A friend loveth at all times,...
Proverbs 17:17a
But I say unto you, Love your enemies....
Matthew 5:44a
This s My commandment, That ye
love one another, as I have love you.
John 15:12
Love, a word, a command, and is spoken of greatly in Scripture. The world states that it loves! People of the world are always speaking about love. Christians speak about love, whether they be Authentic Christians or cultural Christians, love is spoken as a litmus test, or a crucial test, or factor as a basis for true Christianity. Love is a hallmark of true Christianity as this is a command of God found in Scripture. Love can and should be used as a litmus test to determine if a person is a Christian, and especially to determine Authentic Christianity. A problem immediately rises to the forefront: What is love and how is love to be understood and can love be good or bad, in other words what is the world's view of love, and is this view different from Scriptural love? This present a problem as to the definition and use of "love." It is often said: "I am just going to love on that person!" Well, maybe, or maybe it "love" being misused. The problem lies in our English for the word love as the dictionary definition is : a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. We see this based on sexual attraction. Love in English also speaks to the idea of having a strong liking for someone, or something: i.e., I love my car. When a person say that they love in English there is, without some context, a way to know what this love is, and why they love whatever it is they say they love. First: how can a person love that which cannot love them back? You can have a strong liking for an inanimate object, but true love cannot exist, only a strong liking. In a way, the English for love due to our many uses of the word is very misleading. Cultural Christians often use love in a way that does not have the same meaning as love is described in Scripture. Cultural Christians use love as does the world and worldly culture.
Greek: Four words for love and the use of any of those words does not give way to misleading, they are exact and definite so that a hearer knows exactly what is meant when a Greek person uses one of those words. Two of Greek words are not used in Scripture for a form of love: 1. Eros, or sexual passion and eros was named after the Greek god of fertility. The Greeks did not always think of eros as something positive, as we do in today's culture. Yet there is that side of eros that is not positive even in our world's culture as the word erotic, or eroticism is used with perversion. In today's culture this eroticism or erotic love is not just between a man and a woman but is given some validity in homosexuality. 2. Storge: a love, affection between parents and children. Storge is a love between siblings, and this also means to put up with situations between parents and siblings, and siblings between siblings. Two Greek words for love in Scripture are: 1. Philia and this means affectionate regard, friendship, and ethical love, a loyalty to friends, community and requires virture, equality, and familiarity. We need to ask ourselves how much of philia do we have in our lives. 2. Agape: the most used word for love in Scripture and means charity, the love of God for man and of man for God. Agape is an unconditional love of God for His children. Agape is a selfless love and Agape was translated into Late as carias, which is the origin for our word: charity. A problem lies in today's culture as this form of love is on the decline and Authentic Christians especially need to revive agape love. As a note: the ancient Greeks had four words for love: Ludus, or playful love; pragma, or longstanding love; philautia, or love of self. It is time, especially for Authentic Christians to introduce into our lives, our worship of God these various Greek words for love in our everyday speaking, and thinking. Unless this is done, then, a great probability is that a person will misuse "love" and the Gospel will not be preached, taught, or spoken of in the right Scriptural context and use of the word "Love."
We say that we "love" God: do we? Do you, or I, have a passionate love for God, or is our love only a type of "cold love" that does not have true gratitude and if not then that love is a contradiction to the love that God has for us and the love we should have for Him. The mention of the name God, Jehovah, Yahweh, should make our hearts pound and our faces light up and we should want to be with Him. Is this not true of our love for our spouse, our children? Yes, or it should be, so why not have this same agape love for God?
Authentic Christian Faith responds with agape love, for God, for others as this was also true of our Savior Jesus Christ who due to His love died on the cross to bring salvation to the world. We cannot have a "lukewarm" faith, a faith based on this world's idea of "love" for if we do have a cultural basis for our love then our belief system has not effect on the way a person lives, or on the lives of others.
A change from the inside/out is a change in the way we love. This will not be easy as we who are fallen in our nature will have to do what we may not be doing: we must rely on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and study God's word, and not listen to this world with all the garbage it presents as truth and fall on the simple truth of the Bible: God loves you enough to come and die for you: will you not do the same for Him, will you not change, as slowly as it may be, to become in the image of Jesus Christ? My prayer is that this will be your will.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God
with all thine heart, and with all they soul,
and with all thy might. And these words,
which I command thee this day, shall be in
thine heart.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6
Love: proper love: this is our command
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment