[B-Greek] AGAPAW, FILEW, etc. in the GNT
RRedden604 at aol.com
RRedden604 at aol.com
Fri Feb 17 14:21:45 EST 2006
The concordance shows that the "AGAPH" word group includes love for God,
Jesus, our brethren, our families, our neighbors, our enemies. But what is
often overlooked is that the same word group includes love for a nation, a
creditor, places of honor, darkness, life, money, a city, the world and the things
in it, worldly praise, fishing (?) and only those who return love. In the
Septuagint, we discover that the translators did not hesitate to use the AGAPH
word group to translate the Hebrew "AHAV" word group in all its uses
(including lust)! Very little changed from the way the translators of the LXX used
the word, and how we discover it was used by the N.T. writers.
If the word AGAPH is more inherently lofty and purer than any other word for
love, why did Paul have to define it so precisely in 1 Cor. 13? Obviously,
through Christian use it has accrued a meaning not inherent in the word
itself. We need to be careful reading back into the NT words meanings that
developed after centuries of use. Agape is now an English word that means
"unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) : the
fatherly concern of God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for others b : a
person's adoration of God." We all would agree that this is what Christian love
is all about as taught in the NT. But the word in the NT, in isolation,
does not teach this. We know love because He first loved us. We learn love in
the person of Christ, not in a word.
Rob Redden
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list