Definition of God's Love
The Apostle John says, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). The text does not say "God loves", as if love was simply one of the many actions of God, and it does not say "God is loving", as if love was simply one of His many attributes. Rather the phrase, "God is love", explains that love pervades and influences all of God's attributes (John MacArthur, The Love of God (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996), 29).
Agapē, the Greek word used in 1 John 4:8 for love, refers not to a fleeting feeling or emotional attraction, but to a sacrificial commitment to the ultimate good of another person. "God's love means that God eternally gives of Himself to others" (Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 198).
An agapē love "loves the object irrespective of the worth of the object and even though the love may not be reciprocated" (Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), 192). Phileo describes brotherly love. Eros describes everything from romantic love to sexual passion. "Phileo is sometimes used as a synonym for agapē, but generally the word agapē is used as a more refined and elevated term. In the sense that John uses it here, agapē is unique to God. He is the sole source of it" (John MacArthur, The Love of God, 31).
God's love may be defined as "that perfection of the divine nature by which God is eternally moved to communicate Himself. It is not a mere emotional impulse, but a rational and voluntary affection, having its ground in truth and holiness and its exercise in free choice" (Henry C. Thiessen, Lectures in Systematic Theology, revised by Vernon D. Doerksen (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1979), 86).
God's love is a wonderful expression of His character – one that He alone has manifest perfectly. But who does God love? I have five answers to that question – the first comes in my next blog post, tomorrow.
"Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2).
Hi Nigel
ReplyDeleteI happened to have a discussion just yesterday with someone in my congregation on the defintion of agape love. I emailed her a portion from D.A.Carson's Exegetical Fallacies (see below) - I wonder what your response is?
Paul
Carson (p. 30): (slightly edited by me)
Although it is doubtless true that the entire range of agape (to love) and the entire range of phileo (to love) are not exactly the same, nevertheless they enjoy substantial overlap; and where they overlap, appeal to a "root meaning" in order to discern a difference is fallacious.
In 2 Samuel 13 (LXX), … agape (to love) … can refer to Amnon's incestuous rape of his half-sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:15, LXX).
When we read that Demas forsook Paul because he loved this present, evil world, there is no linguistic reason to be surprised that the verb is agape (2 Tim. 4:10).
John 3:35 records that the Father loves the Son and uses the verb agape; John 5:20 repeats the thought, but uses phileo –without any discernible shift in meaning.
The false assumptions surrounding this pair of words are ubiquitous ... My only point here is that there is nothing intrinsic to the verb or the noun agape to prove its real meaning or hidden meaning refers to some special kind of love.
(see also pp 51-54)
Hi Paul. Yeah, I agree with you and Carson. The terms are often interchangeable and so context always rules. Some patterns of usage can be seen that indicate general definitions, but these trends are also broken at times. I don't think a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures can be used to prove this, but the point is still a good one, and so therefore context is always the key. Thanks for your input.
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