In Part I of this 2-part series, we have looked at the major love words of the
OT (Hebrew language) and NT (Greek); we have looked at how the charitable, sacrificial,
selfless and even unconditional attributes were more imputed into the Greek
love word, “agape”, from gleaning from the Bible; and lastly we realized that
the (further revealing) of the God’s kinda of love, was NOT just that we might
know of God’s love as being agape, but it was to exhort us to also agape God,
and to agape our neighbors. We have NOT
dwell into the missing ingredient that need to added into agape; the main
purpose of this exposition; which I will do now, here.
PART II
In this part, we will deal with the missing element
that is necessary to be included into the Greek love word, agape, in order to
say it truly represents God’s kinda of love.
By far, agape is the most extensive love word used in
the NT. Below I will give a few more
text, showing its use (in additional to those already found in Part I); then I
will also mention a thing or two, for the other remaining two Greek love words
found directly in the NT. After all of
that, I go into the missing element.
A few more examples
of occurrences of agape in NT
Love of money – agape! Luke 16:13 - “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Jesus washing of disciples’ feet – Jesus’ love for his
disciples – John 13:1-5
1 It was just before
the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this
world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world,
he now showed them the full extent of his love.
2
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas
Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the
Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and
was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his
outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that,
he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them
with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus’ definition of love – “If you love me, you will obey
what I command (John 14:15). Whoever
has my commands and obeys them,
he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will
be loved by my Father,
and I too will love him
and show myself to him.” (John 14:21).
Jesus said
the Father and I will come to him and make our home with him – John 14:23 - Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teaching. My Father
will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him.
A little bit more
on phileo
Phileo as a love word is found in v17 of John 21:15-17. In variation as Philadelphia (G5360) {root
word being friend} – “brotherly love”, it is found in a number of verses (eg
Romans 12:10). In my own words, phileo
is firstly love (non-eros) between friends, but is extended in use to apply to
any fraternity, comradeship, brotherhood, or any association with common goals,
including the body of Christ (Storge which we will NOT elaborate, on the other
hand, is love word used on natural blood relation, like mother and child). As Christians, when we are friends of Christ,
we are friends with one another, and so, Philadelphia or brotherly love is
expected of us (almost without saying!).
John 21:15-17 -
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love {agape} me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he
said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my
lambs."16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love {agape} me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I
love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."17 The third time
he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love {phileo} me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the
third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all
things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
You will notice that the Lord used agape for the 1st
2 times He asked if Peter loved Him; but for the 3rd time, He
switched to using phileo! I will NOT
expound this text here; maybe in separate article, another time, as my
exposition on the switch, may vary from others.
A further mention
of thelo
Thelo can be seen used on Mark 12:38 (KJV) – “And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the
scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations
in the marketplaces,” Some other
translations (like NIV) left out the word, “love”.
Now, the missing
ingredient in the love word, agape
I bring us back to the short-form Lexicon of the 2
Hebrew love words we have seen in Part I of this series:
`ahab (H157) – either
love or like, and for love, it is broken down to:
human love for another, includes family, and sexual;
human appetite for objects such as food, drink, sleep,
wisdom;
human love for or to God;
act of being a friend: lover (participle), friend
(participle);
God's love toward man: to individual men,
to people Israel, to righteousness;
lovely (participle), loveable (participle);
friends, lovers (fig. of adulterers).
Dowd (H1730) – beloved,
love, uncle:
loved one, beloved, uncle, love (pl. abstract)
Some people include checed (H2617) as a love word in Hebrew, because some translations
have rendered it as love. It has the
main meaning as loving-kindness from one of a higher position – God, or from
man to man, and so, typically it is used as God’s “love” for men, but NOT the
other way round of men, for God. To me,
grace is perhaps the appropriate word to use.
I have indicated in Part I that it is NOT easy to match
up the 2 or 3 Hebrew love words with the Greek love words. Now that we know the most extensively used
words of love for OT and NT are these: `ahab and agape, respectively, it leaves
us to see if there is any significant meaning in the Hebrew love word of `ahab
that is missing in the Greek word, agape.
I submit to you the significant meaning missing from
the agape word is in the underlined portion of the Lexicon I have given above,
for `ahab:
That God’s love for men is love unto (or to)
righteousness; and men were to love God back, they have to love Him
righteously. The key word here is
righteousness. God cannot love you and I
anyhow; ultimately, He can only love us unto righteousness. In the same way, the only way to love the
holy and righteous God in an acceptable manner is to love with same kind of
love, righteous love.
