| John,
'the disciple whom Jesus loved' declared 'God is Love' -
in both in 1 John 4 v 8 and 1 John 4 v 16.
It is well known to most
Christians that the Greek word used was 'agape'.
What is not so well known
to most Christians is just what 'agape' means.
Christians are generally
taught that 'agape' was a new word coined by the early
Christians, as they did not want to use any of the
existing Greek words for love because of their
associations. This is not true.
Whilst Christian 'agape' is
certainly a kind of love distinct from any other love in
human experience, the noun 'agape' existed prior to its
use in the NT texts, and the word and its meaning would
have been well known to the New Testament authors.
There are different words
for love in the Greek. 'Phileo' - brotherly love, 'Eros' -
erotic love, and 'agape' - the love of God. This standard
line is pretty much summed up in the Oxford Dictionary
of the Christian Church and the references to both
'Love' and 'agape'.
Love-
In Christian Theology,
the principle of God's action and man's response. Of the
words used in Greek for 'love', neither philia (dutiful
or filial affection) nor eros (passionate emotion) is
adequate to the Christian conception, which the NT
expressed as 'agape', a word hardly used before except
in the LXX……
Oxford Dictionary of the
Christian Church
'agape'-
The word which probably
first occurs in the Septuagint, is believed to have been
coined by the sacred authors from the verb agapao to
avoid the sensual associations of the ordinary Greek
noun eros.. It is used only twice in the synoptics (Matt
24 v 12 and Luke 11 v 42), but often in St John and
Pauline (esp. 1 Cor 13) and Johannine epistles, and
always of the love of God or Christ, or of the Love of
Christians for one another…..
Oxford Dictionary of the
Christian Church
However, in my view, this
falls short of giving the full picture.
'agape' and
the LXX
The LXX or Septuagint, was
the Hellenistic Jews Greek translation of the Hebrew Old
Testament. This was the Greek Old Testament around in the
time of Jesus and the early Church.
And the LXX certainly does
appear to be where the noun 'agape' first appears.
The verb agapao certainly was used
in classical Greek literature, and is defined in Liddell
& Scott Intermediate Lexicon: -agapaô- [I] of
persons, to treat with affection, to caress, love, be fond
of.
But other than a few very
obscure occasions - one alluding to the Egyptian goddess
Isis, (agapê theôn, title of Isis, POxy.1380.109) and
another an erotic pet-name of a naked woman on a 5th
century BC earthenware pot, the noun 'agape' was unknown.
So then, if we go back to
the Septuagint, and have a look at the passages, we should
be able to get some context for this word.
And when we do, we find
that more often than not, the noun 'agape' refers to
sexual love:
(See here
for 'agape' quotes from the LXX)
In Hastings. J
Dictionary of the Bible under the reference for Love
in the LXX we read:
All these varieties of
love, human and divine, may in the LXX be expressed by
the verb agapao and noun 'agape'. In the story of Samson
and Delilah agapao describes sexual relationship (Judges
16 v 4, 15) not to mention Solomon's legalised lust (3 K
11 v 2), besides expressing love in its higher
reaches…. In the Greek Bible in the form that it must
have been known to the NT writers, agapao does duty for
every shade and variety of love, for divine pity and
preference for Israel right down to erotic passion. It
is true that agapao is not the only verb to express
erotic love in the LXX, for there are also pro-aireomai
and enthumeomai (Heb hshk ethelo hps); but it is very
commonly used to render Hebrew hb when the context makes
plain that this very type of love or passion is
intended. Nor has agapao the monopoly for rendering what
may be described as reasoning attachment; thus the more
usual verbs for divine pity are eleeo and oikterio. The
noun 'agape' is usually connected with sex, or at least
with the love of women; or it is a passion comparable in
intensity with hatred; it is not at all a higher love
than philia. Indeed in the LXX agapesis may be said to
be a higher type of love than AGAPE (c.f. especially
Hosea 11 v 4, Zephaniah 3 v 17, Jeremiah 38 (31) v 3)
Why the noun 'agape' for
Christian Love?
Why did God or at least the
New Testament writers, not do as the modern Christian
Church reconstruction has inferred, and truly invent a
word that had no sexual connotations, or in the very least
use 'phileo' which had a far more 'brotherly love'
connotation to it?
The simple reason is that
sexual love is a good metaphor for the interface between
humanity and God. God's primary metaphor for his
relationship with Israel was not so much as a loving
Father but as a sexual lover (though not of course in the
standard physical sense).
Both Old and New Covenant
relationships have predominantly been described in terms
of sexual and bride/bridegroom love.
Old Testament
Jeremiah 2 v 32, 3 v 20 ,
31 v 32, Ezekiel 13 v 32, 16 v 7-8, Hosea 2 v 2,
New Testament
John 3 v 29, 2 Cor 11 v 2,
Eph 5 v 23, Rev 21 v 2
Christianity was not
creating a new word for the God kind of love, it was
redeeming a word already in existence.
And it is this love that
the early Church Celebrated in Love Feasts and the Kiss
of Peace. |
