What is Biblical Love?
The four Greek words for "love," and how they illuminate otherwise mystifying New Testament scriptures
From the time the New Testament’s authors documented Jesus’s death and resurrection, through the reign of Constantine the Great, who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, up until today, when the Bible’s words and teachings remain the most revered and followed on Earth, the words of the Bible have always been the most important ever written.
Our experience with these words is almost always in English, and a plethora of quality translations grant us access to what were originally ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic sentences. But no translation is ever perfect. Often, translations can only capture the surface meaning, not the full depth, of their originals. In the New Testament, this is especially true for the word “love,” which in English is one word, but in Greek can be four different words which each boast their own respective flavors of meaning. Listed below are these words for love, an account and commentary on where and why they appear in certain passages, and an analysis of how they can illuminate scriptures which would otherwise be mystifying. The first two of these words are either rare or absent in the New Testament; they receive brief mentions because of their history in the Greek language and because the New Testament’s authors were certainly familiar with them. The following two words are the most common and the most rewarding to study.
Eros - ἔρως
Eros, in ancient mythology, is the Greek counterpart of Cupid, the Roman god of love and desire. When this word is not referring to a pagan deity, eros denotes the erotic aspects of love (“erotic” itself is a derivative of eros). Common English translations include “love,” “lust,” “desire,” and “sexual passion.” Eros can have a positive connotation with a meaning like “passionate joy,” but it can also have a negative connotation with a meaning like “amour.” Although eros had been a common word since the time of Homer, it does not appear in the New Testament. Perhaps its absence in the New Testament is just as significant as its presence would have been.
Storgē - στοργή
Storgē is the “heartfelt love,” “affection,” and “benevolent interest” that a person feels for someone else. An example is the love that husband and wife have for each other. Storgē appears in scripture in compound words and in its negative form, astorgos (literally “without storgē”), which is often translated “hardhearted” or “unfeeling.” One example of this negative form is in 2 Timothy 3:3, where Paul warns that during the last days people will be “without love [astorgoi], unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, [and] not lovers of the good.”
Storgē is present within a compound word in Romans 12:10, which combines storgē with philia (another type of love discussed below) to make philostorgos, often translated as “devoted.” Thus, Romans 12:10 reads, “be devoted [philostorgoi] to one another in brotherly love.” “Brotherly love” in this verse is a translation of the word philadelphia, a compound of philia and adelphos (brother) and, additionally, the source of the city of Philadelphia’s name. Although this version of “love” sees comparatively little usage and does not appear in its uncompounded form, it still leaves traces in the New Testament.
Philia - φιλία (noun) / Phileō - φιλέω (verb)
Philia means “brotherly love,” “affection,” and “close friendship.” Phileō has similar connotations to philia and approximately means, “to have a philia-like love.” Phileō appears in John 11:36, when the Jews see Jesus weeping over the death of Lazarus and exclaim, “‘see how he loved him!’” From the Jews’ perspective, Jesus had affection and a fraternal love for Lazarus.
In James 4:4, we see the “friendship” definition of philia: “you adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship [philia] with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” What is more, the word “friend” in this verse is translated from the Greek philos, which derives from the same root as philia.
Although philia is not the type of love most often associated with God, in certain passages, such as John 16:27, Jesus attributes philia directly to God the Father. Jesus says, “‘no, the Father himself loves [phileō] you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.’” It is hard to pinpoint exactly why Jesus chooses phileō here. As we will later see, phileō signifies an instinctive, emotional love rather than a chosen, deliberate love. Perhaps Jesus is simply emphasizing that facet of God’s love for us.
The last and most unique meaning of phileō is “to kiss as a sign of affection.” It is the word translated as “kiss” when Judas betrays Jesus to the chief priests in Mark 14:44: “now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘the one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’”
Agapē - ἀγάπη (noun) / Agapaō - ἀγαπάω (verb)
Finally, there is the love attributed to God himself. Agapē is unconditional, charitable, self-sacrificing love. Twice in 1 John, in verses 4:8 and 4:16, John simply writes that “God is [agapē] love.”
In Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, he defines agapē for us. Every time this translation says “love,” Paul originally wrote agapē:
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. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
The history of agapē further testifies to its significance. Although agapaō, the verb form of agapē, has existed since at least the time of Homer, there are few traces of agapē itself until the time of the New Testament. Walter Bauer and Frederick Danker, in their authoritative A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, write, “this term [agapē] has left little trace in polytheistic [Greek].” In other words, the Biblical definition of agapē is unique to the Bible and to the Christian God. When a New Testament author writes “agapē,” he is baptizing this word into the Christian tradition. Because agapē takes on such a profound meaning in Christian contexts, agapaō does as well.
