference in language. Think back to the last time you read Shakespeare if you want a comparison. "Wherefore art thou Romeo" actually meant 'Why are you Romeo (and the son of my father's enemy)" not "Where are you Romeo" which I thought it meant for years until a teacher corrected me. By the time the Bible was written, the three words may have had more of a difference, or my teacher may have been simplifying the ideas for us.
To simplify: the Classical Greek words for love are phileo (which seems to mean a general fondness, affection, or habit), eros (which is more sexual and demonstrative), and agapao (which used the word love a lot in its translations). So what is love? So far love seems to have a lot of definitions. I guess my next step is to study verses in the Bible. How do you define love?
I could search psychology books or create my own scientific study but I'm searching for an emotional answer. So where better to study love than in the Bible? Every Christian knows that God loves us and we should love others. There are so many verses about love that are well known and many not so well known that are just as powerful. But before I explore the verses, I want to clear something up that I find helpful in studying the Bible. In high school I learned that the Greeks, the people who created the language that the New Testament was originally written in, had three words for love. I found it a very useful distinction growing up and I think it will help in this study I mean to start. Americans know two of the three types of love. The word every American knows is philios. It is why Philadelphia is known as "the city of brotherly love". Looking it up in the Ancient Greek to English dictionary I have for class, I find it means so much more. Phileo is a verb that (like most of the old verbs) means a lot of things depending on its context. It can mean anything from being fond of a thing or action, being affectionate, kiss, befriend, and to be in the habit of doing something, to simplify the list. Compound words with phileo include words meaning "loving one's husband," "love wine," benevolence/love of mankind," "fondness for making enemies," and a lot of other wide ranging words. Hmm, I was always told it meant friendship. The ancient word doesn't seem to be as clean-cut as that.
The next word American culture most likely knows is eros. The noun means "love: desire for a thing". This word has much fewer compounds and they have to do with "mad love" or "darling" or "a little cupid". Again, I expected a simple sexual love and instead got definitions that in modern times seem either sexual or affectionate. Either way, eros is specifically the love between a loving couple.
That brings me to the third word, which I have understood as God's unconditional love. Again, it's not that simple. Agapao is a verb that means "to welcome, entertain", "to be fond of, to love dearly", to be well pleased, to be well-pleased, to be content at or with a thing" and finally "to be wont to do, like phileo". There aren't very many compounds but some are "dearly beloved: worthy of love", "disposed to love, affection", "an object of love" and "the feeling of love".
Hm, that isn't very helpful. To be honest, that dictionary is the small version of the HUGE Classical Greek dictionary that many colleges own and it is intended to translate Classical Greek, not Koine Greek. That is about a four hundred year difference in language. Think back to the last time you read Shakespeare if you want a comparison. "Wherefore art thou Romeo" actually meant 'Why are you Romeo (and the son of my father's enemy)" not "Where are you Romeo" which I thought it meant for years until a teacher corrected me. By the time the Bible was written, the three words may have had more of a difference, or my teacher may have been simplifying the ideas for us.
To simplify: the Classical Greek words for love are phileo (which seems to mean a general fondness, affection, or habit), eros (which is more sexual and demonstrative), and agapao (which used the word love a lot in its translations). So what is love? So far love seems to have a lot of definitions. I guess my next step is to study verses in the Bible. How do you define love?
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