"What Does The Bible Really Say About Love?

David Lose, Contributor

:Senior Pastor, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN)

02/13/2012 02:46 PM ET | Updated Apr 14, 2012

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1271144/amp

What does the good book have to say about everyone's favorite subject at this time of the year --
love?

Describing a biblical view of love turns out to be no simple matter. First off, the Bible was written in both
Hebrew and Greek, and each of these languages has multiple words that we translate as "love." (On this
count, Hebrew wins out with about a dozen words expressing a range of emotions from sexual desire to
intimate friendship, and from covenantal fidelity to acts of mercy and kindness.)

There are also understandings of love floating around among different authors. So what the author of
the Song of Solomon says about love isn't the same as what the author(s) of Genesis say, which isn't the
same as what John says, which isn't the same as Paul ... and so on. All of which means that not only is
there no single view of love in the Bible but any larger scheme you propose by which to organize these
various treatises on love will inevitably fall short.

Nevertheless it may still be a useful, if far from perfect, endeavor. To get at it, I'll borrow the classic
formula that distinguishes between three Greek words: eros, romantic, passionate love, from which we
get our word "erotic"; phileo, the love of great friends and siblings, from which we get "Philadelphia,"
the "city of brotherly love"; and agape, parental, self-sacrificing love that seeks only the welfare of the
other. All three kinds of love are represented in the Bible, which means that all three are considered to
be created and blessed by God.

Eros is the emotion we probably think of first when thinking of love, especially the love of Valentine's
Day and pop music. While the word itself is not present in the Greek New Testament, it depicts the
passionate desire that unites lover and beloved praised in the Song of Solomon. Its presence in the Bible
testifies not only that humans are moved by beauty and desire, but also that passion, romance, and
sexual intimacy are an essential element of God's good creation and the human experience.

Phileo, in contrast, is a more stable and constant emotion. Constancy not withstanding, however, phileo
it is also a powerful emotion that captures the love of great friends. Jesus weeps for Lazarus, whom he
loved (phileo) (John 11:35), while Jonathan and David share a bond so strong that it induces Jonathan to
forsake allegiance to his father in support of his beloved friend. Phileo is ultimately not about passion as
much as it is about commitment, the love that binds one to another in enduring friendship.

Agape dominates the New Testament but is more rare in contemporary literature of the Greek-speaking
world of the first century. Scholars agree that it best captures what we might call "Christian love." Agape
depicts the self-sacrificing love of a parent for a child and describes both God's love for the world as
shown in Christ and the love Christians should show each other and all people. As to the former, think of
Tim Tebow's - and, indeed, the world's - favorite Bible verse: "For God so loved - agape - the world that
he gave his only Son..." (John 3:16). As to the latter, think of Paul's great hymn to love: "Love - agape - is
patient and kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends" (1 Cor. 13:4-8a).

As nice and neat as these distinctions are, however, as soon as you make them you begin to watch them
unravel. For many have wondered if Jonathan's friendship with David was not tinged with a hint of eros
even as it also embodies the self-sacrificing love of agape. And, truth be told, agape and phileo are often
used interchangeably in the New Testament. Jesus, as it turns out, loves Lazarus in terms of both phileo
(John 11:35) and agape (11:5). And while Paul at points depicts marriage as a remedy for the consuming,
burning passions of sexual desire we associate with eros (1 Cor. 7:9), he - or at least his disciples - also
expect husbands and wives to exhibit agape for each other by being subject to each other as Christ
loved and sacrificed himself for the Church (Ephesians 5). What, then, are we to make of "love" in the
Bible?

But maybe this somewhat blurry picture of love suits the complicated nature of the subject at hand. I
mean, even Valentine's Day itself has a peculiar and complex history. Originally named for a saint (or
saints, depending on the tradition) that were martyred for their commitment to their faith, over the
centuries Valentine's Day came to epitomize the romantic ardor of lovers represented by the Roman god
of desire, Cupid (the Romanized version of the Greek god Eros). And today one might be forgiven for
thinking that V-Day is mainly about love for chocolate and lingerie.

Perhaps, then, the Bible's convoluted treatment is fitting. After all, isn't this mixture of emotions and
motivations pretty representative of our experience? We love our partners and our children and our
pets and friend and, if we're lucky, our jobs and hobbies and much more, but not all in the same way.
And even our love for a single person varies and changes, not just over the years, but over the span of
moments, as passion can turn to tenderness, which can turn to a desire to protect and serve, and then
turn back to desire, all between the beats of a simultaneously fickle and courageous heart. In light of
this, maybe the best we can say is that love in the Bible, like love in our everyday lives, is important,
complicated, and at times a bit squishy. That is, it is too powerful and mysterious to be fully defined or
grasped by any of us.

