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What Does Love Mean According to the Bible?
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5/5/2010 5:07:46 PM
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When Christian say that they love you, what should that mean? In our day and time, no word is more misunderstood, from a Biblical perspective than the word: LOVE! To many it means a feeling of strong emotional attachment to the object of one's affection. To love someone is to "feel" emotions for them; to care about them in an intimate way. To the masses of the world, it means to have romantic feelings for another. Unfortunately, and understandably, it means almost the same to many Christians. When many Christians say they "love you", they mean that they have strong emotional feelings for you; that they "emotionally" care for you. While that is somewhat in line with what the Bible means in places by the word translated as "love", for the most part it falls far short of the Bible's definition of Christian love!
The majority of Christians have misunderstood this concept due to a merging of terms from the Greek language to the English language. In Greek, there are numerous words for love (we will look at some from the Bible in this blog). However, Christians for the most part, have a very inadequate understanding of the term. In fact, so misguided are they about the true meaning of the word, that they equate an emotional attachment to God as: "loving God"! To love God is not an emotional attachment to Him. To love God, is so much more than that according to the scripture.
We will look at the some of the Bible references to the word "love" and see how they are (and should be) applied to Christian love for oneself, others and, most importantly, God! To do this, we will look at the actual terms used in the Greek of the New Testament; taking them in the context in which they are used; and relating them to the proper Greek definition of each word. We will see what the original word meant in the verse and what it means to us as Christians. But why is this important? Who cares what the original word meant, it means love in English right? Not always! At least not with the preconceived meaning we project on the word. But why is it important? Because it is a requirement for a proper relationship to God! God requires that we love Him fully! Not only that but also because God IS Love! If we don't fully understand love, how can we truly know God; or truly love Him?
The Greatest Commandment:The religious leaders of Israel were trying to trick Jesus in to stating some type of error in order to accuse Him of being a false teacher. They themselves were divided into two, constantly debating groups: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees had made their attack on Jesus and tried to trick Him in to saying some type of herisy so they could arrest Him. Jesus not only answered their "trick question" correctly, but went on to show them their own error in logic (turning the tables on them). The townspeople who were observing all this were astonished at His teachings. As a result, one of the leaders of the Pharisees who was a lawyer took his shot for the group. As a lawyer, he was well versed in the literal translation and definition of the Hebrew words that made up the writing of the Torah and the Prophets (The Old Testament). He was an educated man with a lot of knowledge of the Holy Scriptures from an intellectual stand point. He asked Jesus a question that was above what a common Jew would have comprehended. His question (in context): "But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:28-33).
Suffice it to say, Jesus' answer was dead on! But what did Jesus say? Jesus answered the question in Greek, the language of the day and not in Hebrew. It was not only the correct answer, but it was the correct answer translated correctly in to this new language! A lawyer would understand that and be extremely impressed as Jesus had no formal schooling in Hebrew or Greek! Imagine if some one asked you what was a famous quote from a Latin manuscript. Would you be able to answer the question using perfect English words if the document had never been translated to English?
Ok, I chased that rabbit all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and back (And trust the rabbit did not get any oil from the spill on him). So what word did Jesus translate the old Hebrew word "love" into in the new Greek language? And what does the word Jesus chose mean? As the writer stated above, there are many words in Greek that translate to the word"love" in English. Which did He use? The answer follows...
In Greek, the word we call love comes from primarily one of three main words which are used in Bible passages: agapao, agape and phileo. Agapao & agape are the same word, which are singular & plural and address singular & plural groups respectively. Agapao is the word Jesus used in his translation of the original Hebrew word in the Greatest Commandment; literally: "You shall agapao the LORD...".
Before we dive into the deep waters of what Jesus was literally saying, let's look at the description of the other words as well as an additional Greek word that was never used in the Bible!
- Agapao - to love (in a social or moral sense); embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety; of the head: will, mind
- Agape - love; affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast as in the meaning of charity, charitably, dearly love; of the head: will, mind
- Phileo - to be a friend to; fond of; have affection for; of the heart: denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling. The term philanthropy is derived from the root phileo.
- Eros - also called marital love, is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "romantic love". The term erotic is derived from eros. Eros is not used in the original Greek New Testament.
So when Jesus said that we are to "love God", He was saying that we are to put God first in our life as an act of our will, not our emotions! Our love for God may, in fact should, lead us to emotional feelings but they are not what God cares so much about as what Jesus said! Emotions are fickle and fluctuate from day to day. God cares about our long-term, sincere committment to Him. "So Samuel said: 'Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.'" (1 Samuel 15:22)
If we replaced the word love with the definition above it could read like this, "Thou shall embrace with judgment and deliberate assent of your will, as a matter of your primary principle & duty, and with your utmost propriety: God". He goes on to say that we should do this "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.". The heart (emotions, drives & desires), soul (intellect, will & spirit) and mind (mental, memory & reasoning abilities) should be used to the utmost that we can to ensure that we: "embrace with judgment and deliberate assent of our will, as a matter of our primary principle & duty, and with our utmost propriety: God"! That is the task! The heart, soul and mind are the tools we use to perform the task, they are not the task themselves! Actually, most Christians don't even consider the soul or mind when talking about loving God. Most think that the tool of emotion is the task. Not so at all!
Well, that's a blow in the head right? In light of this revelation, let's look at some other Bible verses use the same word (agapao) for the word we see in English as love?
Here are a few additional verses for you to consider:"For God so loved (agapao) the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Basically God Choose Us "with judgment & deliberate assent of His will, as a matter of His primary principle & duty, and with the His utmost propriety"! Does that make you feel any less loved? It should make you Scream & Shout with Joy! Just think how much thought God put into loving you! He put you before Himself, His Son or His own creation! He Choose YOU!?! . . . and me?!? What an AWESOME GOD WE HAVE! :) (See Romans 8)
"But I say unto you, Love (agapao) your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44) How could Jesus tell us to do that if love is just a feel good feeling? How would it be possible for any human to emotionally feel closeness to these hateful people? Ah, but with agapao (love) we can! It is a choice to put them first before ourselves! We can do that! And we can sure do it with God's agapao (love) flowing through us to them!
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, in this; Thou shalt love (agapao) thy neighbour as thyself. (Galatians 5:14).
"Husbands, love (agapao) your wives, even as Christ also loved (agapao) the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25)..
- yes even in marriage, God says it's an act of the will! If only we could get that through our thick heads, divorce would be a whole lot less frequent!
"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love (agapao) one another." (1 John 3:11).
"My little children, let us not love (agapao) in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18).
May God Bless You All as You Love (agapao) Him & Each Other! :D
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Summary
We are being
warned! God is showing us what His purpose for this
world entails. As we get closer and closer to the end,
the world has become more and more sinful! And
unfortunately, this condition will worsen till He
returns and redeems us from ourselves. Don't let sin,
self or Satan who has invaded our planet separate you
from the free gift of salvation that Jesus extends to
you in His invitation to be born-again:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes
in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
Are You Ready? If not get ready, "Repent
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand"!
Click to Read:
Luke 13:3;
Ephesians 2:8-9;
Romans 10:8-13;
Acts2:38
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