If you’ve ever taken a class in the biblical language of Greek, you probably emerged from the experience asking the question, “If God is a loving God, why did He send His Son when the dominant language was Greek?” At least that’s what I asked. New Testament Greek is the language of exceptions to the rule. Upon further review, however, one glaring reason does stand out. It’s found in the word “love.” It makes total sense that the God who is love would send His Son into a culture that used several words for love. So, bring on the Aorist Optative Middle Voice with accent on the penultimate.
The Koine Greek language contains four prominent words for love: agape, phileo, eros, storge. The most frequently used in the New Testament are agape and phileo. Storge makes one appearance in a compound verb, and eros is not used at all in the New Testament.
Love
The most familiar Greek word for love, agape, is also the most-taught concept of love: it’s a love that’s sacrificial and unconditional. It’s the most frequently used word for love in the New Testament, including the most famous love verse of all time, John 3:16. It’s the word most often associated with the command to “love one another.” Agape love is sacrificial love: laying down your preferences and interests for the good of others.
Like
It’s possible to love someone but not necessarily want to spend time with him or her. It’s a bonus when we not only love someone, but we also like them and enjoy being with them. Thankfully, God loves us and likes us! In John 15, Jesus makes this distinction by telling His disciples that He has called them (and us) “friend,” a noun form of the verb for love, phileo. In 1 Peter 1, Peter instructs his readers to love each other sacrificially as well as brotherly.
Lust
It’s a commentary in itself that the New Testament does not use the word denoting erotic love, eros, not even when speaking of lust or sexual immorality. You sense the message being sent is that sexual immorality and erotic love have nothing to do with true, authentic love. In fact, we’re to have nothing to do with lustful things, being told to “flee” from and “put to death” things of this nature. Eros love is a self-seeking love, the complete opposite of the love that defines God and His followers.
Love vs. Like vs. Lust
When we put all this together, we gain a sense of the kinds of relationships God wants us to have in our lives: relationships built on sacrificial love and genuine caring. There is no room for selfish lust. A worthy calling would be to look at every relationship in your life (family, friends, acquaintances) as an opportunity to practice sacrificial love. To get started, here are tw simple questions to ask:
- What can you change to make sacrificial love your default setting?
- What can you do to “put to death” lustful things?