From: gmeadors@cornerstone.edu
Date: Mon Jun 24 1996 - 14:39:50 EDT
James,
How do you determine what a biblical writer was "more prone" to use/do?
Is it merely a statistical observation. The fact that the AGAP- word
group is more common in NT times could be for many other reasons than
the writer was selecting this term in contradistinction to another.
Should not judgments be made on the quality of references rather than
number.
When I glance through the brief PHIL- group I see a good number of verses
that one can easily see "self-sacrificial love"...even Peter's response
in Jn 21 could be conceived to imply such! The Father's love for the
Son (Jn 5:20) is certainly self-sacrificial (Jn 3:16; Phil 2 etc.).
Jesus' love for Lazarus is cheapened by merely viewing it as filial.
1 Cor 16:22 assumes a self-sacrificing love...etc.
I rather think that if all of the PHIL- references were carefully
analyzed without the baggage we have inherited in this discussion, that
there would be an impressive statistic of self-sacrifice in the
references we have.
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