So what is it about love? It seems everybody wants it right?? What is love? I have been thinking about love for years. It seems to me that this world ain’t got much of it. I think that some mistake love for lust. I understand how his can happen, especially in the world that we currently live in. There are so many types of love too. We see romantic love, the kind of love that we have for our children or best friend. We toss around the word love everywhere with little consideration for It or respect. Sometimes I really wonder if it has any meaning at all anymore. I started to really want to develop a better understanding for what love is or what it should be. In scripture there are different types of love mentioned. There seem to be four primary types of love mentioned in the new Testament.
Φιλἐω (Phileō)
- Definition: i. Phileō is a companionable love. ii. This love speaks of affection, fondness, or liking. iii. Kenneth Wuest says, “It is a love that is called out of one’s heart as a response to the pleasure one takes in a person or object.” 1 iv. Phileō is a love that responds to kindness, appreciation, or love. It involves giving as well as receiving; but when it is greatly strained, it can collapse in a crisis. v. Phileō is a higher love than eros because it is our happiness rather than my happiness. vi. This love is called out of one’s heart by qualities in another.
- Usage: i. It is used in a number of times in its noun and verb forms in the New Testament. ii. In John 21:15-17, it is contrasted with agape love.
- References: 6:5, 10:37, 23:6, 26:48; Mark 14:44; Luke 20:46, 22:47; John 5:20, 11:3, 36, 12:25, 15:19, 16:27, 20:2, 21:15, 21:16-17; 1 Cor. 16:22; Titus 3:15; Rev. 3:19, 22:15 (see also Titus 2:4 philandros and philoteknos)
- Ἀγάπη or Ἀγαπάω (Agapē or Agapaō)
- Definition: 1. Agapē is called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the object loved. It is a love of esteem, of evaluation. It has the idea of prizing. It is the noblest word for love in the Greek language.2 ii. Agapē is not kindled by the merit or worth of it’s object, but it originates in it’s own God-given nature. God is love. iii. It delights in giving. iv. This love keeps on loving even when the loved one is unresponsive, unkind, unlovable, and unworthy. It is unconditional love. v. Agapē desires only the good of the one loved. It is a consuming passion for the well-being of others.
- Usage: i. There are only a few known occurrences of this word love outside of the bible. In other words, this word was not used very often in extra-biblical writings. ii. It is used approximately three0hundred and twenty times in the New Testament.
- Selected References: John 3:16, 3:35, 13:34, 14:15, 15:9, 15:13; Romans 5:5, 13:8-10; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 3:17, 4:2, 4:15, 5:2, 5:25; Col. 3:14; 1 Thess. 3:12, 4:9-10; 1 Peter 4:8
- 3. Στοργή (Storgē)
- Definition: i. This love has its basis in one’s own nature. ii. Storgē is a natural affection or natural obligation iii. It is a natural movement of the soul for husband, wife, child or dog. iv. It is a quiet, abiding feeling within a man that rests on something close to him and that he feels good about.
- Usage: i. In the New Testament storgē appears in the noun or verb form with the preifx “a” and therefore negates the love and means without this type of love. It is translated in Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3 as “unloving” (without natural affection, KJV). ii. In Romans 12:10, storgē is compounded with philos and is translated “devoted” (kindly affectioned, KJV).
- References: Romans 1:31, 12:10; 2 Timothy 3:3
- Εροσ (Eros)
- Definition: i. This love is erotic love ii. Eros is a love of passion, an overmastering passion that seizes and absorbs itself into the mind. iii. It is a love that is an emotional involvement based on body chemistry. iv. The basic idea of this love is self-satisfaction. 1. Though Eros is directed towards another, it actually has self in mind. For example: “I love you because you make me happy.”2. The foundation of this type of love is some characteristic in the other person which pleases you. If the characteristic would cease to exist, the reason for the love would be gone, the result being, “I don’t love you anymore. 3. Eros looks for what it can receive. If it does give, it gives in order to receive. If it fails to get what it wants or expects, bitterness or resentment could develop.
- Philosophy: i. The philosophy of eros is that being loved depends on being attractive in some way to another person. ii. Because of this dependency, eros would be considered a conditional type of love.
- Usage: i. Eros is not used in the New Testament. ii. Eros is not used in the Septuagint. (The Septuagint, abbreviated LXX, is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.)
Of all the types of love listed, it seems that Agape is the type of love that I want to give focus too. I really want to focus on the type of love that Father has for us and the type of love that we are supposed to have for others. The kind of love that saves lives and the kind of love that always wins. I want to learn more about what it means to love myself and to love my neighbors. I also want to address what kind of love it is that we are commanded to have for even our enemies. Yeah, I know right. We are supposed to love our enemies. It is even kinda mentioned that most evil people seem to be able to be somewhat loving to the people they want to care about. What is so special about people who love people that they want to love and care about?
