LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING


SPECIFICS:

ARE THE BIBLE LOVE WORDS THE SAME?

HOW RELATIVE ARE THE "LOVE" WORDS TO A BAPTIZED BELIEVER?

baptized rises to walk a new life in Christ in love


"Bible love is a many-splendored thing" is a true statement. According to the online Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary "many-splendored" means "full of magnificent features or marvels." An example given is "spring is a many-splendored season."


THE AMERICAN WORD LOVE. The point has often been said that in English we freely label different kinds of feelings by the term “love.” So if one expresses “love” for a person or thing, one still wonders what relationship that person has in mind? For “love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest.”i As an author wrote, “This explains how a person can say 'I love tacos' in one sentence and 'I love my wife' in the next.” Also, the love of a mother for a child differs from the love of a husband for a wife. The English word makes no distinction.


PHILOSOPHY AND LOVE. Canadian psychologist John Alan Lee is more specific by distinguishing styles of love in English, and he labels them with both coined Greek and Latin words. Meanwhile Wikipedia identifies six words from the Greek language for “love”: philautia, xenia, eros, storge, phileo, and agape. C. S. Lewis, one of the modern religious philosophers and logicians, identifies four different kinds of love in his teaching and describes them with the last four Greek words: (1) eros – "love, mostly of sexual passion"; (2) storge – “affection, a descriptor of relationships within the family”; (3) phileo – "affectionate regard, friendship", usually "between equals", and (4) agape – "love: especially charity; the love of God for man and of man for a good God."


THE UNIQUE LOVE OF A CHRISTIAN. The NT was written in Koine Greek. The opposite of storge, a-storgeG794, “devoid of natural affection to kindred”, is used twice in the NT (2 Timothy 3:3; Romans 1:31). In addition, Romans 12:10 uses storge in a compound philo-storgos which means “to be devoted.” As far as I can determine only the last two words from Lewis's #3 and #4 then are used specifically by the Holy Spirit and they appear in contexts that indicate they both are used interchangeably according to a Dr. Herb Evans.ii In other words, the NT only uses these two words that's translated in the KJV by the English word “love.” This makes these two words distinctive to the NT. The exception is Mark 12:38 where the scribes thelōG2309 “preferred” a type of clothing, is translated “love.”


PHILEO versus AGAPE




INTERESTING CROSS-REFERENCES


“PHILEO” LOVE OR “AGAPE” LOVE VERSUS "BROTHERLY" LOVE?

“Honour all men. Love (AGAPAOG25) the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king” (1 Peter 2:17).

“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren (Philadelphia), be pitiful, be courteous” (1 Peter 3:8).

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love (AGAPAOG25) the brethren. He that loveth (AGAPAOG25)not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14).



DOES THE TEXT THAT IMPLY A DIFFERENCE?

WHY DID JESUS ASK “AGAPE or PHILEO Thou Me?”

In the same context, Jesus asked Peter three times about his feeling toward Him. "Jesus saith to Simon Peter. . . lovest (AGAPAO) thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (PHILEO) thee...He saith to him again the second time . . . lovest (AGAPAO) thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (PHILEO) thee. . . He saith unto him the THIRD time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (PHILEO) thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the THIRD time, Lovest (PHILEO) thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love (PHILEO) thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." — John 21:15-17.
THE DEBATE. This interchange between Jesus and Peter has been a passage for distinguishing between the meanings of both phileo and agape, BUT rather than doing that, doesn't it show that they are synonyms? Actually, Peter accepted the three questions as being the same. For it grieved him that Jesus asked him the “third time” (John 21:17). Peter had denied Jesus three times at the trials. Could this not be the application? At any rate the Christian is to phileo “love” and agape “love.”
THE WONDERFUL AGAPE LOVE.

“Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride; Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil; It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true; Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1965 Bible in Basic English).


A second version: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, ERV).


GOD GIVES AGAPE LOVE TO US.



“But God has made clear His love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave His life for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus has given us agape love. In the context of 1 Corinthians 13 this love is greater even than hope for apart from it everything is useless. It is beyond a “feeling good” about something. True love is expressed through our actions. Jesus loves us. He died for us. He ACTED FOR US.



LOVE SUFFERS LONG. “Love is never tired of waiting.” Love endures. Love is patient. It has been around 2000 years since Jesus said that He was coming back. Is Jesus slack in coming back? No. He's waiting because He doesn't want to lose anyone. It is agape love. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways” (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus loves us. He's waiting for as many as will to repent.



Jesus wants us to have this love in our life by “putting up with one another in agape love. “I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you, With all gentle and quiet behaviour, taking whatever comes, putting up with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1,2).

