Betwixt Two Loves

Last night we were in Hampden for the inaugural Monday night Bible study for the area, which will be the precursor to starting a new church in this part of Baltimore. No one from the area showed up, but that's okay, almost expected at this stage of the game. Afterwards we did some soul-winning anyhow.

But Ben Tanguay shared something really interesting about the way Wuest defines these two Greek words, which then opened up the way I understood the context and meaning of this. First of all, there are two loves in classical Greek (well...really 4 kinds, but we won't go into those other two now), which are Agape, and Philia.

He said that Agape refers to a kind of love that imparts value and worth to the object being loved. My definition prior to this illumination was just that Agape was "God's Love" or a "Self-sacrificing love". This brings a different kind of depth when the words are used, as in the oft quoted John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Looking at the word Agape in this light leads us to see that God found so much worth, and value in the world (well, in us people), that He sent His son, that we would not perish.

Now, contrast this with the meaning for Philia, which we all know is the prefix of Philadelphia, the city (Delphi) of Brotherly love (Philia). And my understanding of it was not much different from this; Understanding Philia as a friendship, companionship kind of love. Ben went on to explain that Philia is a friendship "pleased to be acquainted" with you kind of love. Like it's a pleasure to be with you and to be around you (but not in an eros kind of way), it's pleasing to be in your company, etc.

God didn't take any pleasure in the world, he is very much not pleased with the world, but that doesn't mean he doesn't find it infinitely valuable, valuable enough to send His son. How interesting too, we think about soul-winning, and I think it might be safe to say that we might not fully take pleasure in the activity, but by gosh it's so valuable and worth every second.

This led me to finally understand John 21:15-17. The first two times Jesus asks Peter "Do you *agapao* love me?" (Do you have a reverential, worthy, valuable kind of love for me?) But Peter would reply with "Yes, I have a *phileo* love for you." (I definitely take pleasure in your presence, and love being with you and hanging out with you...but I'm not ready to commit to that kind of deep worthy kind of reverential love for you).

Wow, and how awesome that the third time, Jesus met Peter on his level and asked "Do you *phileo* love me?" I was thinking also about when Christ told Peter: "When thou art converted, strengthen the brethren." As you grow in grace and knowledge and truth, and your love is converted from a mere pleasurable accompaniment kind of love, to a worthy reverence, then strengthen the brethren.

And how true is it for each of us in our walk of faith, that we may (and many times do) not have the full comprehension of our love for Christ and for God, but that's okay. God will still use even if we just barely Phileo love Him, because our sanctification doesn't depend on our love for him, it depends on him and his love for us. He didn't love us because we loved him; he loved us even when we were unlovely.

God can use us no matter where we are in our faith, in our walk, and he will grow us into increasing knowledge of him!

That was my refreshing thought for last night and today.

God Bless!