Love One Another
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Sep 21 12:31:11 EDT 1999
At 9:59 AM -0500 9/21/99, David A. Bielby wrote:
>I have a question regarding John 13:34 and numerous other passages with
>the same basic phrase "agapate allelous". Based on the definitions of
>agape we discussed several weeks ago, does this command include the
>following concepts?
>
> 1. Value others from a clear rational opinion that they have
>value/worth.
> 2. Focus your mind/heart on valuing others to the point that
>affectionate, warm
> feelings follow your opinion.
> 3. Agape includes rational thought, warm emotions & kind/loving
>actions.
>
>I heard a teaching that said you can love someone but you don't have to
>like them. It seems to me that this flies in the face of agape. It seems
>to me that the lexicons are saying that agape must not only decide
>someone has value, but that decision must affect their feelings and
>actions.
>
>Am I corrrect in your opinion?
For my part, I think you are perhaps asking more than can be exegeted (I
guess that's the more normal form than exegesed?) from the one text in John
13:34; I do think, however, that the ENTOLH, AGAPATE ALLHLOUS gains
immeasurable depth from its qualifier: KAQWS HGAPHSA hUMAS. Inclines one to
want to "count the ways" rather seek out a precise dictionary definition. I
think 1 Corinthians 13 is probably more useful for the sake of grasping
what the verb/noun means and doesn't mean, but it always seems much
simpler, or more simply-stated in John's gospel. On the other hand, I'm
sort of leery about the endeavor to relate the rational and emotional and
pragmatic aspects to each other in some sort of intelligible fashion; it
seems to me that Paul's characterization in 1 Cor 13 doesn't lay much store
by rational valuation. If one looks for a rational basis to feel or act out
AGAPH toward a person, I suspect one would draw a cipher, if one looks for
something other than Paul's insistence that one dare not treat with
contempt one whom God loves. Again, it seems to me that it all comes down
to something that is anything BUT intelligible:
1 John 4:19 hHMEIS AGAPWMEN, hOTI AUTOS PRWTOS HGAPHSEN hHMAS.
That isn't saying that one doesn't need to involve all one's resources,
rational and otherwise, in the pragmatics of acting it out, but I really
don't see how what it is can itself be defined in rational terms.
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
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