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The Words for "Love" in the Greek New Testament*
Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest
THERE ARE four words in the Greek language for "love."
Stergein is a love that has its basis in one's own
nature. It speaks of the constitutional efflux of natural
affection. Eran is a love that has its basis in
passion, and its expression takes the form of a blind impulse
produced by passion. philein is a love that has
its basis in pleasurableness, and is the glow of the heart
kindled the perception of that in the object loved which affords
one pleasure. agapan is a love that has its basis
in preciousness, a love called out of one's heart by an awakened
sense of value in the object loved that causes one to prize it.
Stergein is used in the New Testament in its noun form, with the
letter "Alpha" prefixed which negates the word, that is, makes
it mean the opposite to what it meant in itself. It occurs in
Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3, and is translated in both
instances by the words "without natural affection." The word
appears also in Romans 12:10 with the word philos, "love",
compounded with it, and is translated, "kindly affectioned."
Stergein designates "the quiet and abiding feeling within us,
which, resting on an object as near to us, recognizes that we
are closely bound up with it and takes satisfaction in its
recognition." It is a love that is "a natural movement of the
soul," "something almost like gravitation or some other force of
blind nature." It is the love of parents for children and
children for parents, of husband for wife and wife for husband,
of close relations one for another. It is found in the animal
world in the love which the animal has for its offspring. It is
a love of obligatoriness, the term being used here not in its
moral sense, but in a natural sense. It is a necessity under the
circumstances. This kind of love is the binding factor by which
any natural or social unit is held together.
The word astorgos (Rom. 1:31; 2 Tim. 3:3) which denotes
the absence of this kind of love, designates "the unfeeling and
hard, whose heart is warmed by no noble sentiment; it is applied
particularly to inhuman parents, but also to animals who do not
love their young." It is used in pagan writings, of women who
have many love affairs and as a result do not have that nobler
love for their husbands which they should have.
Eran
is a word that is not found in the New Testament.
(MY
Question: WHY? WHY NOT? Jt.)
The word "passion"
describes it. It is passion seeking satisfaction. It is not
intrinsically a base word. In its use it is found at the two
extremes of low and high. It was used in pagan Greek writings of
sex love. It was used in Christian writings of divine love. It
was used of the love of children to their mother. This love is
"an overmastering passion seizing upon and absorbing into itself
the whole mind."
philein is used forty-five times in its various forms of
verb and noun. This is an unimpassioned love
(?, Olympian? Jt.),
a friendly love. It is a love that is called out of one's heart
as a response to the pleasure one takes in a person or object
(Olympians’! Jt.). It is
based upon an inner community between the person loving and the
person or object loved. That is, both have things in common with
one another. The one loving finds a reflection of his own nature
in the person or thing loved. It is a love of liking, an
affection for someone or something that is the outgoing of one's
heart in delight to that which affords pleasure. The Greeks made
much of friendship, and this word was used by them to designate
this form of mutual attraction. "Whatever in an object that is
adapted to give pleasure, tends to call out this affection." It
is connected with the sense of the agreeable in the object
loved. The words which best express this kind of love are
"fondness, affection, liking." "It shows the inclination which
springs out of commerce with a person or is called out by
qualities in an object which are agreeable to us."
As an outgrowth of its meaning of fondness, it sometimes carries
that sentiment over into an outward expression of the same, that
of kissing.
agapan is used in its verb, noun, and adjective forms
about three hundred and twenty times in the New Testament. It is
a love called out of a person's heart by "an awakened sense of
value in an object which causes one to prize it." It expresses a
love of approbation and esteem. Its impulse comes from the idea
of prizing. It is a love that recognizes the worthiness of the
object loved. Thus, this love consists of the soul's sense of
the value and preciousness of its object, and its response to
its recognized worth in admiring affection."
In contrasting philein and agapan, we might say that the former
is a love of pleasure, the latter a love of preciousness; the
former a love of delight, the latter a love of esteem; the
former a love called out of the heart by the apprehension of
pleasurable qualities in the object loved, the latter a love
called out of the heart by the apprehension of valuable
qualities in the object loved; the former takes pleasure in, the
latter ascribes value to; the former is a love of liking, the
latter a love of prizing.
