From: Steven R. Lo Vullo (doulos@chorus.net)
Date: Sun Jan 07 2001 - 15:22:57 EST
On 1/7/01 11:06 AM, Theodore H Mann wrote:
> I haven't followed this thread too closely, so I hope this hasn't
> already been discussed.
> In the circles with which my wife and I associate, we are very often
> told that AGAPAW always refers to a much higher form of love than FILEW;
> that AGAPAW is reserved for the kind of love God has for His son and for
> His children, and is the kind of love one Christian should have for
> another. (Therefore Peter's responses to Jesus in Jn. 21 indicate a
> lower from of love.) I wonder if anyone else encounters similar
> definitions.
> Don't the following references pretty much refute that notion?
>
> 1. Lk.6:32 "And if you love (AGAPE) those who love you, what credit is
> that to you? For even sinners love (AGAPE) those who love (AGAPE)
> them."
> 2. Lk. 11:43 "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love (AGAPE) the front
> seats in the synagogues… "
> 3. Lk. 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate
> the one, and love (AGAPE) the other… "
> 4. Jn. 5:20 "For the Father loves (FILEO) the Son… "
> 5. Jn. 16:27 ".. for the Father Himself loves (FILEO) you, because you
> have loved (FILEO) me.. "
> 6. Jn. 20:2 "And so she [Mary] ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the
> other disciple whom Jesus loved (FILEO).. "
> 7. 1 Cor. 16:22 "If any one does not love (FILEO) the Lord, let him be
> accursed."
> 8. 2 Tim. 4:10 ".. for Demas, having loved (AGAPE) this present world… "
> 9. Tit. 3:4 "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love
> (FILEO) for mankind appeared… "
> 10. Tit. 3:15 "Greet those who love (FILEO) us in the faith… "
> 11. Rev. 3:19 "Those whom I love (FILEO), I reprove and discipline.. "
Yes, it would seem that texts such as these would be enough to put to rest
the idea that AGAPAW ALWAYS means "self-sacrificing love that has the
highest good of its object in view," while PHILEW ALWAYS expresses a love
inferior to or at least of a different nature than AGAPAW. But these texts
will not settle the issue. I used some of them in our last go-round and
found that there is a never-ending supply of long, drawn-out explanations of
why these texts only SUPPORT the view they are calling into question.
Steve Lo Vullo,
Madison, WI
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