Baby don't hurt me! But no, this is not an article about the nineties one hit wonder by Haddaway. Instead, I want to have a deeper look at the concept of love.
In our modern world, at least in the west, we think of love as romance. Or even just sex. To the ancient Greeks though, romance was just one form of love, Eros. Another form of love according to them was Philia. Think bromance, the love between friends. There was also Storge, which is the love bond between family members. Blood is thicker than water and all of that. But then there's also a fourth kind, Agape, which is divine unconditional love.
The New Testament is written in Koine Greek, the Greek of the common man of the first century Greco-Roman world. When it speaks of love, Agape is the word that is predominantly used. Eros and Storge are not even mentioned, Philia shows up a handful of times, but Agape shows up over one hundred times in the New Testament. Biblical love is not about how one feels about someone, but about what one does for someone. It's hands on, it's practical, it's action. Jesus said in John 15:13:
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
True love is not about getting something in return. True love extends to your fellow man, whoever they may be, regardless if they deserve it or not. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus said:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
How important is love? It's more important than anything else. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
True love is to spend your day off in a soup kitchen, handing out food to homeless people you never met before. True love is to buy a poor single mom Christmas presents to give to her kids, who would otherwise find their socks empty for yet another Christmas day. True love is to inconvenience yourself to make life better for someone else, without expecting anything in return. And it's the highest virtue in the entire universe.