LOVE IS KIND. Love is kind. Its characteristics is tenderness and mercy. Merciful attitude to one who has harmed us, who we consider has done us wrong.

“But I say to you who give ear to me, Have love for those who are against you, do good to those who have hate for you, Give blessing to those who give you curses, say prayers for those who are cruel to you” (Luke 6:27,28).



LOVE IS NOT JEALOUS. Another word for envious. Love is not jealous or envious. Cain killed his brother because of jealousy. Joseph's brothers sold him into Egyptian slavery because of jealousy. The Jewish powers delivered Jesus to the Gentiles to be crucified because of jealousy. “Envy is a disease in the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). It is like a cancer. Jealousy is an enemy of itself.



LOVE IS NOT PROUD. “Love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride.” Love is modest, humble, honoring others. Humbly serving others even as Jesus washed the feet of His students.



LOVE IS NOT RUDE. “Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily.” Have you ever been quick tempered and rude? When you or anyone is rude, is the love of God seen in such actions?



LOVE DOES NOT DEMAND FOR SELF. Love does not demand its own way but takes an interest in others' interests. 1 Corinthians 10:24, “Try to do what is good for others, not just what is good for yourselves.” Philippians 2:4, “Don't be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.” What kind of world would it be if everyone was always thinking of others. Jesus ministry for us was devoted to others.



LOVE IS NOT MADE ANGRY EASILY. Love does not get irritated easily. We may say love is not over sensitive. “My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger” (James 1:19).



LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS. I've done a little bookkeeping for businesses. A balance sheet is a financial statement that reports a company's assets and liabilities and makes a financial statement that provides a snapshot of what a company owns and owes. There are two main entries then: one side is your advantages and the other is your losses and what is owed you. The aim is to balance out the pros and the cons, so to speak, with the total being in your favor. But in one's dealings with one's fellows there should not be any negative record for others. There's the illustration of the one who makes sticky post-its of deeds done against him. The sad truth is that we keep such memories in our hearts. Do you ever say “Someday I will get even”?



LOVE DOES NOT REJOICE WHEN BAD HAPPENS. Or, do we just rejoice “when they get theirs”?   Perhaps we are tempted to rejoice when something happens to others; e.g., when they sin: “ah ha!”; or when a tragedy occurs in their lives. “Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth.” Obadiah's prophecy against Edom is reciprocal. In Deuteronomy 23:7, God warned the Jews, "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother." Edom was against Israel during their escape from Egypt. The two sons of Isaac, Jacob [Israel] and Esau [Edom], rarely treated each other with love, but this was the standard to which God held the Israelites. The rule likewise applied to Edom according to Obadiah 12 when they “rejoiced in the destruction of the children of Judah.”  This behavior added to the reasons why God brought destruction upon them. And that's the same rule for the Christian today.



TRIES TO DO GOOD TO EVERYONE. “Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong. But always try to do what is good for each other and for all people”(1 Thessalonians 5:15). “Don't do wrong to anyone to pay them back for doing wrong to you. Or don't insult anyone to pay them back for insulting you. But ask God to bless them. Do this because you yourselves were chosen to receive a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9).


LOVE SEEKS THE BEST FOR OTHERS. James 5:19-20, “My brothers and sisters, if anyone wanders away from the truth and someone helps that person come back, remember this: Anyone who brings a sinner back from the wrong way will save that person from eternal death and cause many sins to be forgiven.” 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.”


Love is a command. It applies to both God and man. Matthew 22:37-40. All the OT law and prophets were based on them. But Jesus assures us that this is binding on the Christian as well. It's one of the “old” treasures in the house: ”Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (Matthew 13:52). “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law [of Christ]” (Romans 13:10; also Galatians 6:2).iii


APPLICATION. Have you ever wondered about the new life walk spoken of for the newly baptised believer? Surely, after baptism you've asked, “What now?” The Holy Spirit tells us our goal is to walk in newness of life. The lesson of love can paint that road for us. Walk in love; the specifics can be derived from 1 Corinthians 13. It has been demonstrated for us by its author, the Spirit of God. The walk is why we do things and how we do them.


Gaylon West THROW OUT THE LIFELINE

Edited by Janie Ward and Mary Lou West. Thanks.

i "Definition of Love in English". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018. "Definition of "Love" - English Dictionary". Cambridge English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

Recorded in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love#cite_note-2.

ii Evans. Herb. “Greek Nuggets or Fool's Gold? The Truth about the Agape-Phileo Myth.”

iii The basic outline from 1 Corinthians 13 is suggested from a sermon by brother Slade Moore of Winter Haven, Florida

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