Philadelphia relative to Agape

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Mar 8 13:15:29 EST 1999


I started a response to the original inquiry a couple days ago but decided
I really needed to do further research on AGAPH after recalling the
problems associated with the effort to distinguish AGAPAW from FILEW in
actual usage in John 21 over the last two or three years in this forum.

I'd like now to focus on some particular points, first citing (from
AcCordance) the relatively brief entry in Louw-Nida on AGAPH:

23.28 AGAPH, HS, f.: a special type of communal meal having particular
significance for early Christians as an expression of their mutual
affection and concern - 'fellowship meal.'hOUTOI EISIN hOI EN TAIS AGAPAIS
hUMWN SPILADES SEUWCOUMENOI AFOBWS 'they are like dirty spots in your
fellowship meals, for they feast together shamelessly' Jd 12. The meaning
of AGAPH may be rendered in some languages as 'meals in which you show your
love for one another as you eat together' or 'your eating together as the
result of your love for one another.'

25.43 AGAPAW; AGAPH, HS f:  to have love for someone or something, based on
sincere appreciation and high regard - 'to love, to regard with affection,
loving concern, love.'AGAPAW: ENTOLHN KAINHN DIDWMI hUMIN, hINA AGAPATE
ALLHLOUS  'I give you a new commandment, that you love one another' Jn
13:34; GAR TON hENA MISHSEI KAI TON hETERON AGAPHSEI  'for he will hate the
one and love the other' Lk 16:13; hO PATHR AGAPAi TON hUION 'the Father
loves the Son' Jn 3:35; hOTI AUTOS PRWTOS HGAPHSEN hHMAS 'for he loved us
first' 1Jn 4:19.

I'd have to agree with Larry Oberton that "love-feast" really seems
far-fetched in this particular context, where it appears that the author
(and personally, I don't really think it is the original Peter, for which
reason the discussion on how lettered or ignorant the author is seems
irrelevant, in my own opinion) is exhorting his readers to deepen and
expand their spiritual resources. If anyone DOES want to defend that
interpretation, however, go to it!

I've been reading through Czeslas Spicq's article on AGAPH in his
_Theological Lexicon to the New Testament_. It's really first-rate in its
consideration of wide-ranging dimensions of etymology, usage in classical
and Hellenistic Greek texts, including the evidence to date from papyri.
Where he comes down ultimately in defining the word as used in the NT is
about where we might have expected: in the sense of esteem for a person. I
cite the most immediately relevant paragraphs:

	"So what does agape mean in the NT? It is the most rational kind of
love, inasmuch as it involves recognition and judgment of value, whence its
frequent nuance of "preference." The verb AGAPAW most often means "value,
set great store by, hold in high esteem"; it is a love with deep respect
(1Pet 2:17), which often goes along with admiration and can become
adoration. This esteem and goodwill tend to be expressed inappropriate
words and deeds. Unlike other loves, which can remain hidden in the heart,
it is essential to charity to manifest itself, to demonstrate itself, to
provide proofs, to put itself on display;24 so much so that in the NT it
would almost always be necessary to translate agape as "demonstration of
love." This affection-unlike ERWS,  which in the literature brings endless
suffering and disaster26-is accompanied by contentment, since the ordinary
meaning of AGAPAW is to be happy, satisfied.27 But in Christian usage,
since it is a divine love, coming from heaven (Rom 5:5), it will be joyful
and already a foretaste of blessedness.28
	Finally, and perhaps above all, while friendship is properly used
only of a relationship between equals, agape links persons of different
conditions: with rulers, benefactors, and fathers; it is a disinterested
and generous love, full of thoughtfulness and concern. It is in this sense
that God is agape and loves the world.29 With those who are indebted, for
inferiors, for subjects, this agape, which is first of all consent,
welcome, acceptance,30 is expressed in gratitude:31 it is the love inspired
in turn by generous love-which is the meaning in 1John 4:10-and it is
translated into acclaim, applause, tokens of respect, congratulations,
praises,32 and even veneration,33 so that Christian agape is expressed in
liturgy and worship: "To the one who loves us . . . to him be the glory and
the power for ever and ever", Rev 1:5-6).

At 4:45 PM -0600 3/7/99, David A Bielby I wrote:
>Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not proposing love feasts is the
>meaning here at all.  I'm actually interested to see if anyone would
>defend the proposition. I should have made that clear.  However, I'm not
>sure the concept is excluded, so that's why I asked the question.  I
>thought it was intriguing and not impossible since the house Churches may
>have been having agape every week.
>. . . . .
>Doesn't EPICORHGEW flow directly from the theatrical/drama culture of the
>Greeks?  Useage of this term in the context Peter uses it, coupled with
>his mention of Paul's writings in this letter seems to indicate that
>Peter was working on understanding the cultured crowd and had grown to
>appreciate them to a degree.  I'm not certain about any of this, but my
>research so far has led me to this conclusion.

I think that EPICORHGEW, by the time it is used by the writer of 2 Peter,
has long-since lost its linkage to the CORHGOS or "producer" of a play in
Athens who provided the funding and resources for a poet authorized by the
city to put on a play at the Dionysiac festival; I think it has become an
all-purpose phrase for "provide, furnish, equip." Accordingly, when we read
in 2 Peter 1:7 [EPICORHGHSATE ...] EN DE THi EUSEBEIAi THN FILADELFIAN, EN
DE THi FILADELFIAi THN AGAPHN, I rather think that each secondary term is
intended as an expansion of that which precedes it in the previous phrase.
If that's the case, then FILADELFIA in this instance is affection of
members of the congregation for each other, one key element in this being
the kindred feeling of equals for each other in their association that
Spicq wants to emphasize as an aspect of FILEW and FILIA when used with
some precision. The intensification brought to bear upon FILANQRWPIA
through AGAPH will then go beyond 'kindred feeling' and be the loving
esteem of each individual for that individual's own sake, presumably the
love that God in Christ has bestowed and demonstrated upon each creature
through creation and the eager desire to redeem.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad at yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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