Agape

From Conservapedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Americanway (Talk | contribs) at 00:58, June 20, 2015. It may differ significantly from current revision.

Jump to: navigation, search

Agape is an romanization of the Greek word 'ἀγαπη'. One of at least three words translated into English as "love" (the other two are "philos" and "eros"). Agape is usually understood as a spiritual or compassionate form of love in contrast to the thought of philos which is a brotherly sort of love and eros which is erotic or sexual love.

In the Koine Greek texts of the New Testament, the word agape is used in many places to refer to the love of God, the love of Christ and the living love of the Holy Spirit that unites all men in brotherhood. Most references to it are in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 [1], where it is referred to as a form of compassion which is unconditional and voluntary; that is, it does not discriminate, is not conditioned by any outside forces, and is something that one decides to do, without thought of personal reward. It is mentioned by Paul again in 1 John 4:8 [2], where it is stated that 'God is love' (ἀγαπη).

Agape, however, is not exclusively divine love. Jesus describe the two most important commandments as 'love (ἀγαπη) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind' and 'love (ἀγαπη) your neighbor as yourself', in Matthew 22:37-41[3]

Agape is what one could call Christian or brotherly love, and by its very nature it is selfless and giving, in contrast to eros, which could be defined as selfish, lustful, greedy, and even Machiavellian. One must consider that the selfless agape love is the love that people of the Christian faith are to have for one another, as Christ would have had for them.

See also

References

  1. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013:1-13&version=68
  2. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%204:8&version=68
  3. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2022:37-41&version=72;\