As to the reason why philein occurs only forty-five times in the
New Testament in all forms, while agapan is found three hundred
and twenty times in its various forms, the following can be
said. The principal reason for the more frequent use of agapan
in the New Testament as over against the infrequent use of
philein is that philein was a commonly used word for "love" in
the classics, and agapan was used most infrequently, and when
Attic Greek was spread over the world by the conquering armies
of Alexander the Great, and remained in its simplified and
modified form as the international language of the period
between Alexander and Constantine, agapan suddenly sprang into
the ascendancy. Because it was the common word for "love" during
these centuries, the New Testament writers naturally found it
not only desirable but necessary to use it. It became the
general word for love in the New Testament.
But this does not mean that both words are used
indiscriminately, the one for the other, without any conscious
sense of the differences between them. Whenever philein is used,
it means that the writer goes out of his way to use a word that
was not in common use, and because he desired to convey a
thought which agapan did not contain. There was always a reason
for such a selection although we may not always be able to see
it. The writers (1 Cor. 2:13) claim that their choice of words
was taught them by the Holy Spirit. This being the case, we have
an infallible use of the Greek words in their content of meaning
and general usage in the Roman world at that period. The Holy
Spirit used agapan and philein advisedly in the places where
they occur, and it is for us to find His reason and the truth He
wishes us to have from His use of the terms.
But there is another reason why agapan is used so frequently.
agapan never was a common word in classical literature, although
it was in use from the beginning and occupied a distinctive
place of its own. In Homer it is used only ten times, in
Euripedes but three. Its noun form agapesis is rare. The form
agape, so frequently found in the New Testament, does not occur
at all. Its first appearance is in the Greek translation of the
Old Testament. It conveyed the ideas of astonishment, wonder,
admiration, and approbation when connected with the word agamai
which meant "to wonder at or admire." It was used in classical
literature in the same sentence with philein and had its
distinctive sense of "a love of prizing" as contrasted to
philein, "a love of liking." But owing to the very in frequency
of its use, it was an admirable word which could be put to use
to convey the new and higher conception of divine love which the
New Testament presents. Its relative emptiness, so far as the
general knowledge of the person was concerned who spoke Greek as
his second language, made it the ideal receptacle into which the
new moral and ethical content of Christianity could be poured.
The pagan Greeks
knew nothing of the love of self-sacrifice for one's enemy which
was exhibited at Calvary. Therefore they had no word for that
kind of love. They knew nothing about the divine analysis of
this love which Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 13. So the New
Testament writers seized upon this word as one that would
express these exalted conceptions. Therefore, the word agapan in
the New Testament is to be understood in its meaning as given
above, but also in the added meaning which has been poured into
it by its use in the New Testament, the context of such passages
as John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 John 4:16, and Romans 5:5
giving us an adequate conception of its New Testament content of
meaning.
The English reader can see from this study the importance of
knowing what Greek word lies back of the English word
"love."
While the English student is able to come to a good
understanding of the passages in which the words occur, yet a
full-orbed view of the scripture under consideration is only
possible when one knows what the distinctive Greek word for
"love"
is. It is to help the student who does not have access to the
Greek New Testament, that this study has been
written. It is impossible within the brief compass of this
chapter to comment upon all of the passages, but a
representative list will be treated, leaving the student the
delightful task of studying the others for himself. It should be
kept in mind, however, that all the shades of meaning in each
word will not be applicable on each occasion of its use. A study
of the context will guide one in ascertaining just what
distinctive meaning the word will have in each passage. For this
groundwork in the study of the Greek words for "love," I am indebted to Benjamin B. Warfield's
excellent articles, "The Terminology of Love in the New
Testament," which appeared in The Princeton Theological
Review of January and April of 1918.
agapan occurs in John 3:16. The love exhibited at Calvary was
called out of the heart of God because of the preciousness of
each lost soul, precious to God because He sees in lost humanity
His own image even though that image be marred by sin, precious
to God because made of material which through redemption can be
transformed into the very image of His dear Son. While it is a
love based upon the estimation of the preciousness of the object
loved, this from its classical usage, it is also a love of
self-sacrifice, complete self-sacrifice to the point of death to
self, and that for one who bitterly hates the one who loves.
This latter is its added New Testament meaning. Include in that
the constitutent elements as analyzed by Paul in 1 Corinthians
13 where "charity" should be translated "love," and we have the
full content of this love which should always be kept in mind
when interpreting passages in the New Testament in which this
word occurs, and where the love is shown either by God to man,
or by the Christian to others.
For instance, in interpreting "Husbands, love your wives" (Eph.
