[B-Greek] Follow up to Mitch's AGAPAW and FILEW
Bryant J. Williams III
bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Mon Aug 18 02:32:09 EDT 2003
Dear Brent,
I like the concept you give for the differences between essentially two similar
meaning words. I would like to add that what actually may be happening between
AGAPAW and FILEW is range of meaning the one covers versus the other. It appears
that FILEW has the idea of "regard with affection with care, concern,
hospitality, etc."It is the word that is most frequently used by itself and in
compound words, i.e., FILOSOPHIA, FILOXENIA, etc., in classical Greek. While
AGAPAW seems to be rather late in arriving on the scene in classical Greek (from
Homer onward). It does not have any specific uses different from FILEW. However,
the LXX uses AGAPAW to translate the Hebrew " 'aheb" (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5)and
adds the additional connotation of "divine or the love of God and the life based
upon it to the point of death for the best interest of the one loved." So, in
this sense, there is a distinction being carried out in the NT. FILEW covers a
range of meaning to fondness, care, concern, etc. not necessarily to the point
of death or the best interest for the other person, but AGAPAW adds the element
of death, sacrifice, best interest for the person and includes the idea of
keeping contractual obligations even when the other person violate the contract
(this concept is added by its use in the LXX and continues into the NT).
Thus, John 21 is not really making the distinction of this (FILEW)versus
that(AGAPAW), but this (AGAPAW) in addition to that (FILEW).
En Xpistw,
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brent Hudson" <brent at riveroflifembchurch.com>
To: "Dmitriy Reznik" <reznik1 at juno.com>; "Greek Email List"
<b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Follow up to Mitch's AGAPAW and FILEW
On 8/17/2003 at 9:24 PM Dmitriy Reznik wrote:
>By this I argue against a wide spread interpretation that states that
>Peter could not answer simply, Yes, I love (AGAPW) You, so he says, I
>(just) FILW You, thus in fact answering NO, not YES. Such an
>interpretation implies that AGAPH is a special kind of unselfish love
>that comes only from G-d. But because this is not how the word is used,
>people would not understand such an idea if John had it in mind.
Ah, I see. I guess I'm coming from a different angle. If there were a
difference between the terms in this context, I would tend to see AGAPAW as
being more conceptual (like one's love of peace or of one's neighbour) whereas
FILEW would be the more intimate and emotive term (e.g., a 'love' congruent with
the idea of a kiss (in the Mediterrean sense)). In other words, I wouldn't see
Peter's FILW SE as a diminished form of AGAPW SE, but rather an alternate
expression that added the connotation of personal warmth and friendship.
Nevertheless, since the words are used synonymously in various places any
argument to this end remains highly speculative and can never be proven
satisfactorily.
Regards,
Brent Hudson
---
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
For your security this Message has been checked for Viruses as a courtesy of
Com-Pair Services!
For your security this Message has been checked for Viruses as a courtesy of Com-Pair Services!
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list