Friday, December 16, 2022
"Love" in the Bible
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
That is the first verse of that famous Bible passage. It centers around one word - "agape" (ἀγάπη) in the original Greek. It is translated in the KJV (above) as "charity" but is more usually translated as "love". But it does not mean man/woman (sexual) love. Greek has another word for that
It is an odd word, used throughout the New Testament but not much used elsewhere. In Classical Greek it means something like "liking"
So why did the apostle Paul devote a whole chapter to it? It seems to be because Christ used it a lot. He used that word in his commandment to love your God and love your neighbour, for instance. So Paul is in fact clarifying its meaning and how it is incumbent on Christians. Verses 4-7 are in fact a definition of ἀγάπη
"Charity (ἀγάπη) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
So that is a pretty tough set of requirements. But Christians have always aspired to live up to them. And it is pretty clear that a person who did live up to it would be a pretty likable person. Nobody does live up to it of course but even an attempt at it would be good for the social relationships of the person involved. So it is undoubtedly an important element in the success of Christianity as a religion.
So do I aspire to love in that way? No. I am not that good and know it. I do however have considerable capacity for love. I am usually in love with Zoe, for instance. But that is not the love that the Holy apostle was talking about. His standards are far too high for me. I do try to live up to bits of it, however. I try to be kind, I don't envy and I hope I am not too egotistical.
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It is a most interesting topic and I enjoy reading and viewing different angles of it.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, Christians strive to imitate God's love, a type of hope that seems to be centered around benevolent will for our learning and growth. In that way God's love is perhaps duplicated in parents who harbor comparable hopes for their children. The extension of such hopes would then be actions that serve to ready their growing children to eventually live as adults; to live they choose, to live as they see fit, to live as best they can. No good willed parent would harbor hopes that their children fall down a rather long hill and knock their heads and hearts off. Well, as for love for neighbors, I think it is possible to choose similar hopes to shape one's attitudes, that they learn whatever it is they need to learn in order to live and do well, even the neighbors one does not like.
I remember sitting with a group of friends when I was about 18 years old. We were drinking and listening to extreme metal music, some of the music reveled in their scorn for Christianity. One of the guys present told the others, if he ever got to know that he were about to die, he would then very much like to take a particular person along with him, and then laughed about it. I was disgusted but did not make a fuss about it. If someone were to ask me then why I was repelled by the idea I am not sure I would be able to explain it properly. I do now though and I am thankful to Christianity for teaching me. By the way, the guy I wrote about later became a Jehovah's Witness.
Comparing Christian to leftist standards, the latter seems to be mostly about appearing to be good while doing dirty deeds. Christian standards on the other hand I have grown to admire and I will rather fall short trying to live up to them rather than other standards I am aware of.