5:25), the love of John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13 is meant. They
already have a Stergein and philein love for them. These latter
should be saturated and thus elevated, purified, and ennobled by
agapan. But these Christian husbands are not left helpless in an
attempt to obey this exhortation, for this very love is shed
abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5) and is one
of His fruits (Gal. 5:22). When saints are exhorted to love one
another (1 John 4:11) it is with this kind of love.
When we come to "men loved darkness rather than light" (John
3:19), and "love not the world" (1 John 2:15), we come to some
isolated instances where the classical meaning which has been
brought over into the New Testament, can only be applied. Here
it is no love of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the object
loved. It is a love for sin and for the world system of evil
that is called out of the sinful heart because of the estimation
which that person puts upon the preciousness of the object
loved. The saints are exhorted not to set a high value upon the
world and thus love it. Aside from such exceptional cases like
these, agapan is to be given its full-orbed New Testament
meaning.
In order that the reader can make a study of agapan in the New
Testament, we append the following list containing the places
where its verb occurs, and where the word "love" is in the
translation. Matthew 5:43, 44, 46, 6:24, 19:19, 22:37, 39; Mark
10:21, 12:30, 31, 33; Luke 6:27, 32, 35, 7:5, 42, 47, 10:27,
11:43, 16:13; John 3:16, 19, 35, 8:42, 10:17, 11:5, 12:43, 13:1,
23, 13:34, 14:15, 21, 23, 24, 28, 31, 15:9, 12, 17, 17:23, 24,
26, 19:26, 21:7, 15, 16, (first occurrences only in verses 15
and 16), 20; Romans 8:28, 37, 9:13, 25, 13:8, 9; 1 Corinthians
2:9, 8:3; 2 Corinthians 9:7, 11:11, 12:15; Galatians 2:20, 5:14;
Ephesians 1:6, 2:4, 5:2, 25, 28, 33, 6:24; Colossians 3:12, 19;
1 Thessalonians 1:4, 4:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 16; 2 Timothy
4:8, 10; Hebrews 1:9, 12:6; James 1:12, 2:5, 8; 1 Peter 1:8, 22
(second occurrence only), 2:17, 3:10; 2 Peter 2:15; 1 John 2:10,
15, 3:10, 11, 14, 3:18, 23, 4:7. 8, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 5:1.
2; 2 John 1, 5; 3 John 1; Revelation 1:5, 3:9, 12:11, 20:9.
The noun form agape occurs in the following places where it is
translated either by "love" or "charity." Where the word
"charity" appears, the translation should read "love." There is
no good reason for the change to "charity." Matthew 24:12; Luke
11:42; John 5:42, 13:35, 15:9, 10, 13, 17:26; Romans 5:5, 8,
8:35, 39, 12:9, 13:10, 14:15, 15:30; 1 Corinthians 4:21, 8:1,
13:1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 13, 14:1, 16:14, 24; 2 Corinthians 2:4, 8,
5:14, 6:6, 8:7, 8, 24, 13:11, 14; Galatians 5:6, 13, 22;
Ephesians 1:4, 15, 2:4, 3:17, 19, 4:2, 15, 16, 5:2, 6:23;
Philippians 1:9, 17, 2:1, 2; Colossians 1:4, 8, 13, 2:2, 3:14; 1
Thessalonians 1:3, 3:6, 12, 5:8, 13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2:10,
3:5; 1 Timothy 1:5, 14, 2:15, 4:12, 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:7, 13,
2:22, 3:10; Titus 2:2; Philemon 5, 7, 9; Hebrews 6:10, 10:24; 1
Peter 4:8, 5:14; 2 Peter 1:7; 1 John 2:5, 15, 3:1, 16, 17, 4:7,
8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 5:3; 2 John 3, 6; 3 John 6; Jude 2,
12, 21; Revelation 2:4, 19.
The adjective form agapetos, translated "beloved" is found in
Matthew 3:17, 12:18, 17:5; Mark 1:11, 9:7, 12:6; Luke 3:22,
9:35, 20:13; Acts 15:25; Romans 1:7, 11:28, 12:19, 16:5, 8, 9,
12; 1 Corinthians 4:14, 17, 10:14, 15:58; 2 Corinthians 7:1,
12:19; Ephesians 5:1, 6:21; Philippians 2:12, 4:1; Colossians
1:7, 4:7, 9, 14; 1 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Timothy 6:2; 2 Timothy
1:2; Philemon 1, 2, 16; Hebrews 6:9; James 1:16, 19, 2:5; 1
Peter 2:11, 4:12; 2 Peter 1:17, 3:1, 8, 14, 15, 17; 1 John 3:2,
21, 4:1, 7, 11; 3 John 1, 2, 5, 11; Jude 3, 17, 20.