Comparing agapaō to its Latin translation in St. Jerome’s 4th-century Vulgate Bible reveals another insight about agapē. When he translates the word phileō, St. Jerome chooses the Latin word amare, which was, in Rome’s pagan past, the most common word for “love.” But for agapaō, St. Jerome chooses the Latin word diligere, whose central meaning is still “love,” but whose connotations are “to choose” and “to do willingly.” St. Jerome’s careful word choice tells us that agapē is a chosen love, a deliberate decision that we commit ourselves to uphold, in contrast to philia, which is much more the product of our natural inclinations.
Mentions of agapē and agapaō abound in scripture. One example is John 3:16, which reads, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Another is Romans 5:8, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In Matthew 22:36, a Pharisee asks Jesus, “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’” Jesus responds with these commands:
“‘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 like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
In John 15:12-13, Jesus exhorts his disciples to have agapē, and affirms the self-sacrificial nature of this love. He tells them, “my command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Agapē is the love that defines Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for us. It is the deepest, most committed love. It is a deliberate choice. We should not think that the other types of love are frivolous, but that these other forms of love are only brought to their fullest fruition when we adopt them into our agapē love.
Lost in Translation
There are many passages in the New Testament where English translations must reduce the rich variety of storgē, philia, and agapē down to the bland, catch-all “love.” There is one passage, however, which especially suffers from the loss of the original Greek distinctions. By restoring a few Greek words, these verses transform in meaning. The passage is John 21:15-17, in which John records this conversation between Peter and the resurrected Jesus:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
In English, it is easy to mistake Jesus’s persistent questions about Peter’s love as just a perplexing anecdote. After all, we can easily glean one of Jesus’s meanings from the translation, which is that Peter is supposed to be a shepherd and a leader for those who believe in Christ. But when the English text is glossed with ancient Greek, the passage yields a whole new meaning:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love [agapaō] me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love [phileō] you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love [agapaō] me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love [phileō] you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love [phileō] me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love [phileō] me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love [phileō] you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
With his first two queries, Jesus questions Peter’s agapē, but Peter is only able to testify to his philia. On the third question, Jesus finally meets Peter in his philia. Jesus and Peter are not simply echoing each other, but are instead questioning and testifying about different words. Judging by Jesus’s repeated inquisition and by his eventual stooping to ask Peter about philia, not agapē, the Greek glosses reveal significant and otherwise hidden information about this passage. Here are three plausible interpretations of this information, but by no means do they form an exhaustive list of the potential takeaways:
Peter is unable to testify to his agapē for Jesus because Peter has not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit. We know from Acts 2 that the disciples are not filled with the Holy Spirit until many weeks after Jesus’s resurrection at Pentecost. Once Peter is inspired by the Holy Spirit, he is immediately able to speak in tongues and preach so that he converts 3000 people. Perhaps Peter (and by extension, we ourselves) can only truly testify to an agapē love for Jesus after receiving the Holy Spirit. Before he has the help of the Holy Spirit, Peter might be unable to choose to fully love God, and can only have philia love.
Just as Peter thrice denied Jesus before Jesus’s crucifixion, Jesus thrice questions Peter after his resurrection. With his first two questions, Jesus impresses on Peter that he needs to move past philia and into agapē to continue Jesus’s ministry. His love needs to be deeper, more self-sacrificial, more pure, and more deliberate. He needs a love of service. With his third question, Jesus questions even the love which Peter professes that he has, which is why “Peter was hurt.”
Perhaps Peter intentionally answers with phileō and not agapaō because he wants to highlight a special aspect of his love for Jesus. There are two possible reasons Peter might do this. First, he might respond with phileō because he sees it as a more natural, affectionate love and wants to focus on this in contrast to the chosen (and perhaps, in Peter’s eyes, cooler) love which is agapē. Second, Peter might respond with phileō because he previously failed to choose Jesus when he denied him three times, and because he wants to highlight that, although he failed in his agapē, he still has philia. Several commentaries offer both possible explanations.
Conclusion
The Greek glosses will deepen and transform your understanding of the verses above, regardless of how you interpret them. This is the case for a great many passages. The English translations are certainly not inaccurate or unremarkable, but the original Greek will always have a different undertone and a richer meaning. For your future reading, online commentaries can inform you about what words for love are written where.