Love—A Word Study

What is love? Age is only one determining factor. To the broken-hearted, it’s a four-letter word. To the teenager and young adult, it’s an erotic emotion. To the middle-aged and elderly, it’s (hopefully) the stability of knowing your partner is trustworthy, reliable, and faithful to their family. How does the Bible view love?

In Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, there are actually four words for love - agape (ἀγάπη), eros (ἔρως), philia (φιλία), and storge (στοργή). Each carries a different connotation. Agape is an unconditional love. Eros is the explicit, erotic love between husband and wife. Philia is a brotherly type of love. Storge is used for the affectionate love often between parents and children. Only two of them are used in the New Testament, philia and agape.

According to http://neverthirsty.org, a verb or noun form of philia is used 54 times in the New Testament while some form of agape is used 259 times. Philia is used by Peter in response to Jesus’ questioning after His resurrection in John 21:15-17. In 1 Timothy 6:10 when Paul says that the love of money is the root of all evil,  he warns against placing money at the same level of importance as one’s family members.

The agape (unconditional) form of love is the type of love Christians should be aiming at. Since the church is often referred to as the Family of God or as brothers and sisters in Christ, one would think that passages stressing unity, agreeing with one another, and placing others before themselves such as Ephesians 4 and Philippians 2 would use the word philia (brotherly love). Surprisingly this is not the case. These actually use the agape form. In other words, Jesus and the New Testament writers are instructing Christians to love each other with an even deeper, more convicted dedication than earthly family members have for each other. Jesus tells his apostles their shared love will confirm their identity.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. -John 13:34-35

The Apostle Paul discusses the qualities of unconditional love when writing to the Corinthian church. In the 16 descriptions used, 7 are in the positive while 9 are listed in a negative way. All 16 are in the present tense. This indicates an ongoing action. Thus the qualities Paul lists are not meant to be completed and then discarded. Each of them are meant to be strived for, attained, and continually improved on day after day.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; 

-1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Agape love which Christians should be aiming at everyday does not come naturally. It takes practice, dedication, and time. Let us strive to be like our Savior, loving one another unconditionally.

-Kevin W. Smith

What is love?

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the best known, and motivationally misunderstood love passages in the Bible. People often look at this passage and get a warm, fuzzy feeling while imagining Paul waxing eloquently about true love. This could not be further from the truth! The Apostle Paul was fussing at the Corinthians because of their childish misunderstanding of what was truly important. These people were focusing on the importance of the spiritual gifts they had received. Paul says apart from love, these gifts mean nothing even going so far as to compare them to a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. Paul then gives the characteristics of what agape (unconditional) love entails.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;

-1 Corinthians 13:4-8

After this, the apostle circles back to the topic of spiritual gifts in order to reinforce the importance of love over all else. He tells the Corinthians in verses 8-12 that these beloved gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues will be done away when the “perfect” or “complete” comes.  These gifts were used as a way to confirm what the speaker was saying and to enlighten the people about what God’s Will was since they did not have the luxury of the completed Bible. As a result, we understand this “perfect” or “complete” to be the recorded Word of God.

Paul closes out this chapter with a simple yet powerful statement about three things Christians hold dear-faith, hope and love. He comes to a very important conclusion concerning these while reiterating his point once more on the importance of love.

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

-1 Corinthians 13:13

Today, we have been given many gifts, talents and abilities within the Body of Christ. These can be very useful in service to God as well as the building up of the Body. However, we must be careful to remember what is most important to God. Just as Paul told the Corinthians, without love we are simply noise-making nothings. We need to learn to love like our Savior because love is the only thing that will last.