Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — If your book isn’t a buzz, it’s not the Bible.
YOU SAY AGAPE AND I SAY AGAPAO. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? LOVE IS LOVE.
No it isn’t. Near enough isn’t good enough.
NOTE: The next few posts are significantly influenced by Nancy Missler’s book “The Way of Agapē”, The King’s High Way Ministries, Inc, © 1994. There are a number of extracts from the book, many of which have been expanded on by me. For what it’s worth coming from me, this is the seminal work on Agapē.
Introduction
There have been other posts in this opus about the Greek words translated as “love” in English.
Unless humongous errors have been made (I have a good recipe for Humble Pie, just in case) it has been established:-
1. eros love (physical) doesn’t appear in the Bible. It is Pagan sex. But there is God sanctioned sex mentioned.
2. stourge love (parent-child), is a minor player, it almost doesn’t exist.
3. phileō love (friendship), is platonic. There is no hint of any nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more.
The big one, agape love (divine), will begin to be addressed here.
But there are two spellings of the Greek word
agapaō (Strong’s Number G25), and agapē (Strong’s Number G26).
So yet another inconsistency in the Bible! (Eye roll.)
Or is there something deeper going on? Because the English word is such a sensitive trigger in today’s Western World, both inside and outside Christendom (I deliberately didn’t use the word Church because that’s another trigger that would obstruct the flow of the argument), it can’t be left hanging.
As this study progresses, it will be seen that the verb, agapaō, must not be confused with the noun, agapē, because they mean two totally different things.
The two spellings will be discussed in order.
G25 agapaō: a verb
To agapaō something means to totally give oneself over to that something; to be totally consumed with it; totally committed to it. What we agapaō is what we put first in our lives. All our intentions and abilities are focused and consumed with this one thing. In other words, it’s a commitment or a binding of ourselves to something, so that we become “one” with it. There is one definition, the reference for which I did not record (D’uh), which linked H157 — ‘āhaḇ to G25 — agapaō to being devoted to with an intensity which could be described as lust. (e.g. Deuteronomy 6:4–5, The Shamar). Perhaps you may remember my Hebrew-as-a-first-language friend who told me, “When you read words along the lines, ‘Seek my face with all your heart,’ think HORMONES. Think of the eagerness of two lovers seeking their beloved in a crowd.” That is the primitive passion that Christ wants from His Bride. That ties in well with the analogy of lust. (But in a pure and chaste manner.)
This commitment love (agapaō) can either be to God, or to man, or to things of the world.
agapaō is a neutral word
It is sometimes used in positive terms.
• Matthew 22:37, “Jesus replied: ‘Love [agapaō] the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
• Matthew 22:39, “And the second is like it: ‘Love [agapaō] your neighbour as yourself.’”
• Luke 6:27, “But to you who are listening I say: Love [agapaō] your enemies, do good to those who hate you”
• Luke 7:47, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves [agapaō] little.”
• John 3:16, “For God so loved [agapaō] the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
• John 10:17, “The reason my Father loves [agapaō] me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again.”
It is sometimes used in negative terms.
• John 3:19, “men loved [agapaō] darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
• John 12:43, “For they loved [agapaō] the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
• Luke 11:43, “Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love [agapaō] the uppermost seats in the synagogues.”
• 2 Timothy 4:10, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved [agapaō] this present world.”
• 1 John 2:15, “Love [agapaō] not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”
- Luke 6:32, “for sinners also love [agapaō] those that love them.”
Which “love” does the World adore?
It is written in John 3:16 || For God so loved the world (G2889) that He gave . . .
World: G2889 — kosmos = the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.
So the luv the World chases is not Divine. It is human, or natural, love.
Characteristics of Human Love
• It is conditional because it always depends upon three things: what we think, feel, and desire; what our circumstances are; and how the other person responds to us.
• It is two-sided because it always bargains, “I’ll love you if you love me. But if you stop loving me, then I will stop loving you.”
• It is a bondage love because we become totally wrapped up with our own presumptions and expectations of the other person. Then the other person is not free to respond from the heart, but is often pushed into self-defensiveness.
• It is self-centred love because no matter how selfless it looks on the outside, we will always be loving that other person hoping to get in return the love, the admiration, or the notoriety we so desperately need.
The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime. If you have seen something you like, I encourage plagiarism. So, always check everything I say first, then please re-cycle, re-brand, re-structure, re-issue, re-label, or re-gurgitate in any manner you please. No need to acknowledge me because the Holy Spirit Who holds the Intellectual Rights.
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
