It is God’s will for us to be reconciled with Him and with His son Jesus. God is the epitome of love and only through heartfelt pure unadulterated Godly love can we be a part of God’s family. Anything less than this will lead to sin which is the opposite of love and sin will lead mankind to death. God loves us and wants us to be a part of His family (Rom.8:15 and Gal.4:6). It is paramount for all Christians to understand love as we have been commanded to “love one another” (John 15:12-13, 17). It is this love that shows all mankind that we are the children of God, Christians living in a wholly ungodly society yet shining brightly as a beacon of love for the world to see.
What therefore is love? Love is “unselfish outgoing concern”. Love is kind it is never selfish or it is not true godly love (Read all of I Cor. 13). God is love (I John 4:16). In our English language we use the word love all the time but to understand the meaning of the word “love” we must understand the context in which it is used. To simply say, “I love you” in English can mean, you are my friend, or physical sexual love or true godly love. We must know the context it was said and even the tone it was said to get the true meaning in English. Not so in the Greek language the New Testament Bible was written in.
In John 3:16 we see God GAVE His only son. This is an example of Greek Agape love. Agape is God’s total love for mankind, a Godly kind of love. God gave His only Son with “unselfish outgoing concern”.
We see in John 21:15-17 Jesus asking Peter if he “loved” him. Twice Peter answers with “yes Lord” but using the Greek word Phileo (friendship love). Finally after the third time Jesus changes his word to Phileo and asks if he loves him, Peter answers Jesus with Phileo love again. Peter did not get past “friendship” love until Act 2 and the Holy Spirit entered him.
In Godly marriage we see the word Eros (erotic love). God tells us in Gen. 2:24 we are to be “one flesh” in marriage and for a man to “cheer up his wife” in Deut. 24:5. We see in the Bible God is no prude as the Bible is full of sexual encounters but God wants sex (eros) to be between a husband and a wife only. See Prov. 5:19, Song of Solomon, Ecc. 4:11; I Tim. 3:2. God’s first command to Adam and Eve was to go procreate (Gen. 1:28).
Can we even begin to imagine a world where all people live by these three Greek words of love, “Agape, Philea and eros”? Can we begin to imagine a world where love is defined as unselfish outgoing concern “Agape” love? Total love of man and God for each other. Can we begin to imagine a world where friendship love “Philea” is defined as unselfish outgoing concern for our friends? Can we begin to imagine a world where in marriage sexual love “eros” is defined as unselfish outgoing concern for one’s spouse?
Can we even begin to imagine a marriage where both husband and wife practice total complete unselfish outgoing concern Agape, Philea and Eros love? There would be no arguments only complete and total loving harmony. Can we begin to imagine a world where all people practiced total complete unselfish outgoing concern “Philea”, for all other humans? There would be no war, no killing, no adultery, no theft, no lying and no coveting. Can we imagine a world where everyone loved God fully with total unselfish out going concern, “Agape” Love?
Can we even begin to imagine the Kingdom of God on earth? God’s Kingdom is the fulfillment of His love for all of us. Jesus tells us in John 15:17, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
True Godly love is what makes the world go around!
