What is love?

 

The English word ‘love’ covers an extraordinarily wide range of emotions and feelings. The New Testament was written in Greek. It can achieve a much greater subtlety than English, so the word ‘love’ is written using a very large number of different words. Some of them appear below.

 Agapé (pronounced agg-a-pay)
This word was extremely rare before the Christian era. It means a love that is unconditional, universal, and selfless. In the Bible, this is the love that Jesus commands in Matthew 22:37–39, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength …’ And it is agapé love that populates St Paul’s ‘hymn to love’ in 1 Corinthians 13 and Jesus’ new commandment ’love one another as I have loved you’ in John 13:34. Giving and living agapé love is therefore the goal and pinnacle of Christian life.

Pornea (pronounced por-nay-ah)
This word means sexual love that is inappropriate, which is why today it inspires the term ‘pornography’. The word always has negative connotations in the Bible, and is generally translated as ’lust’ or ’fornication’. It also implies ‘improper’, so the incest in 1 Corinthians 5:1 is an example of pornea.

Eros (pronounced air-ros)
This word means the love of passion or romance. The word does not appear in the Old Testament because they are written in Hebrew, but this kind of love sponsors the Song of Songs, where it describes a healthy, passionate, physical expression of love between a husband and wife. The connotation of the word became so culturally degraded by the first century that it was never once used in the New Testament. Today, this word most obviously inspires the term ‘erotic’.

Philia (pronounced fill-ee-ah)
This is the most usual form of love in the Bible and implies care, respect, and compassion for people in need. All kinds of affection within a family is described by ‘philia’. For example, ‘Love one another with brotherly affection’ (Romans 12:10).
This word occurs often in English, particularly at the end of words, so a book lover is a bibliophile; and the name of the American state Philadelphia come from two Greek roots, and means ‘brotherly love’.

Storge pronounced stor-jay)
This word is a stronger form of philia and in the Bible always implies the love between members of a family. For example, Matthew 3:17 uses storge when it describes God speaking during Jesus’ baptism, ‘This is my beloved son’. Another example occurs in Luke 7:1–10 when a centurion asks Jesus to heal a favourite servant.