We come now to a consideration of philein in the New Testament.
We will examine a few representative passages. The hypocrites
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of
the streets (Matt. 6:5). philein is used here rather than agapan
because the inspired writer wishes to show that they take
pleasure in that sort of thing, that it is part of their nature
to desire to be seen of men. They love to do it. "Everyone that
loveth and maketh a lie" (Rev. 22:15) uses philein in order to
show that there is "a personal affinity with the false, inward
kinship with it, leading to its outward practice." philein is a
love of liking. One likes someone because that person is like
himself. The one loving in this way finds in the object loved a
reflection of himself. Thus the one who loves a lie, loves it
because he finds in a lie that which is reflected in his own
bosom. "He that loveth his life shall lose it" (John 12:25). It
is a love that finds such pleasure in life that it becomes a
fixed attitude in one's outlook, and nothing else comes into
consideration in comparison with it. "If the world hateth you,
ye know that it hath hated me first; if ye were of the world,
the world would love its own" (John 15:19). philein is most
appropriate here. The words "the world would love its own,"
speak of an inner affinity. They speak of a community of nature
between the world and its own. philein is a love of liking, and
we like that which is like us. But the world finds no community
of nature in itself and the Christian, for the latter has been
made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and for that
reason the world hates the Christian.
philein is used of Jesus' love for Lazarus (John 11:3, 36), the
emphasis being upon the love of friendship which existed between
the Man Christ Jesus and His friend Lazarus. It is the human
heart of Jesus which we see here. philein shows the personal
intimacy of the affection existing between them. How wonderful,
that, included in the self-humbling of God the Son in the
incarnation, there should be this capacity for human friendship.
Of course, our Lord loved Lazarus with an agapan love also, for
He died for him on the Cross. But here the inspired writer
wishes to present this particular kind of love. It fits the
context. The appeal of the sisters was upon the basis of the
mutual friendship existing between our Lord and Lazarus. When
John speaks of Jesus' love for Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus, he
uses agapan, the general term for love. They were precious to
Him. The non-use of philein is a good commentary upon the
reserve which our Lord maintained toward womanhood.
In the conversation between our Lord and Peter (John 21:15-19),
our Lord uses agapan twice and philein the third time, while
Peter uses philein three times. Of the use of these two words
for love in this passage, Warfield says, "That anyone should
doubt that the words are used here in distinctive senses would
seem incredible prior to experience." He quotes Moulton and
Milligan as saying that it is "supremely hard in so severely
simple a writer as John, to reconcile ourselves to a meaningless
use of synonyms, where the point would seem to lie in the
identity of the word employed."
Our Lord said to Peter twice, "Simon, son of Jonas, dost thou
have a love for Me that is called out of thine heart because I
am precious to thee, a love of deep devotion that is sacrificial
in its essence, a love that would make thee willing to die for
Me?" Three times Peter said, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I am
fond of Thee, thou knowest that I have an affection for Thee
that is called out of my heart because of the pleasure I take in
Thee."
Jesus asked for a love of complete devotion. Peter offers Him a
love of personal heart emotion. Jesus asked for a love of
surrendering obedience. Peter offers Him a love of personal
attachment.
Peter at the crucifixion had denied his Lord even in the face of
his statements, "Though all men should be offended because of
thee, yet will I never be offended." "Though I should die with
thee, yet will I not deny thee" (Matt. 26:33, 35). Peter had
compared himself with the other disciples. Now our Lord asks,
"Peter, dost thou have a personal devotion to Me to the point of
self-sacrifice which is stronger than the personal devotion of
these your fellow-disciples?" Peter answers in deep humility,
remembering his denial of his Lord, and without comparing his
love for Jesus with that of the other disciples. In our Lord's
second question the comparison is omitted, and Peter has the
opportunity to tell of his personal devotion for Jesus without
comparing it with that of the other disciples. But he only
speaks of his personal friendly affection for Him.
The third time Jesus questions Peter He uses philein, and asks
with sharp directness and brevity whether Peter has any real
affection for Him at all. Peter was grieved because Jesus used
philein, yet he only asserts his fondness and friendly affection
for his Master.