So perhaps for now it's enough to recognize that all the different kinds of love we have explored are part
and parcel of our life in this world, that God created and blessed them for our nurture, and that behind
and beyond all of our expressions of love is God's love for each of us. That's not everything we could say,
of course, but I think that if we get that much straight we've probably gotten the heart of what the Bible
has to say about love.

2. |The Definition of Love of Paul— vv.|4-7

1|Cor.|13:4|-||1a|Love |b|suffers long. Love is kind; it is not |c|jealous. Love does not |d|brag and is
not |e|puffed up;

1|Cor.|13:5|-|It does not behave unbecomingly and does not |a|seek its own things; it is not provoked
and does not take account of evil;

1|Cor.|13:6|-|It does |a|not rejoice because of |1|unrighteousness, but |b|rejoices with the |1c|
truth;

1|Cor.|13:7|-|It |1a|covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

3. |The excelling of love — vv.|8-13

1|Cor.|13:8|-||a|Love |1|never falls away. But whether |b|prophecies, they will be rendered useless;
or |c|tongues, they will cease; or |d|knowledge, it will be rendered useless.

Love in the Bible is wide and vast to just give one definition for this. In other Book of the bible theres the
verses about love, like in Proverbs 10:12 ...love covers all transgressions. And, "...He who covers a
transgression seeks love," Prov.17:9

1|Cor. 13:41a| Love| Prov. 10:12;| 17:9;| Rom. 13:8-10;| 1|Pet. 4:8

| Life is the element of God; love is the expression of God as life. Hence, God is love (1|John 4:16). God
as life is expressed in love. All the fifteen virtues of love listed in vv. 4-7 are the divine virtues of God’s
life. Such a life differs from the outward gifts listed in ch. 12. The Corinthians were pursuing the outward
gifts, but they neglected love, the expression of God’s life. Hence, they were still fleshy, fleshly, or
soulish (3:1, 3; 2:14). They needed to grow in life (expressed by their love in caring for the Body of
Christ), pursuing love, not the outward gifts, that they might be spiritual (2:15).

1|Cor. 13:4b| suffers| 2|Cor. 6:6;| Gal. 5:22;| Col. 3:12;| Eph. 4:2;| 1|Thes. 5:14

1|Cor. 13:4c| jealous| 1|Cor. 3:3

1|Cor. 13:4d| brag| 1|Cor. 5:6

1|Cor. 13:4e| puffed| 1|Cor. 4:6;| 8:1

1|Cor. 13:5a| seek| 1|Cor. 10:24, 33

1|Cor. 13:6a| not| Prov. 24:17;| 2|Thes. 2:12;| cf. Rom. 1:32

1|Cor. 13:61| unrighteousness

| The totality of unrighteousness is Satan, and the totality of truth is God. Love as the expression of the
divine life does not rejoice over Satan’s unrighteousness but rejoices with God’s truth.

1|Cor. 13:6b| rejoices| 2|John 4;| 3|John 3-4

1|Cor. 13:61c| truth| 1|Tim. 2:4

| See note 61.

1|Cor. 13:71a| covers| cf. James 5:20;| 1|Pet. 4:8

| The same Greek word as for bear in 9:12 (see note there). This word means not only (1) to contain, to
hold (as a vessel), and (2) to cover (as a roof) others’ mistakes, but also (3) to shelter and protect by
covering (as a roof).

1|Cor. 13:8a| Love| John 15:9

1|Cor. 13:81| never

| I.e., survives everything, holds its place. Love survives everything and holds its place forever. It never
fails, never fades out or comes to an end. It is like the eternal life of God. All the gifts, whether
prophecies, or tongues, or knowledge, are means for God’s operation; they are not life, which expresses
God. Hence, they will cease and be rendered useless. They are all dispensational. Only life, which love
expresses, is eternal. According to the succeeding verses, all gifts are for the immature child in this age.
They will all be rendered useless in the next age. Only love is characteristic of a mature man and will last
for eternity. Hence, when we live and act by love, we have a foretaste of the next age and of eternity.

1|Cor. 13:8b| prophecies| 1|Cor. 14:1, 39

1|Cor. 13:8c| tongues| 1|Cor. 12:10

1|Cor. 13:8d| knowledge| 1|Cor. 12:8