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In my time producing literature, videos, and other Christian resources, I have been confronted with many objections.
When I came out hard against the Covid-19 agenda,[1] some told me that I was disgracing the church and that I would have blood on my hands. When I rejected the view that believers die and “go to heaven” as disembodied souls, I was told that I am a “materialist.” When I have spoken against Freemasonry and the rampant Satanism on display in our world, I am frequently told that I’m paranoid or that I am trying to see the worst in things. These are just a couple examples of many that could be mentioned, but there is a point to get to.
Perhaps the most consistent objection I receive—either from alleged believers or nonbelievers—is that my messages are sometimes not loving enough; “You need to worry more about loving people,” I often hear.
Now, a lot of my readers already understand that this is a baseless objection. They understand that I am by no means hateful or unloving, but that I am a realist. I believe in telling the truth and presenting the facts, even if that is uncomfortable for others or even myself.
All this does bring up an interesting question though. With so many people banging the drum of love, do we even know it means from a spiritual perspective? As the artist Haddaway once asked, What is Love?
In part one of this two-part series, I am going to describe what the biblical concept of love truly is. With that in place, we will be equipped (in part two) to understand what God’s wrath is about and how the two are actually connected.
Let’s start with love.
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Understanding Love
Before drawing our own conclusions, it’s always best to allow Scripture to define the terms for us. This will involve looking at passages where the term “love” is used, as well as evaluating the meaning of the original terms being translated.
Scripture plainly states that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8b). That is, God perfectly exemplifies and defines what love is. His very character is love, and He displays love in all his actions. His judgment, justice, mercy, redemption and yes, even God’s wrath, are illustrations of His loving nature.
There isn’t a “love part” to God, nor is God’s love seen only in particular actions. All acts of God are acts of love.
1 John 4:7-8 also reveals that one who truly loves is born of God, and those who cannot truly love (like narcissists) are not born of God. Simply put, this means that those lacking in love are indeed children of Satan. Going farther, the next part of the passage reveals something critical to the overall discussion:
“By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him” (4:9).
If we ever wondered what an act of genuine love—divine love—looks like, we understand that it looks like Jesus. God sending his only Son to take upon himself the sins of the world and lay down his life as a propitiation—that is, God took His wrath out on Jesus instead of sinful humanity—is the ultimate act and example of love. Obviously, this is why John also famously wrote:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16)
Jesus told us: “Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13). This makes sense, right? God’s ultimate expression of love was to give His Son’s life for the world, and our greatest expression of love would be to give our lives for our friends.
Bear in mind that Jesus said “friends” (philon). That is, “someone dearly loved (prized) in a personal, intimate way; a trusted confidant, held dear in a close bond of personal affection.” He did not say to die for our enemies, though His love is so great that Jesus did that very thing! He died for all (2 Cor. 5:15).
The word for “friend,” used above in John 15:13, leads us to a powerful point and to the meaning of the Greek words themselves. The primary Greek terms that are translated as “love” are agapaó and phileó.
- The term agapaó means “to love, wish well to, take pleasure in, long for; denotes the love of reason, esteem.”
- Alternatively, the term phileó connotes the “love (of friendship), to regard with affection, to cherish; and to kiss.”
Both, for example, are displayed when Jesus “reinstated” Peter at the end of John’s Gospel (21:15-17). Twice, Jesus asked Peter if he loves (agapaó) him, and Peter consistently replies that he loves (phileó) Jesus. Notice I said twice for Jesus using the word agapaó. This reveals one of the reasons we know the verbiage mattered. You see, Jesus suddenly changed up his line of questioning the third time. Instead of asking Peter if he loves (agapaó) him, Jesus now asks if he loves (phileó) him. This is something akin to Jesus finally asking Peter: Do you even regard me with affection?
Many commentators see no difference between the terms and assert that the clear contrast in the words meant nothing, but I disagree.