When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, we must take loving people to a whole new level. This form of love also requires expressing this love even to those that persecute us or possibly hate us. This kind of love requires us to show love without expecting anything in return. This love keeps no records of wrong. Now I must ask myself, what does this type of love look like in today’s world?
I have noticed when I try to act within this form of love in today’s world; I am met with mistrust. These people seem to wonder if I have an agenda or an ulterior motive. Demonstrating this kind of unconditional love to others is foreign and seemingly uncomfortable for them. My thoughts then wandered, and I began asking Father how to love within this modern world. It seems apparent to me that when we are a child of the most high we are held to a higher standard. It only makes sense as we are told that God is love. We are supposed to become like God and be transformed.
Romans 12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
12 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, [a]acceptable to God, which isyour [b]spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this [c]world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may [d]prove what the will of God is, that which is good and [e]acceptable and perfect.
3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, [f]according to the proportion of his faith;7 if [g]service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with [h]liberality; he who [i]leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+12&version=NASB>
And then there is this. It is really important to never forget the value of this. So many times, it is hard to accept these passages of scripture to their fullest extent. To the end of the line. What if we really took this seriously. What if we made this our life goal. How would living in the next series of verses change the experiences we have in life. Just food for thought. Have you ever really thought to take these verses to the bank?
1 Corinthians 13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Excellence of Love
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag andis not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 [b]bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of [c]prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [d]became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror [e]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the [f]greatest of these is love.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I+Corinthians+13&version=NASB>
While in prayer with a dear friend, she had a vision of what it was like for Jesus/Yahshua to walk down the Via Delarosa or the way of suffering. This was that walk for which he had to bear the cross and walk to his death. I was told that Father wanted me to learn a little bit as to what that kind of love looks like. Father wanted me to learn how to love people even if they wanted me dead just like they wanted Jesus dead. Father wanted me to learn to love people even after they rejected me or betrayed me or even hurt me beyond what would seem reparable. Well it did concern me some when my learning curve was shown in relation to that via Delarosa. Then I was told that I had to walk that way and I had to follow this path before me to the very end. I had many questions buzzing around in my head at this point and I was trying not to be afraid. I often don’t like to go through situations that hurt my heart. I also have had to come to terms with the difference between protecting myself and showing the love that Father so described. How do you protect that other cheek if you are supposed to turn it to the offender? These are questions that I still grapple with and I have come to the conclusion that I have not figured out a long-term solution to this question, rather I have decided that in situations that arise like these that I will defer to the Holy spirit for the wisdom as to what to do. It does seem that all situations are quite different, and I really do need the wisdom from my helper to make good decisions.
So now I have been shown that I have a difficult path that I am on and that it will end basically in death. Well it isn’t my physical death, I believe it represents the death of my flesh. We are supposed to be putting our flesh to death each day and rising up and living in the spirit. I do believe that I will be learning more and more what it means to die to myself daily and to live For Christ. We do tend to learn a whole lot when we are suffering a whole lot. When we are only able to survive as a result of totally surrendering to God it seems that being overconfident in ourselves is a little less tempting.
I wanted to look to what Jesus did for us on the cross cause it sure seems that there is no greater demonstration of love than this that Jesus did for us. We are also told that God is love. It seems that it is pertinent to love as we are told that if we say I love God but hateth our brother that we are a liar and that the Father is not in us. This is quite sobering, especially if this love we are talking of is the unconditional love that I Corinthians 13 speaks of. I was beginning to become concerned for the lack of understanding that seems to be going around about what love is, especially cause the God we serve is love. We are to become like minded like God and to be transformed and have a renewed mind. This are all very powerful and I believe living like that would really change the world right before our eyes. I have found that it is very difficult to change our mindset when it comes to what real love is all about. We have been told over and over that we are the single most important being out here.
I had been thinking out selfishness and how it really brings about the opposite of what it is seeking. This is what came to my mind. A selfish person is always looking out for themselves and only themselves. So theoretically then they only have one person cheering for themselves. Let’s say that we have someone who is not self-centered, and they are practicing and showing love for lots of others. Let us say that there are fifty people this person regularly shows love to. Well even if that person is not looking out for themselves all of the other 50 loving people are looking out for this non-self-centered person. So, the one who is not looking out for themselves could say they have 50 people looking out for them and the self-centered one has only one. Look how darkness has perverted even the lookout for only me concept.
