What is love?

What Is Love?

One thing that I ask every up-and-coming disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ to remember is that in order to be effective as a disciple, we must first define every keyword and key concept according
to how God himself defines it. We know that God expects us to love God with our entire being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40; Matthew 7:12; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Galatians 5:22-25). This of course brings is a natural question, what is love? More importantly, what is love as God Himself defines it, because in the end only God's definition counts.


Based on the knowledge that God has provided us through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit, there are some things of which we can be certain concerning love.


1. There are different and distinct types of love: In the original Greek (the original New
Testament Biblical language), there are different types of love. They are:

a)      agapē: (noun form) agapaō (verb form)- This is God's kind of perfect love. It's God's defining characteristic and the kind of love that we are to become partakers of as born again believers. This kind of love's attributes are described in 1 Corinthians 4:4-8). This is the kind of love we are told to grow into as part of the command we are studying now.

b)     Phileō: (verb) - This refers to close and intimate heartfelt feelings of friendship and affection. This is the word most often used in Scripture when discussing our loving response to God (because most of us haven't matured into  agapē yet, so for many the best
we can do so far is Phileō). It also describes the love of a human parent to their child. It also refers to the desire for a good and thriving relationship (i.e. John 21:17).

 

c)      Philadelphia: This is very closely related to the above. It refers to brotherly kindness and affection. Most often used exclusively to describe affection between human beings (i.e. Romans 12:10)

 

d)     Philanthrōpia: This is where we get the word philanthropy which means to give to charity. It more closely means that you have so much phileō for the other person that their need
motivates us to give generously to supply that need (Acts 28:2; Acts 27:3).

e)      Eros (Noun) - Romantic sexual love and attraction Note: Very significantly, while it was extremely common in the Greek language, this form of the word love NEVER appears anywhere in the Greek New Testament. Why? I believe it's because God wants to make it very clear about the kind of love we are to pursue, and it's not the romantic sexual kind. Romantic love is extremely natural to human nature. We don't have to pursue it because it comes so naturally to us. It is the other types of love that we have to be purposeful to cultivate, because the previous four types of love are not nearly as easy or natural for us. That's why the Greek New Testament focuses on the above four, but omits this particular form of the word
'Love' altogether.

2.      Scripture expressly tells us that we are to, "Pursue Love," (specifically agapē, (1 Corinthians 14:1). In the original languages the word pursue literally describes a deliberate and forceful determination to overtake until one is captured. The word picture they use is like a policeman chasing a dangerous criminal he desperately wants to catch. That is the determination and characteristic with which we are told to pursue agapē. The attributes of agapē are described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

3.      The characteristics of agapē which we are to pursue are biblically defined as follows:

a.      Agapē is Patient - meaning to persevere or put up with long-term (Hebrews 6:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:14).

b.     Agapē is Kind - meaning to be, "Of serviceable good" (1 Corinthians 13:4).

c.      Agapē does NOT Envy - meaning it does not selfishly covet or crave to possess another person's blessings, position or possessions (i.e. Acts 17:5).

d.     Agapē does NOT Brag or Boast - meaning it does not parade its accomplishments, nor does it puff itself up at the expense of others (i.e. Matthew 6:1-4; Luke 18:9-14; Romans 12:3; Philippians 2:3; Luke 14:8-11).

 

e.      Agapē does NOT act unbecomingly, it is not rude - loosely meaning that one does
not behave in such a way that would bring any unnecessary embarrassment, discredit or dishonor to your Lord, to yourself, or to your neighbor.

f.       Agapē does NOT pursue with insistence upon, or demand its own way (i.e. Israel
insisting upon the King instead of being willing to be ruled by God - 1 Samuel
8:1-22; as opposed to the contrasting attitude of Christ - Luke 22:42; Matthew
6:9-11, 33). This particular attribute of love is why humankind was given free
will, and why God doesn't simply automatically force everyone to follow Him.
True love does not afford such an option.

 

g.     Agapē is NOT easily provoked or easily motivated to anger- meaning not given to
losing its temper (akin to: Proverbs 29:22; Esther 1:10-12; in contrast Exodus
34:6; Titus 1:7; James 1:19-25).

 

h.     Agapē forgives; meaning, it refuses to hold onto a grudge or keep
records of wrongs that someone has done against it, especially when the
offender asks for forgiveness (i.e. Matthew 18:21-35; Luke 7:39-50; Matthew
6:14 -15; Ephesians 4:25-32).

i.       Agapē does NOT rejoice in evil. - Meaning love does not, celebrate endorse or
honor sin or iniquity, instead, it only rejoices when Righteousness and Truth
prevail (i.e. 1 Corinthians 13:6; akin to: Psalm 15:1-4 in contrast to:
Romans 1:32; Proverbs 4:16; 17:15; 24:24; Isaiah 5:20-24).

j.       Agapē bears up under all things - meaning love perseveres in the above characteristics through all things; meaning to push through and
endure (i.e. Luke 23:34; 1 Corinthians 9:12)

 

k.     Agapē continues believing; maintains faith in God and His principles through all
things (i.e. Proverbs 3:5-8; Proverbs 37:3)

l.       Agapē continues hoping in the Lord - meaning a faithful expectation of a
Godly result (i.e. Matthew 7:7-8; Galatians 6:7-10; Romans 8:23-25; Hebrews
11:6).

m.  Agapē continues - meaning it never fails, it never collapses, it never quits
and it never gives up[1]^,[2],[3]

4.     According to the command, (Matthew 5:44), we are supposed to cooperate with God to the point where He transforms us so that the above attributes will describe how we treat
our enemies! No matter how you slice it that is a tall order. When we understand what God's real standards are, there is not a single one of us who can correctly say that we have arrived. Folks let's be honest, we don't even always treat our friends this well, let alone our enemies. If we respect God's standards, we know that we have a long way to grow!

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[1] Word definitions and descriptions were taken from: William E. Vine, Vine's
Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1940), WORDsearch CROSS e-book,
Under:  each of its respective word

[2] Word definitions and descriptions
were taken from:  New
American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,
(Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, 1998), WORDsearch CROSS e-book ,
'under each of their respective word.

[3] Word definitions and descriptions
were taken from Archibald Thomas Robertson, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Litt. D.,
Word Pictures in the New Testament, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press,
1930), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, under various key words.