“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for “God is love” (1 John 4:7-8 NASB)
There are probably fewer words in the modern English language that have been more distorted, misused, abused and overused than the word “love.” As a consequence the word love has lost its original meaning. Love as taught in the Bible is not simply a sentiment, platitude, or indefinable emotion. Most of the people who say they love may just be tolerating and some people may probably have hidden motives. As numerous scholars have researched and discussed, the Greeks have identified, there are different forms and styles of expressing love. To describe these styles, the Ancient Greeks came up with five terms (Mania, Eros, storge, agape and philia) to symbolize the five types of love, which are an attempt to describe the different motives for love.
First is Mania – Manic love is almost not a love at all. The word “lust” is probably not strong enough – “obsession” is closer to the word. This is the love of possession.
Second is Eros – Eros is obviously the root word for “erotic,” but it does not describe sexual love only, it actually describes all emotional love; the feeling of love. Eros Love – stands for passionate, sensual, longing, sexual, romantic love.
Third is Philos – Philos love, generally refers to affection between friends. From this word we have Philadelphia, the “Brotherly Love.”. Philos describes the love between two people who have common interests and experiences, or a fondness.
Fourth is Storgy – storgy is the love one has for a dependent. It is commonly called “motherly love.” It is a kind of family and friendship love. This is the love that parents naturally feel for their children; the love that member of the family have for each other; or the love that friends feel for each other.
Finally “Agape love”, in its purest form, requires no payment or favor in response. Agape is the highest of the five types of love in the Bible. Jesus Christ showed this kind of divine love to his Father and to all humanity. The most common word for God’s love for us is Agape (I John, John 3:16) and the love we are commanded to have for one another (Matt. 5:44, I Cor. 13). This is an unconditional love that sees beyond the outer surface and accepts the recipient for whom he/she is, regardless of their flaws, shortcomings or faults. This kind of love is all about sacrifice as well as giving and expecting nothing in return. The translation of the word agape is love in the verb – form: it is the love demonstrated by your behavior towards another person. It is a committed and chosen love. Agape love seeks only the highest good of others. The meaning of this word for love stands in sharp contrast to that of the other four words. This word alone points to a completely self-sacrificing love, a love that lacks self-interest, self-gratification and self-preservation. Agape love is motivated primarily by the interest and welfare of other. Let us look at this Agape love in details.
God Himself always existed in the fullness of a family-like reality; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. (Trinity is one God existing in three Persons.”) The Father has never been without the Son, the Son never without the Father, neither ever without the Spirit, the Spirit never without either. The amazing mystery of the origin of the human personality is the Trinitarian essence or substance or reality of God. And God so designed that He would develop man not only to be able to relate to his fellow man but to be able to relate to Himself. In fact, as you probably are aware, the human heart cries for Agape love more than anything else. It's the theme of more songs, more plays, more books, more films, more...more literature in general, more poems than any other thing. We long to love and be loved. We long to find that Agape love. And that understanding draws us all the way from Genesis to letter of 1 John, which presents for us a study of God’s love.
Bible exposes the Greatest Act of Love in (Romans 5:6-11) God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is His nature to do so, and He must be true to His nature and character. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the Cross, where Christ died for the unworthy creatures who were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), not because we did anything to deserve it, “but God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The object of agape love never does anything to merit His love. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He lavishes that love. His love was demonstrated when He sent His Son into the world to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and to provide eternal life to those He sought and saved. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for those He loves. There is nothing in this world that men prize so much us they do Love. Show me a person who has no one to care for or love him, and I will show you one of the most miserable beings on the face of the earth. Why do people commit suicide? Very often it is because this thought steals in upon them—that no one loves them; and they would rather die than live.
Let’s just kind of pick up the themes that are in 1 John 4:8. God is love. It is not to say that God loves. That is true, but it’s more than God loves, it’s God is love. It's so vital to understand this. God and love are interchangeable in one sense, and yet in another sense they're not. In the Greek, God has the article, love does not. THE God is love. That is the definite emphasis on God is love. It does not mean love is God; you can't go back and forth. Love does not define God, God defines love. It also does not say God is grace nor God is mercy although we know God is all-gracious and all-merciful but it says God is love. God did not create an emotional feeling or expression at the time when He created man in His own image. He Himself is the personification of love. Within the Godhead there is love. Love finds its origin in God. He gives out love. When He demonstrated righteous indignation in His humanity, it was because of His love for man who is sinful in thoughts, words and deeds. There was not a time that God started loving and would stop loving. There is love within the triune God. Where God was, there was love. Where God is, there is love. Where God will be, there will be full of love. So when we join Him in His eternal glory, the heartbeat of our eternal home, which is heaven, is love— For God is love.
Now man is the image and glory of God." Man has the capacity to think astutely and abstractly because that's necessary in relationships, to appreciate beauty, to feel emotion, to be morally conscious, to reason, to acquire wisdom. All of that so as to have the ability to personally connect personally relate to other people and especially to relate to God, to be able to love others and to love God. The core then of the image of God can be summed up with the words "personal relationship." Man is made with a capacity to love, to love others and to love God. And within the frame of that love there is fellowship, care, sharing of thoughts and attitudes and experiences that makes love the richest of all human experiences. The image of God then is the capacity for personal relationships which come down to giving and receiving love. Love must become our lifestyle, the habit of our life. But it starts with a decision.
In 1 John 1:5 we read that “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all”. And also that God is life. That is reiterated again in the third chapter, God is light and God is life. And 4th chapter we find out God is also love. If we then know God, if the life of God is in us and the light of God is in us, then the love of God is in us. If we walk in the light, if we possess the life, we have received the love. And it's very clear, "Let us love one another, for love is from God." Clement of Alexandria said, one of the early church fathers, simple statement, very profound, "The Christian practices being God." We are to bear the reflection of God. We are to adorn the teaching of God. We are God's children manifesting His nature. We manifest His light, His life, His love. We literally reflect God. When you realize how much God loves you — with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love — then his love will change your entire focus on life.
However most people never know or learn how to love. If you only love on and off like a light switch, you do not love others like God wants you to love. Jesus said “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!” (Luke 6:32 NLT) His point is this: Anybody can love those who love them, or those who look like, speak like, behave like, or dress like them. But becoming a divine lover means you learn to love the unlovable. It’s when you love people who don’t love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you. I’m talking about loving the unlovely, loving the difficult, loving the irritable, loving people who are different or demanding. Then you are reflecting divine love, but you can’t do that until you have God’s love coming through you. You need to know God’s love so it can overflow out of your life into others. This may seem like an impossible task, and it is. That’s why we need God’s love in us, so we can then love others: “We know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16). The only way you get skilled at something is to practice. You do it over and over. The first time you do it, it feels
uncomfortable, but the more you do it, the better you become. The same is true with love (1 John 4:7). Let’s practice loving each other. As the Bible says, “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15 HCSB). Your life is worth far more than you think, and by learning to love others with the love God gives you, you will have an influence far greater than you could ever imagine. If you will commit to this, you will experience love as God means it to be — filled with Agape Love.
