All About Love

I. The Language of Love

In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we read one of the most beautiful descriptions of love in Scripture. But did you know that the Greeks had many words for love? They understood that love takes different forms. Two of those words are central to the New Testament: philia, friendship love, and agape, a love so deep that it says, “you before me.”

     Which one do you think is used in this passage? If you guessed agape, you’d be right. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

        Putting others first doesn’t mean neglecting yourself. It means learning a kind of love that is not selective, not timed, and not limited by who someone is. This is the shape of agape—a love wide enough to make room for the other.

II. God Didn’t Draw the Lines

What’s that got to do with the price of eggs? Well, let’s see what the Bible has to say about it. In Matthew 22:34–40, we are told that all the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments:

     “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

      “…Love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Aha! See, I’m only required to love my neighbor. Like unto like, birds of a feather,” and all that jazz, is what some might spout. However, when we take a look at the Greek, it reads “…ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον…” where we not only see the word for love being agape—not the brotherly or friendship type of love, but the self-sacrificing, self-denying kind—but we also see the word plēsion, which is far too often translated or interpreted as “neighbor,” when it more accurately refers to one who is simply nearby.

     Not only is that semantically and etymologically sound, but we see this point expounded upon in Luke 10:25–37, where Jesus is asked how one may attain everlasting life. In this story, it is the lawyer who says we must love our neighbor as ourselves, and again we see the same Greek words appear. Yet the lawyer isn’t satisfied. So he asks Jesus to define more precisely who this “nearby one” is that he ought to love so dearly.

    Once again, we see how people seek to divide what was never meant to be divided (see our article on the Bible and inclusion). But Jesus sees what the man is trying to do, and so he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan—where the marginalized figure is the one who practices agape toward his plēsion.

III. How Love is Made

1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love—and the word for love is agape. First Corinthians reminds us that without agape, nothing matters, and time and again we see that agape has no prejudice. It is not just a five-letter word of proclamation; it is a word of action.

     At the end of John’s Gospel, in 21:15–17, Jesus asks Peter if he agapes him, and Peter responds that he philos him. This happens twice, and each time Jesus replies with an instruction: “Feed my lambs,” “Take care of my sheep.” The third time, however, Jesus changes the question. He asks Peter if he philos him. Peter is distraught and declares that Jesus knows he only philos him.

     Peter understands that he cannot claim to agape Jesus—he was not willing to die for him when it mattered most. Yet Jesus does not rebuke him. He simply repeats the instruction: “Feed my sheep.” Because, I believe, Jesus knew that agape does not come naturally. Instead, he gives Peter the path toward it. He shows him how to cultivate love through faithful action—and Peter does.

In closing, I would like to share one of my favorite passages, found in Isaiah 58:9–10:

"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday."