'Loves' of the Bible

Lately I have been thinking about my purpose here on Earth. Our purpose as Christians. As I have been reading my Bible one thing comes up over and over and over again! It's love. I truly believe that loving others is one of our main purposes here. It is how we can reach out to others. Everyone wants to be loved. And they deserve to be.

Going to youth group in high school, I remember my pastor talking about the different types of love in the Bible. This always perplexed me because in English we only have one word for love and thats... you guessed it... love haha:] But in the original Greek there are four different words for love! So this week I dived in and researched a little bit as to what these words mean and where they are found in the Bible! :]
 

Eros: Sensual love or physical love between a husband and a wife (erotic love)

                   This type of love is portrayed in the Bible but doesn't appear. It is mainly portrayed in Song of                         Solomon when the husband and wife are very attracted and affectionate toward one another.



Storge: Family love, bonds among mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers

                This type of love is also portrayed in the Bible especially in the relationships between Noah and his wife, Jacob and his sons, also with Mary and Martha toward their brother Lazarus.



Philia or Phileo: Close friendship or brotherly love; spontaneous or natural affection

               Found in the New Testament.

Romans 12:10 

                        "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."



Agape: Selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love

                 This is the highest of the four loves. It is found in the new testament. Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus has for his followers and for God. Sacrificing himself for us and God. It is the mentality that, "I will give, Requiring nothing in return."

Romans 5:6-8

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  

 


This is the greatest of the loves... Jesus sacrificing himself to save us. Agape. It even sounds beautiful. It is.
In our culture the word love is used very lightly. Its thrown here and there without even as much as a thought to what we are saying. I wish we had these different words used in the Greek language but we don't so the next best alternative is to think about and put meaning behind love. I don't want to just say the word anymore  I want it to mean what it is supposed to mean in each situation. And guess what ladies:] I have a phileo love for you! I love you and am praying for you the rest of this week!:]