Then Jesus tells Peter that some day he will exhibit an agapan
love for Him in that he will die a martyr's death for Him, for
He tells him that he will die by crucifixion for his testimony
to his Saviour.
philein is used in John 16:27 where God the Father takes
pleasure in and loves those believers who take pleasure in His
Son and therefore love Him. It is a love of friendly affection.
The Father finds the same kind of love for the Son in the hearts
of the saints that is in His own heart for His Son, a love
called out of the heart because of the pleasure one takes in the
object loved. This is a natural love of complacency as agapan in
John 3:16 is a love of pity (John 16:27, 5:20). These instances
of the use of philein will suffice as illustrations to guide the
Bible student in his study of those places where philein occurs.
philein in its verb form occurs in Matthew 6:5, 10:37, 23:6,
26:48; Mark 14:44; Luke 20:46, 22:47; John 5:20, 11:3, 36,
12:25, 15:19, 16:27, 20:2, 21:15, 16, 17; 1 Corinthians 16:22;
Titus 3:15; Revelation 3:19, 22:15, and is translated by the
words "love" or "kiss."
Its noun form philos is found in Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:6, 34,
11:5, 6, 8, 12:4, 14:10, 12, 15:6, 9, 29, 16:9, 21:16, 23:12;
John 3:29, 11:11, 15:13, 14, 15, 19:12; Acts 10:24, 19:31, 27:3;
James 2:23, 4:4; 3 John 14, where it is translated by the word
"friend." Interpret these passages in the light of the meaning
of philein.
In 2 Timothy 3:4, 3 John 9, "love" is from philein. In James
4:4, "friendship" is from philein. "Hospitality" (Rom. 12:13),
"entertain strangers" (Heb. 13:2), "given to hospitality" (1
Tim. 3:2), "lover of hospitality" (Titus 1:8), "use hospitality"
(1 Peter 4:9) are from a word made up of the word philein and
"stranger," thus, "showing one's self friendly to those who do
not belong in our own home." "Philosophy" (Col. 2:8) and
"philosopher" (Acts 11:18) are from a word made up of philein
and "wisdom," thus "a love of" and "a lover of wisdom." "Be
kindly affectioned" (Rom. 12:10) is from philein and a form of
stergein, speaking of that natural friendliness which should be
shown by the saints toward one another. "Love their husbands and
their children" (Titus 2:4) uses philein.
"A lover of good men," better, "a lover of that which is good"
(Titus 1:8), is from philein and the word for "intrinsic inner
goodness." "Brotherly love" and brotherly kindness" are from
philein and the Greek word for "brother" which latter literally
means "from the same womb" (Rom. 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; Heb. 13:1;
1 Peter 1:22; "love of the brethren;" 2 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 3:8,
"love as, brethren,"). "Kindness" (Acts 28:2), "love toward man"
(Titus 3:4), "courteously" (Acts 27:3) are from philein and the
word for "man," the Greek word for "man" here being the racial
term for man, really, "love for mankind." Our word
"philanthropy" is a transliteration of this Greek word. "Lovers
of their own selves" (2 Tim. 3:2) is from philein and the
pronoun "himself." "Love of money" (1 Tim. 6:10) and "covetous"
(Luke 16:14, 2 Tim. 3:2) are from philein and the word "money."
"So have strived" (Rom. 15:20), "labor" (2 Cor. 5:9), and
"study" (1 Thess. 4:11) are from a verb which is made up of
philein and time, "honor," literally meaning, "to be fond of
honor, to be actuated by a love of honor." In later Greek it
came to mean "to strive earnestly, to make it one's aim," which
latter two meanings we must understand for the three passages
quoted above. But because Paul in other places uses terms taken
from the world of athletics when he is speaking of intense
effort, we conclude that in the background of his mind there is
that thought of the maintenance of his honor and his testimony
as an apostle of the Lord Jesus, and that was one of the
motivating factors in his service for his Lord, as it should be
of ours.
"Courteously" (Acts 28:7) and "courteous" (1 Peter 3:8) are from
a word made up of philein and a Greek word speaking of "the
faculty of perceiving and judging." The courtesy spoken of here
is that rare and beautiful combination of friendliness and
tactful and delicate sense of perception and judgment which
should be a part of every Christian's spiritual equipment.
We have in this section listed every occurrence of both agapan
and philein in the New Testament in all their forms and where
they appear in composition with other words. The Bible student
who is not conversant with Greek can thus know just what Greek
word for "love" lies back of the English word, and can therefore
interpret the passage more accurately.
* From: Studies in the Vocabulary of The Greek New Testament,
Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest
www.theologue.org
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