"Back to the Greek" Section
The following are extracts from the "Back to the Greek" section of Things New and Old.
Love
In the previous Back to the Greek articles individual words have been looked at that only occur once or twice in the Greek New Testament. In this article I want to look at another aspect in which the knowledge of the Greek word can be helpful. This is when there are two or more Greek words which are translated into the same English word and knowing this can help us better understand the passage of Scripture.
To Love – phileo (φιλέω) and agapao (ἀγαπάω)
The example I want to give is the verb to love and the passage of
Scripture is John chapter 11 which deals with the sickness of
Lazarus, his death and then how he was brought back to life by Jesus
four days after he had died. The verb is used three times in
that chapter; the first is when the two sisters, Martha and Mary,
send word to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is
sick” (John 11:3). The Greek word used for love in that instance is
from phileo.
In verse 5 the apostle John makes the following observation: “Now
Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” Here he uses
a different Greek word for love based on agapao. Some Bible
translations will have a note to indicate that the word in the
original language is different in these two verses and may also give
you some indication of the difference in meaning. In the Darby
translation you will find it is noted and the reader is referred to
John 21:15 where a fuller explanation is given for the meaning of
each of these Greek verbs
.
Phileo signifies the love of friendship and implies tender affection
and has been translated as “have affection for” or “am attached to”
and involves the emotions. Agapao from its use in the New
Testament (NT) is understood to speak of a higher love that comes
from a settled disposition such as the love of God towards man as
expressed in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son…” It is an unselfish love and does not
require any attractive features or worthiness in the person who is
being loved but comes from the very nature of God Himself.
In the passage we are considering, the sisters are in a very
distressed state because their brother is sick and they appeal to
the love of affection which they knew the Lord had for
Lazarus. But John when writing this account inserts the
statement we have in verse 5 and changes the verb showing to us that
he understood there was more to the love of Jesus than simple
affection for Lazarus. In fact, John groups all three of them
together naming Martha first, mentioning her sister and then naming
Lazarus; all three are loved in a way which at the time they
probably never understood. It was divine love which had loved
them from before the foundation of the world, and which was going to
reveal something of the glory of God in what was about to
happen. Naturally speaking a wait of 2 days would not seem
consistent with love in action and so John tells us of the character
of the Lord’s love for them before he tells us that the Lord then
waited 2 days before making His move.
I find this very comforting because we all face trials and often
these are health related. It is a great comfort to the
Christian to know that Jesus loves us in a way which has no bearing
on whether we are worthy of that love or not. Things may not
seem to be going well for us but Jesus loves us just the same.
Jesus plainly tells His disciples that Lazarus had died; He knew
what He was going to do. The next reference to love is in
verse 36 and it follows the shortest verse in the English Bible that
simply states that “Jesus wept.” The Jews seeing this said, “Behold
how he loved him.” Here the word is from phileo and this shows
that the Jews observed the emotional side and the strength of
affection the Lord had for Lazarus. [In passing, I just note
that the Greek word for wept is only used this one time in the NT
and is not the same word used for Mary and the Jews weeping in verse
33. The word used of Jesus means the actual shedding of tears
and implies silent crying. The word used for Mary and the Jews
is the more common word describing a loud expression of grief. When
Jesus saw them weeping like this he was “deeply moved in spirit and
troubled”.]
What follows is well known to us and results in Lazarus being raised
from among the dead and restored to his sisters. How those
three must have grown in their appreciation and understanding of the
love of the Lord Jesus! Indeed, Mary in the very next chapter
expresses her deep affection for the Lord and anointed His feet with
a very costly ointment, filling the house with its odour. It
is suggestive of the benefit that all get when we express our
appreciation of the Lord Jesus. In chapter 13 John begins with
the phrase: “Jesus…having loved his own who were in the world, loved
them to the end.” This is another case where agapao is used
and is a beautiful example of the power of the Lord’s love which is
set towards His own and never fails.
There are times when we may feel we have let the Lord down as Peter
did after he had denied Him but that does not affect the Lord’s love
for us. The trials and struggles we pass through are to bring
us closer to the Lord and develop a love in us which is of the same
“agape” character. Peter, so soon after his denial of the
Lord, could not bring himself to use agapao in his answer to the
Lord’s probing questions but rather affirmed his attachment to Jesus
and his love for Him as the Object of his affection above all else
(see John 21:15-17 and note which Greek words are used by the Lord
and Peter). By the time Peter writes his epistles he has
no hesitation in using agapao both for our love for the Lord (1
Peter 1:8) and for our love to one another (1 Peter 1:22).
If you look at all the references in the Scriptures to how we are to
love one another you find that agapao is used all the time.
Some Christians speak of this as agape love. It is a salutary
reminder to us that the character of our love for all believers is
not to reflect our natural feelings towards them nor is it to be
reserved for only those with whom we may have some affinity.
The Lord Jesus also has a warning for us in these last days and in
Matthew 24:12 He says, “the love (agape) of the most shall grow
cold”. May we be ever watchful that we do not fall into
this snare of allowing our expression of God’s love to diminish in
the last days.
Phil Coldrick
Taken from Things New and Old, Issue No. 3