What is Love?
"...God is love" (1 John 4:8 )
"There is no fear in love" (1 John 4:18)
Jesus said,"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39)
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
The word 'love' means many things to different people. It is demeaned by its overuse in describing many things that are anything but love.
Unlike English, there are several words in Greek for 'love' and they have different meanings.
1. Storge / – Family love
2. Phileo /Philio / – Friendship love
3. Eros / Venus – Sexual love - Plato thought that this could be split further into Vulgar Eros, meaning sexual love and Heavenly Eros, meaning love towards a god. According to Plato, this was the highest form of love: man seeking after god.
4. Caritas / Agape – Selfless, charitable love.
Human love is often conditional, unreliable and self-seeking. Godly love is unconditional, constant and selfless.
From The Children’s Society:
Love
Love is the obligation to care for the wellbeing of others, respect human dignity and put the needs of others before our own.
FURTHER READING:
The Four Loves (C.S. Lewis)