It is a commonplace amongst preachers to distinguish between the various Greek words for ‘love’ (philia, storge, eros and agape) and assert that agape is the word that fits Christian love.
There is a considerable amount of truth in this, of course. Agape, scholars inform us, was a little-used word in secular Greek and therefore was conveniently available to have Christian meaning poured into it.
Text: 1 John 4:7-21 [See here for the Bible Study Notes on this passsage]
The purpose of this Epistle. The need for reassurance. ‘We know’, 1 Jn 5:13. Three tests: head (believing the truth), 2:22; hands (obeying God’s commands), 2:2; heart (living a life of love); 4:20. These depend on each other, 3:23.
In this passage, tells us what should motivate our love for each other, vv7-11.
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. (Augustine)
“My brethren, when God first began to love you, He gave you all that He ever meant to give you in the lump, and eternity of time is that in which He is retailing of it out.” (Thomas Goodwin)
“I think it is possible on earth to build a young, new Jerusalem, a little, new heaven of this surpassing love. God, either send me more of this love, or take me quickly over the water, where I may be filled with his love.” (Samuel Rutherford)
It might seem strange to describe the doctrine of the love of God as ’difficult’. But it is, and D.A. Carson explains why.
The statement, “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16), ‘is one of the most tremendous utterances in the Bible – and also one of the most misunderstood. False ideas have grown up round it like a hedge of thorns, hiding its real meaning from view, and it is no small task cutting through this tangle of mental undergrowth. Yet the hard thought involved is more than repaid when the true sense of these texts comes home to the Christian soul. Those who climb Ben Nevis do not complain of their labour once they see the view from the top!’ So wrote J.I. Packer, in his classic book, Knowing God.
