Author: Gary Witcher
Company: none

Love

	"Beloved, let us love one another," 1 John 4:7-8 urges," for love is from God; and every one who loves is born of God and knows God.   The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
	As many of you who have studied the Bible already know, there are a number of Greek words that are translated "love" in the New Testament.  One, often known to us in its noun form agapi, refers to an unselfish love.  This love puts the other one in a relationship first.  It is a truly altruistic love that says, "I love you regardless."
The second, frequently identified by its noun form  "phileo,” means "brotherly love."  This love says, "I love you because."
Of course, there are other Greek words for  "love."    "Eros,” for example, is erotic love.  It says, "I love you if...” This is often a selfish love that uses others for self-gratification, so it does not enter into our discussion today.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell in most translations which word is being used.  If you are interested in this type of study, please contact us and we will try to help you find the necessary study tools.
"Teacher," a man asks Jesus in Matthew 22:36,  "which is the great commandment in the Law?"
"You shall love the Lord your God," Jesus replies in the next verse, "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
"The second is like it," Jesus adds in verse 39, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The word used here is "agapi."  So Jesus is telling us that we must have this kind of love toward God and toward our neighbors.
"For let him who means to love life and see good days," 1 Peter 3:10 advises, "refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile."
So it is also good to have this kind of love for life.  Remember that this kind of love seeks the maximum that it can put into a relationship, not the most it can get out of a relationship.
Although Jesus instructs that we must have agapi love for God, there is no command to give phileo love to the Father.  Perhaps this is intended to instill a little respect for God.  He is our friend.  But we are not to pull Him down to our level and treat Him with the kind of familiarity that we would exhibit toward a playmate.
However, there is a warning for those who do no extend phileo love to Jesus.
"If anyone does not love the Lord," 1 Corinthians 16:22 informs us, "let him be accursed."
"He who loves his life loses it;" John 12:25 says, "and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal."
What's happening here?  We read in 1 Peter 3:10 that it is admirable to love life.  Now we learn that it is wrong to love life.   You guessed it: the word used here is not agapi but phileo.  We cannot serve God as long as we hold on to phileo love for life.  In other words, we cannot have a friendship with life.
"You adulteresses," James 4:4-5 explains,  "do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?   Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
"Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose:  'He jealously desires the spirit which He has made to dwell in us?"
Sometimes both kinds of love are possible in a relationship.
"The Father has loved the Son," according to John 3:35,  "and has given all things into His hand."  The word here is agapi.
"For the Father loves the Son," John 5:20 notes, "and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing..." The word here is phileo.
"He who has My commandments, and keeps them,” Jesus says in John 14:21, "he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by the Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."  This is agapi love.  So God has this kind of love toward Christians, just as Christians have it for Jesus and Jesus for Christians.
"For the Father Himself loves you,” Jesus states in John 16:27, "because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father."  This is phileo love.  Although we are not commanded to have this kind of feeling toward God, He does have it for us, as we do toward Jesus.
Most of you recognize John as the disciple whom Jesus loved.  But did you know that the word used in this title in John 13:23 is agapi, while the one used in John 20:2 is phileo?
The ultimate confrontation of these two words is found in John 21:15-17.  Jesus asks Peter whether he loves the Lord, using the word agapi.  Peter replies in the affirmative, but substitutes the word phileo. This happens a second time.  Then Jesus asks a third time, using the phileo.  This saddens Peter, since His lack of commitment has lowered the Lord's expectation for him.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the two kinds of love, let’s take a few minutes to examine various ways in which agapi love is manifested.
"O righteous Father," Jesus prays in John 17:25-26,  "although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them."
So agapi love has been manifested toward Jesus by God.
"For God so loved the world," John 3:16 observes, "that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."  Not only has God manifested agapi love toward Jesus, but He has also offered it to all of us THROUGH Jesus.
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us," we read in Romans 5:8, "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
While God manifests agapi love to all men through Jesus, Christians receive special attention.  We have already read in John 14:21 that the ones who obey Christ's commandments are the ones who love him.   In turn, they are loved by both the Father and Son and the Son discloses Himself to them.
Christians also manifest agapi love to each other.
"A new commandment I give to you," Jesus says in John 13:34,  "that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
And Christians pass along this agapi love to all of humanity.
"And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another," Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, "and for all men, just as we also do for you."
"Let all you do be done in love," is the simple instruction of 1 Corinthians 16:14.
2 Peter 1:5-7 contains a chain of attributes that Christians are to nourish.  At the top of the list is love.
Two of the great discourses on love in the New Testament are Romans 12:9-21 and 13:8, and 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  Take time to read both of these.  The latter begins by pointing out that all other efforts are meaningless if we lack love.  It goes on to point out that love is patient, is kind, is not jealous, does not brag and is not arrogant.   It does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, it is not provoked and it does not take into account a wrong suffered.  It does not rejoice in unrighteousness.   Instead, it rejoices in the truth.   It bears, believes, hopes and endures all things.  It never fails.
It is wonderful to discuss love.  However, the discussion of love is meaningless, empty and wasted if we neglect to take into consideration 1 John 5:3.
	"For this is the love of God," this passage informs us, "that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
	In fact, the purpose of John's first letter seems to be to make us understand the relationship between love and obedience.
	1 John 4:10 contains the beautiful message that love is not that we first loved God, but that He first loved us and gave His Son to die for us.  God has taken the first step.  But it is up to us to take advantage of this divine offer.
	All we have to do is know and obey the truth, and it will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."