The Love Above All Loves

THE LOVE ABOVE ALL LOVES

Uses of the Word Love in the world today

1. Eros (Romantic Love) - This is the love shared between a man and woman who are attracted to each other and is quite often connected with sexual behavior.

2. Phileo (Brotherly Love) - This is the love shared between two friends who are almost as close if not closer than brothers.

3. Storge (Parental Love) - This is the love that parents have for their children and is often so deep that it is in no way connected with the behavior of the child.

4. Agape (Unconditional Love) - This is the love that God has for mankind and is distinct from all other loves in that it is in not connected with the behavior of the person being loved. It is love from a loving God.

The Bible may not specifically mention all of the above loves, but evidence of these loves can be found in the Bible, and there’s much we can learn from them, so let’s take a look at a few examples of these loves.

1. EROS - This is the love shared between a man and woman who are attracted to each other, and quite often is connected with sexual behavior.

We need to firstly establish that this love by itself is not evil but is rather a God-given love that was meant to be expressed between a husband and wife. However, this love, if not fully understood and expressed as God intended for it to be, it can result in expressions of lust that are often confused or explained away as love.

This love does not have much of an emphasis on the person being loved, as it has on the person expressing this love. Left to itself, it can be a rather selfish love.

BOTH EROS AND AGAPE IN THE BIBLE

When Eros is governed by God then it makes for a happy marriage, where expressions of love are within moral bounds and holy in God’s sight. Such is a marriage where God is at the center of each of the spouses’ lives, and so they enjoy their sexual relationships as it was intended by God to be enjoyed. But when Eros is not governed by God, then the result is sexual immorality before marriage and even outside the confines of marriage, both of which the Lord does not approve of, as is goes against His holy nature and His plans for marriage in the first place.

All those who married and had children together experienced this love and expressed this love for one another in ways that God had intended for them to express – in the bounds of marriage.

When we express erotic love within the confines of marriage, we are in the will of God, and there’s nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. In fact, it is God who gave us the appearances we possess that attracts us to one another, and the emotions that we feel for one another. But it’s only when we deviate from God’s plan for the expression of this love within the confines of marriage that we end up rebelling against God Himself and we begin to experience, guilt, fear and shame.

Abraham and Sarah

Abraham and Sarah are a good example of a couple for whom the Lord was God in their lives, and they experienced an amazing marriage as a result. We also see times when they side-lined God in their lives and how they had to face the consequences of their actions.

Joseph and Mary

In our day, when pre-marital sex is not only permissible and not frowned upon, but even celebrated, it’s wonderful to see how Mary remained a virgin though she was engaged to Joseph and he did not have sexual relations with her until after he was married to her, and she gave birth to Jesus.

EROS SANS AGAPE IN THE BIBLE

David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)

David deviated from the confines of his marriage, and violated another man’s marriage, when he lay with Bathsheba. Then, in an attempt to cover up his sin, he tried to make believe that the child Bathsheba had conceived was by her husband Uriah, and when his repeated attempts failed, he then plotted the murder of Uriah, the rightful husband of Bathsheba, thereby bringing upon himself, fear, guilt and shame (Read Ps.51). Though David repented of his sin, he had to bear the wrath of God, who took the life of his child born by adultery to Bathsheba.

Amnon and Tamar (2 Samuel 13)

This is yet another story of a wrong expression of erotic love between a man and a woman. Surprisingly, this too had to do with David’s family. It was his son Amnon who fell in love with his half-sister Tamar, but she was not aware of his feelings towards her, and he tricked her into getting forcefully raped by him. Once he had his pleasure satisfied, he hated her more than how much he loved her earlier. What he had was not love, but rather lust.