This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
An interesting thing - there are two different Greek words for love used in these verses. In John 15: 9-13a, the word is agapon, meaning selfless love, the seeking only of the good of the one loved. But in 15; 13b-15, the word is philein, meaning friendship. It’s mutual. Both the lover and the beloved get something out of it. Later, in John 21: 15-19, the two different words for love are used again when Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. I read that John's gospel uses these two different words as if they had the same meaning, but I wonder if that's true ... usually they are very different ...
While there are situations where agape and philo seem to be used interchangeably, most notably in John’s writings, in general, agape has become the love of God shown to His creation. In more than one sense of the word, agape becomes grace in action. The point of this is that agape is a verb or noun of action. Men must choose to exercise agape, the same as God has chosen. It is not an emotional or passive position, but one of deciding to love.
To read more, here's a website on translation issues, where you can find the article "Sloppy Agape"
9 comments:
Neat article -- I have heard people make a big point about the agape/phileo rendering in that passage before so it was an interesting corrective.
I had also never heard of the ISV translation before. I'll have to look at that a little closer!
Thanx.
Regardless of the Greek I perceive love as an activity. If you love someone, you will do something. You won't just enjoy a pleasant feeling. You don't consider the question of mutuality; love is its own reward--namely you become godly.
1st John:
4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
God loved us, giving us the power to love him and to love our brother, which means everyone.
That is the progression of the Christian faith as I understand it. It's always an activity, never conditioned on anything but God's love.
And when you do that, you're in heaven.
Crystal,
Thank you for bringing forward these different words for love - agape and phillo.It helps to expand our notions of love, it even helps us to understand how to love more fully. Agape, the love shown to creation is so encompassing, so full, selfless, so expressive of God's love of all. Though we are inclined to love, as in phillo, our friends, our family, and those closest to us, do you feel we have the capacity to love more fully, such as the kind of love agape describes?
Hi Meredith :-).
I think that a person can love with a selfless love. Maybe if a person is so filled up with love (from God?), it will overflow on to others. At best, I've only had the barest inkling of what this might feel like ... mostly I'm too scared or angry or selfish to love.
Crystal,
You, with exquisite honesty, say you are "mostly I'm too scared or angry or selfish to love." Do you have an idea about the nature of your fear - what is is that would keep you from love?
Past hurts can leave people feeling reluctant- memories of feeling betrayed or abandoned are difficult to let go of. But it is not impossible to let go of it. What keeps you hanging onto anger? What is the risk? What is the benefit?
What would it be like to love without fear, anger, or selfishness?
Certainly you need not answer these questions in this venue, I am only throwing you a few ideas to ponder.
With warm arms to hug you, Crystal.
Meredith - all good questions but hard to answer. Is the ability to love built in or must we be taught it as children or is it a gift (a grace)? I think I missed the boat as a kid and I'm still not sure I know how to love, but I think I come close with my cats, weird as that might sound. On the whole, I think I'm just a step away from sociopathology most of the time :-)
Crystal,
I have always loved those questions that ask seemingly paradoxical questions, such as "is it this or that," and the answer is the same for both. And to your questions, I think the answer is yes, yes, and yes again. We are born with a capacity to love, love is demonstrated for us by our parents and we learn to be recriprocal, and we are graced with divine love - the most precious gift.
Expanding this capacity within us is an opportunity for such delight, richness, and meaning in our lives. It is an opportunity to do exactly as Jesus 'commanded' us to do, however I believe when this is offered genuinely, it is has nothing to do with obedience, but simply the result of feeling this divine love and wanting to share it abundantly in return.
You say, "I'm still not sure I know how to love, but I think I come close with my cats." I can just imagine you with your precious cats, loving them with all your instincts, expecting nothing in return (except that they use the litter box!). So you start where you are. And I believe that you also begin by noticing the way you care for yourself, lovingly, like you matter. Here with yourself, and your pets, you have a fine example of how to love. Trust this.
Thanks for your blog on agape and phileo. I've heard the classic differnetiations for years and also the denials of differnces. I think you may have actually stated it well - that in general, agape is used as a higher term, but not always - and especially by John. I'm a youth pastor and will be preaching this Sunday and including John 21:15 - so this issue is big. The emphasis from it is greater if the "love" words are different in meaning, but I don't think that is true in that passage. Still, a great passage. FYI - I'll be preaching on moving from Commitment to Surrender. Scary topic for me.
Hi Tim. Thanks for your comment. Good luck with the preaching, and I hope you continue to drop by here :-)
Post a Comment