Well, we know that Father is all about love and caring for others. This is not just our beloved family members or friends. We are to love even our enemies. We are to behave in such a way that there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit lives within us. If God is in us, then love is in us. We need to start letting the love of God out of us. We need to let the light shine from within us to the world around us. How else will darkness be overcome. It is how Jesus was able to save all of humanity. We simply need to let the light shine and let the love flow.
What does that look like? How important are we compared to everyone else? Are we more important to the kingdom, is there a hierarchy to the value of people? Who gets put first? What does it mean to love ourselves? We are supposed to love ourselves, but we are not to love the world or all that comes with it. Sometimes when we say love ourselves we may think that we are to love the darkness of sin that is in our flesh.
What is self? Are we to love our body? Are we to love our Soul? Are we to love our spirit? Of which orientation is the evil dark heart? Is it in the Body, soul or spirit? What part are we to die to? I do have an inkling of what all of that means. I have been making some observations. Here they are.
We are triune in nature as we are created in the image of God. So, we have a body which is the flesh, we have a soul in which our house resides and we have our spirit which seems to be deeper within the soul, or at least can be accessed through the soul realm. So, we have a body, within that is the realm of the soul and within that is the realm of the spirit. There are other things that seem to be within as well. I see that the “evil” heart can be found within the soul. The Ego seems to be in between the soul and the spirit realms. This ego if it is over developed with evil can potentially block out the light that comes from the realm of the spirit, for it is in this realm that the Holy Spirit also resides. So, the ego has the potential to blacken out the light shining from within. Sometimes even a person can get stuck in his or her ego room and forget he or she even has the realm of the soul and also forgets about the realm of the spirit. When this happens, this individual is stuck in his or her own little world of self-centeredness. This is where I believe narcissism is birthed. A person is capable of creating everything they want here, and it truly is all about self and keeping self-happy here. It seems that the area of motivation seems to be in the soul realm, along with our DNA sources. The realms within as are vast and not really spoken of in this world we live in. It is so much more real to me when one contemplates that which lies within versus that which lies without. I do believe that anything that manifests in the flesh has to come from within. This even includes illness. When I say everything that is exactly what I mean. Did you ever contemplate what it means when scriptures talk about things like a house within or even a fountain of joy? Check out these scriptures.
Pharisees’ Blasphemy
14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, [m]to test Him, were demanding of Him a [n]sign from heaven. 17 But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “[o]Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against [p]itself falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When [q]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are [r]undisturbed.22 But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
24 “When the unclean spirit goes out of [s]a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
27 While [t]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+11&version=NASB>
Well it seems maybe this house thing has a more literal interpretation to it if we were to apply it to the soul realm.
This is an interesting read from many generations ago.
So here is the bottom line. If you have called out to Father and have become a child of the king. Then We are so much more than we realize. We have so much more potential, we have so much more power. We are loved so much more than we can comprehend. We have so much more of a capacity to love and we are way more complex. We exist in way more realms than we tend to acknowledge. What if we just can’t see the realms where angels and fallen angels exist, what if we can’t perceive the demonic spirits etc. What if this only is a problem because of our fallen sin state. What if we actually exist in 12 dimensions within which each contain realms of existence.
I believe if we really understood the real truth, if we all began to wake up a little bit more we could comprehend more of our reality and then we would then realize the value of love and loving. That we might take these words a bit more seriously and we may respect Father more by walking in love and in obedience.
What is the reason we are here anyways?? I do believe that love is the answer and that Love always wins.
So now that we know we are valued by Father and that we are commanded to be like Father; What is the next step? What does it actually mean to walk in love? What is love again?
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag andis not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 [b]bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails;
We can see that without love all that we do and say is of no profit. I do intend to expand on each of these qualities listed above in a series of articles. Please consider asking Father to help you look within yourself. I found that I needed to be brave in order to look at my inner self honestly. I didn’t find that it was all evil, somethings made me smile, others made me cry. Facing ourselves with truth is the first step. How can we grow and let the light and love out to be shared with others if we don’t know where to find it? How can we heal and grow if we don’t even acknowledge the sin and darkness within us? We must face it and ask Father for help with its elimination. Once these things are gone from inside of us, it makes more room for the good qualities to grow and expand within us.
So here is the challenge. Look within yourself with the help of the Holy Spirit; dare to ask what needs to go and what needs to grow. Then once Father shows you, act on it!! A word of warning. Please don’t beat yourself up over the things that are shown to you that you don’t like. These things have taken from you long enough. So, in light of that just be done with them. Step through the door of change and growth. Celebrate the new cleaner and brighter you!
God is love and He will show you love not condemnation. He is gentle and will be gentle as you grow and change. I am so thankful for Father’s love and encouragement. Hang in there and don’t forget to love yourself and others.
Amazing definitions of love.
Great researched and detailed
Agape Love is demonstrated in this article.