We use the word love pretty broadly in English. For example, I can safely say I love ice cream. However, I can also safely say I love my family, but my love for ice cream can’t compare to the love I have for my family. I definitely love them both, but I love them in different ways.
The different forms of love
In English, we only have one word to describe love, but in Greek, which is the language the New Testament was written in, they have four different words. They all have distinct meanings, which aids in avoiding confusion. The Greeks would use the word eros when referring to the love shared between intimate partners. They used Philia when talking about the love one had for a friend. Storge referred to the love one had for his family. And last, but certainly not least, was agape, which is a selfless form of love the Bible commands us to have for everyone. The first three loves (eros, philia, and storge) are important, but they are secondary to agape love, which is the type of love we will be looking at today.
Agape Love
Agape love is the most sacrificial out of the four different types of love. It is a love that we must actively choose to perform. It’s not something that naturally occurs. Agape love puts the interests of others above the interests of ourselves. It willingly abandons personal comfort for the sake of those around us. It sacrifices itself without expecting anything back in return. This love is uncommon. In fact, the only man to ever perfectly execute this form of love was Jesus. However, we are commanded in the Bible to love one another with agape love, even though we will do so imperfectly.
Agape love demonstrated
1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. He is the source of all love and clearly demonstrates agape love to us by the sacrifice of His son. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Now Jesus dying for us at all is pretty amazing, but to make it even more so, He died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8.) On top of that, He died knowing that many of us would choose not to accept Him. This reveals the nature of agape love perfectly.
Agape love reciprocated
God showed agape love to us and then commanded us to reciprocate it. (John 13:34.) As we have already discussed though, agape love is unnatural for humans. We are sinful. We are incredibly selfish. We have zero desire to do something that in no way benefits us. This brings about an important point: agape love is supernatural, which means when showing agape love, we are solely dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit. C.S. Lewis puts it like this: “The extent to which a man can love is determined by the extent to which the man has been transformed by the Holy Spirit.”
Live it out!
So how do we practically live out the commandment to show agape love to one another? Well, we could start by:
- Loving our enemies or those especially difficult people.
- Giving generous gifts anonymously.
- Forgiving without exception.
- Fighting for the truth even when it’s unpopular.
- Being patient with everyone.
And I can speak from personal experience when I say that once you start actively seeking ways to show agape love to others, you will find them.
It only seems appropriate to conclude this article with one of the most popular chapters in the Bible about agape love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” May our lives start to reflect this type of love more and more as we are convicted and transformed by the Holy Spirit.