Valentine’s Day.
Just looking at the word ignites visions of red roses, chocolate hearts, and/or baby faces with arrows. The imagery is vibrant and many, but only one word comes to mind.
LOVE.
Maybe you think of love as portrayed in cheesy rom coms or Hallmark Christmas movies (no judgement – I’m human, too).
Or do you think of love as a harrowing adventure?
The word love, as we know it in the English language, can be translated over 100 times. FUN FACT: Japan did not have a word to translate love until the late nineteenth century.
According to an ad aired by Google Translator in 2019,
“Everyday the most translated words in the world are “How are You? Thank You and I love You.”
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT LOVE: OLD TESTAMENT
Hebrew is no different. The word translated for love in Hebrew is Ahavah.
One of my all-time favorite Bible resources is the Bible Project. (I may have to dedicate an entire post as to why I recommend this so strongly, but it will suffice to say that it is full of excellent biblical commentary and visually stunning features and tools!)
“[Ahavah] sometimes describes physical affection, like the king of Persia’s “love” for Queen Esther but there are other Hebrew words that more specifically refer to physical desire or sex (the words for that are dodim or ‘agab). Ahavah is more broad. So Abraham had ahavah for his son Isaac—that’s parental love. Jonathan showed ahavah for his friend David, that would be brotherly love.”
Bible Project
Ahavah is the translation for the word love found in the Shema that God’s people prayed everyday, encouraging us that we are to Ahavah God and His people as well.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT LOVE: NEW TESTAMENT
If you open your Bible App, click the little magnifying glass, and type in l-o-v-e, you will receive an overwhelming list of verses that will seem familiar to believers and unbelievers alike, many coming from the New Testament.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This specific love is where the nerd in me comes out. The translation here for love is different from the ahavah of the OT. This love that Jesus spoke of first, followed by his disciples, is an action, not a mere feeling.
“But here’s what’s fascinating. The earliest followers of Jesus who wrote books of the New Testament in Greek, they didn’t learn the meaning of agape by looking it up in ancient dictionaries. Rather, they looked to the teachings of Jesus and the story of his life to redefine their very concept of “love.”’
Bible Project
“THE FOUR LOVES”
In his 1960 work, The Four Loves, CS Lewis discovers and analyzes the Greek agape love, and also the three other types of love that can be translated in Greek within the BIble.
- EROS: romantic love
This translation can be found in the Hebrew translation as agab and is best for describing a romantic love between man and woman. It is a physical love, a passion or doting of another.
Lewis claims the love of Eros can be demonstrated best as Christ being the bridegroom of the Church.
- PHILIA: friendship bond
Lewis addresses this love as the least demanding. .
This love is best described as an experience shared with another, a friendship. But not any generic friendship; instead, philia is the sort of friendship where you have “that feeling where you can pick up right where you left off.”
This is the most common love demonstrated in the Bible, and as Lewis suggests, “our most strictly commanded communion with God.”
- STORGE: empathy bond
This is the most natural translation of love, it is the love expressed through familiarity, family, closeness or ones “bonded by chance” as Lewis describes. We see this love lived out by Jacob’s love for his sons, Mary and Martha’s love for their brother Lazarus, and even the way parents love their children.
According to Lewis, storge love is the love of God as our Father and we as His daughters.
- AGAPE: unconditional love of God
This love. I have Taylor Swift singing in my mind as I write these words. This agape love, it transcends and overtakes any other translation of love. Lewis recognizes this selfless love as the greatest of the four loves, and sees it as a specifically Christian virtue to achieve.
That’s because this love, agape, is unconditional. There is no circumstance that could change it. There is no measure that could dilute it. This is pure, sacrificial, incomprehensible, lavishing; love.
The word love essentially captures the divinity of Jesus; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God (John 1:1). It is because God loves (agape) so much that He sent His son to be the sacrifice needed to reconcile us Holy.
WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?
It’s apparent, from even the slightest study, that love is a prominent characteristic of God. As John declared, we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
So, this Valentine’s Day, whether you are getting lavished with chocolates and flowers, or feeling the sting of the absence of affection, take heart my sister.
The thing that defines love is not material. In fact, you cant see it at all. But just as you can sense the heat of the sun without it shining on your face, so is it with God. You may or may not sense His presence, but you can be confident, because of His agape, if you have been saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you are loved beyond measure.
And if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior (you might not even know what that means yet), trust me when I tell you, He is in pursuit of your heart, asking you to “Be Mine.”
THE POWER OF LOVE
Love is a very powerful word. Endless images and feelings can be produced just by those four simple letters.
Consider Pauls letter to the Corinthians. Love is so much more than a feeling or a statement. Love is an action that was crafted by the creator of the universe for me and you.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13 ESV
LET’S CHAT
Was there something new you learned today? Anything stick out to you? Want to know more about this unconditional agape love that Jesus has for you? Connect with me in the comments or find me on instagram and DM me @iamanchoredbyhope! I am here with and for you, sister!