From here, we can understand why the Lord gave us the
definition of loving Him or God, as He had given in John 14:15 & 21a. This is in essence what Jesus said in the
verses – He who love Me, obeys my commands; and the one who obeys my commands
is the one who loves Me. Righteousness
is in His commands, and so, by obeying His commands, we are embracing His
righteousness, and in so doing, is loving Him, righteously.
John 14:15 – If you love (agape
or agapaō) me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:21 - Whoever has my
commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves (agape) me. He who loves (agape)
me will be loved (agape) by my Father, and I
too will love (agape) him and show myself to
him."
In fact, in the remaining part of v21, Jesus added that
such person who agape the Lord, he will (continue to) be loved by the Father,
and the Lord, too will (continue to) love him, and show Himself (the Lord
Himself) to him, the person.
Why this righteousness
element is missing from agape?
Why is it (this righteousness element) missing, or
missed out in the Greek word, agape? The
ancient Greek language was of course from the Greek people, although in those
times of writing, it was the scholarship language of even the Jews, meaning the
authors themselves, not Greek, but they wrote in Greek.
I submit to you, this is the reason: The Greek
(people)’s ancient cultural and historical religious beliefs background had not
that idea (love unto righteousness) comprised in love words. In other words, it was one of the occasions of,
“it was NOT the word to use, but the best (Greek) word to use”, when the
non-Greek authors were writing in Greek.
Did I just say that the authors of Biblical texts were
wrong or made fatal mistakes? No, rather
it was, and as was and is often the cases, God just use what is there (even the
weak and the ordinary), and in this context, the scholarship language of that
time of the authors.
We have, in Part I, looked at how “unconditional” got
weaved into agape, although I would refrain from saying agape love is
unconditional love (although Jesus’ sacrifice was unconditional); more, to me,
it is a charitable, sacrificial and
selfless love. Now, if “unconditional” could be imputed into agape, I don’t see
why “unto righteousness” should NOT be imputed into agape.
Because there
was no teaching on it - agape love as having the connotation of “loving unto
righteousness”, despite such a connotation was in the {older} Hebrew word of
love (in OT), `ahab, no “loving unto righteousness” was imputed into/listed
with that Greek word, agape.
The overall
counsel of the Word, indeed points to the love of God for men, ultimately has
to be a love for men unto righteousness.
I repeat, ultimately, God cannot love you and I, in any other manner,
because He is holy and righteous.
Expound it please, this love unto righteousness
Because the lack of preachers expounding love from the
NT, as having it as primarily got to be unto righteousness, I find myself, in
writing or teaching, keep referencing the OT word, `ahab, as love unto
righteousness. It is vital that
believers be taught this fundamental truth that God’s love is firstly love unto
righteousness, and the only way we can love Him back acceptably is also to love
Him, righteously. The latter is
particularly needing to be stressed in view of the care-less attitude of
believers of today, in handling their relationship with God.
It is NOT plucked
from the air!
Just in case, people think I pluck this whole thing out
of the air, I will give you the “pillars of love” found in both the OT and NT,
and you can see for yourself if I am justified to build a case for the need to
impute “love unto righteousness” as embodied in the Hebrew love word,`ahab,
into the Greek love word, agape, before I end this series.
The love pillars:
OT: Deu 6:5 - Love (`ahab) the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength.
Lev 19:18 - " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against
one of your people, but love (`ahab) your
neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
NT: Mark 12:30 - Love
(agape/agapao) the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:31 -
The second is this: 'Love (agape/agapao) your
neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
God’s kinda of love is firstly love unto righteousness,
and then it is charitable, sacrificial, selfless, and to a good extent
unconditional. What do we call this
love? `ahab + agape? Or just agape, with love unto righteousness incorporated!
Anthony Chia,
high.expressions – Lord, I know I must always be conscious
that I am only an agent of yours, through whom you reveal of yourself, your
ways and your truths; it is NOT I am smart or anything like that. There is no copyright possible (for men) for
that concerning your Word; NOT only all copyrights belong to you, your desire
is that freely I receive, freely I give.
Amen.
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