Love can be a challenge to define on a personal level, everyone will have a different take on what love means to them. Love can consist of personal affection, sexual attraction, family loyalty, platonic admiration and worshipful adoration. But to accurately define love, we need to go to its origin which is found in the Bible.
In this blog post, I will break down the different types of love that the Bible differentiates in its ancient languages Hebrew and Greek which are sexual, friendship, family and God’s love.
Let’s go!
Sexual Love
The Hebrew word yada and the Greek word eros is used to describe sexual love. It means to intimately know someone, depending on the context it can be translated as “to know carnally” or “to have sexual intercourse with”. In the Old Testament, yada is used on many occasions, for example in Genesis 4:1 where Adam made love with his wife Eve. However, eros is not seen in the New Testament because there is no context for it to be used.
Friendship Love
The Hebrew word ahabah and the Greek word philia are used to describe brotherly love, what we now translate as friendship love. This type of love is an affectionate love shown between close friends seeking to make each other happy. However, when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, He is not using the word philia but instead agape which means to love them the way God loves them (Luke 6:27-28), and then just maybe philia love can grow once you begin to understand your enemies.
We see an example of ahabah in the Old Testament between Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 20). We also see references to philia in the New Testament in Romans 12:10, Hebrews 13:1, and 1 Peter 1:22.
Family Love
The Hebrew word is also ahabah and the Greek word is storge which is used to describe family love which is based on familiarity. It is described as the natural affection between parents and their children, siblings and husbands and wives. A person will love their family regardless of whether they are people the person would be drawn to. This is why often family members have nothing in common except familiarity and blood. As Christians, we are adopted sons and daughters of God the Father when we put our faith in Jesus. Therefore, other Christians are our fellow brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers in Christ. Christians are not just supposed to have a natural affection towards their family but also for their Christ family.
The word storge is not specifically used in the Bible, but the concept of it is. However, the word is taken from the Greek word philostorgos which means “tenderly loving”. The opposite word of philostorgos is astorgous which means “without natural affection” or “heartless” and this is found in 2 Timothy 3:3. The word astorgous has been used in the Bible to refer to:
- Someone “who suppresses the truth” about the gospel (good news of Jesus) “by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18).
- Someone who is called “gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful” (Romans 1:29-30).
- People who “disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” (Romans 1:30-31).
Therefore, if that is the characteristic of someone who has no natural affection (storge), then someone who has natural affection (storge) will show characteristics which are opposite to this.
God’s Love
The Hebrew word chesed and the Greek word agape is used to describe the love God has towards His children. In the Old Testament, chesed has been translated as God’s “steadfast love” or “lovingkindness” (Numbers 14:18). In the New Testament, agape has been similarly translated as God’s unconditional and self-sacrificing love for the world (John 3:16). This type of love is the highest form of love ever.
God first loved us before we loved Him, and therefore we love others because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We are commanded to love God and others through agape love (Matthew 22:37-39). God wants His followers to imitate the love He has for us so, that He is seen by others through how we agape love them (1 John 4:12).
As we are made in the image of the Triune God, and love originated from the Godhead, we are to represent the eternal relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit through agape love. The qualities of agape love are found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 which best depicts how we should agape love everyone, including our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
To best sum up the definition of love: “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11).
As you can see the English language does not have the capacity to depict the different types of love shown, but hopefully, by this blog post, you have been able to gain a biblical understanding of what love is.
Share this blog post with someone who would like to know what love truly means.
Stay blessed,
Divine L.
Hi, I am Divine L., your sister-in-F.A.I.T.H., who is passionate about discipling Christian girls to be a walking embodiment of Jesus Christ in their daily lives and to help young girls and woman become who God destined for them to become. It is a great blessing to welcome you to the F.A.I.T.H. sisterhood!