[B-Greek] Do You Love Me?

Oliver Keenan ojkeenan at gmail.com
Sun Apr 22 11:44:20 EDT 2007


There's a difference: there are four words frequently translated from
Greek into English as Love.

AGAPH and FILIA are the two used in the Koine Greek New Testament.
There's been a lot written about these two types of love, along with
EROS, and I have to say that Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical letter
Deus Caritas Est describes them rather well.

AGAPH has been defined in tradition - at least in a Christian context
- as being unconditional love.  It's worth noting that AGAPH is used
in Jesus' teaching of the "golden rule" (Mt 27:37-40), and that it is
sometimes translated as "charity". Some believe it to have been used
to describe "divine love", but this usage can't (for me) be exclusive
as it is used in a kind of negative sense in one of Timothy's letters.
I have no experience of broader classical literature: I read that it
is used in different contexts outside of the biblical texts.

FILIA is used to denote a more general kind of love, including one
between family and friends. Although generally used to describe the
love of friendship/family, it seems to have a conotation of
familiarity and fellowship - in many ways used when the two who share
love have something in common but is stronger than STORGH (not used in
the Bible, iirc) which is the love found in fondness through
familiarity.

EROS (which I don't think is used in the Bible) is said to be a
passionate form of love. Although I don't think it needs to be
exclusively sexual, it infers a kind of lust or longing.

I'm sure there are errors contained here, and I hope that the more
proficient on this list can expand upon this explanation.

- Show quoted text -

On 22/04/07, Ron Bonica <ron at bonica.org> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Please pardon a newbie question:
>
> In John 21:15, Jesus asks Peter, "AGAPAC ME PLEON TAUTWN". Peter replies
> "NAI KURIE, SU OIDAS HOTI FILW SE".
>
> Peter has switched verbs. It seems that the appropriate answer would
> have been "NAI KURIE, SU OIDAS HOTI AGAPW SE". Is there some reason why
> that reply would have been ungrammatical or inappropriate? If not, are
> the words "AGAPW" and "FILW" one hundred percent identical in meaning.
> Or is there some shade of difference between them?
>
>                                            Ron
> ---
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--
Oliver James Keenan
Seminarian, Archdiocese of Birmingham
Seminarista de la Archidiócesis de Birmingham
Real y Pontifico Colegio de los nobles Ingleses
Calle Don Sancho 22
47002 Valladolid Spain



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