DailyCelestialChallenge Friday-LoveBeautyFreedom-Four kinds of love

jenniferbrito (58)in #steemchurch • 6 years ago

Hello my dear community today's theme in the challenge initiated by @sirknight with the theme: Four kinds of love.

There are four Greek words for love that it is important for Christians to understand. They are agape, fileo, storge, and eros.
The Greek word for sexual love or passionate love is eros, from which we get words such as "erotic." When eros was used as a proper name, it referred to the Greek god of love. The Greek word eros does not appear in the biblical text.

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The Greek word that refers to the love of God, one of the kinds of love we should have towards people, is agape. Agape is the very nature of God, because God is love (1 John 4: 7- 12, 16b). The great key to understanding agape is to realize that it can be recognized from the action it inspires. In fact, we sometimes talk about the "action model" of agape love. People today are used to thinking of love as a feeling, but that is not necessarily the case with agape love. Agape is love because of what he does, not because of how he feels.

God so "loved" (agape) that He gave His Son. God did not feel good when he did that, but it was what he had to do for love. Christ so loved (agape) that he gave his life. He did not want to die, but he loved, so he did what God required. A mother who loves her sick baby will stay up all night looking after him, which is not something she wants to do, but it is a true act of agape love.

The point is that agape love is not simply an impulse generated by sensations. Rather, agape love is an exercise of the will, a deliberate decision. This is why God can command us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44, Exodus 23: 1-5). He does not command us to "have good feelings" for our enemies, but to have a loving attitude toward them. Agape love is related to obedience and commitment, and not necessarily to feeling and emotion. To "love" someone is to obey God in favor of another person, seeking for him or her, the blessing and long-term benefit.

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The third word for "love" that we need to examine is fileo, which means "to have a special interest in someone or something, often focused on a close association; have affection for, like, consider someone a friend. "[2] It would probably be helpful if phileo were never translated" love "in the New Testament, because it refers to a strong liking or a strong friendship. Of course, we see how phileo translates it "love", because in modern culture we say that we "love" things that we like very much: "I love ice cream", "I love my car", "I love the way that your hair looks ", etc. The word phileo implies a strong emotional connection, and therefore it is used for "love" or deep friendship, among friends. You can agape your enemies, but you can not file them.

The difference between agape and phileo is very clear in John 21: 15ff, but unfortunately it is obscured in many translations. After being raised from the dead, Jesus met Peter. Here is the short version of what they said to each other.

Jesus: Simon ... do you love me (agape) more than these? [fishes?].
Peter: Yes, Lord; you know that I love you (fileo).
Jesus: Simon ... do you ... love (agape)?
Pedro: Yes, Lord, you know that I love you (fileo).
Jesus: Simon ... do you love me (fileo)?
Peter: [afflicted] Lord ... you know I love you (fileo).

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The fourth Greek word we need to understand is storge, which is the love and affection that occurs naturally between parents and children, that can exist between brothers, and that exists between husbands and wives in a good marriage. It occurs in Romans 12:10 in the word filostorgos, which is a word composed of phyla (the substantive form of fileo) and storge. Romans 12:10 is a very important verse, which guides us to be very loving and kind to one another.

Romans 12:10 (expanded translation of the author)
As for your fraternal love, may there be a deep friendship and family affection among you.

If we are to have a wonderful Christian life, obedient to the voice of God, and to have an enriching communion with other Christians, we will need to exercise all these three kinds of love. We need agape love because some of the things God requires of us are neither fun nor easy, but they need to be done. We need to have love because we need true friends to stay with us, people who are emotionally connected with us and with whom we can share our most intimate thoughts and feelings. Finally, Christians need to give love to each other, a deep family affection that comforts us and helps us feel connected to our entire spiritual family.

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