Further, such an obvious difference in word placement would have been impossible to miss for early listeners—since most would only have heard, and not read, the NT writings—and would have been just as obvious to later interpreters.
Lastly, we know there is meaning in these terms because Peter, after the third time being questioned, became elypēthē, meaning “deeply grieved” or “excessively sorrowful.”
So, while Jesus was reinstating Peter, Peter’s position toward Jesus was still lacking (at least, at that time). I explain much more about Jesus and Peter’s relationship in this article, for those interested.
The point is, agapaó and phileó are contrasted in Jesus’ interaction with Peter. The word phileó is, by defintion and usage, something of a “lighter” form of love, and agapaó is being used as the deepest form of love.
It is a form of agapaó (ēgapēsen)[2] that is used in John 3:16. Looking deeper into the term, we see an interesting explanation (from Strong’s). agapaó “preeminently refers to what God prefers as He “is love” (1 Jn 4:8,16). We also see it explained in this way: “a discriminating affection which involves choice and selection.”
This makes sense of the passages we have already seen. Agapaó speaks to what is often called “agapé love,” as the two terms are connected. This form of love is a deeply thought out, strongly preferential form of affection toward another person. Put another way, agapé love means to place another as first importance.
Jesus gave his life for the sins of the world because God placed humanity as first importance. As Jesus said in John 15:13, a person who gives their life for a friend is putting that person as first importance. Jesus was asking Peter if he placed his Lord and Rabbi as first importance, a question that caused Peter to leave in disappointment because he had not done so to that point.
Love is to place others as first importance. This is exactly why Scripture consistently reveals that all the commandments—outside of loving God—can be summed up in this one: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Lev. 19:18, Mt. 22:39, Rom. 13:19).
Can we really say that this is what most of us mean when we throw around the term “love”? Not hardly.
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Practical Love
In the previous study, we see the essence of what “love” really means, as the Bible explains things. Love is about prioritizing another above the things of the world or ourselves.
If understood in this way, we can have a better idea of what love is, and also what it is not.
Love is . . .
- Warning people about the dire consequences of sin.
- Telling the world that there really is a hell and that, apart from giving our lives to Christ, it will become one’s everlasting residence.
- Exposing the schemes of Satan and the dark state of the world, in the hopes of leading others to the Light.
- Being honest with others about biblical truths, even if that means offending them.
- Being kind, humble, and sensitive in calling out sin and error.
- Considering others’ needs as being more important than our own, while also understanding that self-care is critical.
Love is not . . .
- Making excuses for sinful behavior or pretending that sin is not sin.
- Telling someone that hell isn’t real, or that God will not send them there for habitual disobedience.
- Ignoring the most important spiritual realities of our time so we can provide theological comfort food to others.
- Ridiculing, participating in useless bickering, or berating others because they don’t agree with you.
- Giving up on people quickly, out of laziness or because of a simple offense.
- Taking endless abuse from someone who does not appreciate you (i.e. becoming a doormat or a punching bag).
For the Christian, these are some of the ways that genuine love plays out. This is how we can practically understand the biblical teachings about the unparalleled and unrivaled term called love.
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Conclusion
Indeed, “love” is often very misunderstood.
Perhaps no word has been more compromised, abused, conflated, and simply taken for granted than love. And still, it is the most important of all words. As Paul said, love is the greatest of all things:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. . . And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:4-7, 13).
Hopefully, this article has helped you to understand—maybe even for the first time—what Paul was really talking about. If we truly grasp the teachings of Scripture and the character of God, then we see that love is truly the greatest and most powerful force in all reality. It is the very explanation of who God is, how we commune with Him, and who we are called to be.
As I describe in part two, love even explains wrath: the wrath of God.
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[1] This was one of my earliest articles on the matter, and System of the Beast thoroughly revealed the evil scam that was Covid-19.
[2] This is the aorist, active, indicative, 3rd person singular form of the word. It is past tense to describe that it occurred, but not to suggest that God’s love is not ongoing.
Angels-Aliens 