What Agape Love Means: For Greeks, Christians, in the Bible and More!

The word “agape” is of Greek origin and means love. This is a feeling that brings unique sensations to the individual, moreover, love is an emotion that can be felt strongly, intensely or lightly.

Therefore, love does not have a unitary concept, because each human being feels love in a way, what is known is that agape has the meaning of the word love. When the word agape is used, it becomes relevant to see in which context it is being used, whether it is in the Bible, whether it is by the Greeks or by Christians.

From this, there are several types of love: unconditional, God’s love for humanity, agape love in Romans, and there is also what is called the opposites of agape love: hatred, envy and resentment, as we will see below.

As seen above, Agape is a Greek word and it means love. So, the definition for agape love is that love that doesn’t think only of itself, but thinks of the other.

Agape love is concerned with the highest good. It can be seen in unconditional love and other types of loves. Check it out below.

Unconditional love is that love that has no end. It’s a genuine love, the person loves because they love without expecting anything in return.

Unconditional love is characterized by love that does not depend on the other to happen. In this kind of love, there is no charge, ego. It is altruistic, that is to say, when feeling this kind of love, it is not possible to feel selfishness.

The feeling in unconditional love cannot be limited or measured, it is felt in an unlimited, full, integral way. In unconditional love, agape love is seen as giving yourself completely and unconditionally, without asking for anything in return.

God’s love for humanity is completely unconditional. He doesn’t change, he doesn’t ask for anything in return and, above all, he has no limits. One can see that God’s love is totally genuine, because whatever happens and regardless of the situation someone is living, God is always there ready to love genuinely and without judgment.

God’s love for humanity is the purest there is, for each child is precious to him. God loves everyone as a whole, with their flaws and qualities. His love is beyond our comprehension, but it is possible to feel it. God’s love is unique, unconditional, genuine and omnipresent.

Love, for the Greeks, is characterized and defined by three types of love: Eros, Philia and Agape. We’ll look at each one below.

Basically, Eros would be romantic love. Philia the love of friendship and Agape the modern love. From this, love for the Greeks is not just the romantic one when you are in a loving relationship.

Love for the Greeks goes further, so there are different types of love and each one of them is particular and special in its way of being and feeling. From that, there are many ways to love someone, different types of feelings, however, there is only one word to describe all of this, which is “love”.

As seen above, agape love is that love that does not demand and thinks about the good of the other. Now, agape love for Christians is that most spiritual and divine love. This love refers to a higher feeling.

In the new testament, agape love for Christians appears in three aspects, namely: the first, refers to God’s love for man; the second, to man’s love for God; and the third, to man’s love for the other. So, Christians perceive love in a more religious way and generally this love is turned towards God.

Agape love in the Bible is unconditional and perfect love for God. This God who loves justly, truly, without prejudice and infinitely. This is a divine and pure love, as we can see below.

Agape love in 1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”. This is how love is referred to in verse 4:8 of the disciple John. From this verse, it becomes possible to have a greater perception of how agape love is seen in the Bible.

In this love, individuals who do not love and cannot love do not know God. That is, if love for God is felt, then it becomes possible for God and to love one’s neighbor. With that, it is possible to feel the purest and most divine love there is. If you love God, automatically, you are love and, therefore, it is possible to give and receive that feeling that is so particular, complex and beautiful.

Agape love in Matthew 22:37-39: “and the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. From this verse, it becomes possible to perceive that love is seen as looking at oneself. In that case, the way you would like to be loved is the way you should love your neighbor.

And the way you love yourself is the way you love the other. This is how love is seen in the Bible, agape love in Matthew 22: 37-39. So, that means that love is found within you and consequently it is donated to the other.

Agape love in Matthew 5: 43-46: “is seen as that love that loves everyone because everyone is worthy and deserving of love, even enemies”. As much as it is heard that it is important to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, the individual deserves love.

In one of its sayings, Matthew 5:45 notes: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So, this shows that regardless of any circumstances, in the eyes of God, there is no such thing as good and bad, what exists are people worthy of love from others and from the Lord.

Agape love in 1 John 2:15 refers to: “Do not love the world or the things in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” What John means in this sentence is that there is no need to love material things, goods, because that is not what love is. And these things do not come from God, but from humans.

Another point to be emphasized in this verse is that what is important is to love people and God, and not to love things because what does not come from the father is not worthy of love.

Agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 is seen as the ultimate source of survival. Because without love nothing can be. You have love, you have everything. If you don’t have love, you have nothing. Here, love is true, fair. Everything supports, everything believes and everything hopes. Love is not envious, it is not irritated, it desires only good.

Thus, 1 Corinthians 13 points out, “and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, nothing he would be”.

Agape love in Romans 8:39 refers to: “Neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Love in this case is seen directly with the love of God.

Then, nothing can separate the love that is felt by the creator of the universe. That love is found in Jesus Christ. Nothing is as strong and as deep as the love for God, and that no one can separate because it is something and an intrinsic and divine feeling.

Agape love is genuine and when felt it transcends and is unconditional. However, not everyone is able to feel this, because there is an emotional, spiritual and existential blockage. And the most common blockages that occur are hatred, resentment and envy.

The word hate itself is a strong word to hear, read and express. Hating someone brings a bad energy to the person because as much as you don’t love someone, you shouldn’t hate someone. The energy spent hating the other could be spent loving yourself and looking for ways to get that bad feeling out of you.

The opposite of love is indifference, it is more subtle to be indifferent than to hate someone. Because hate hurts yourself more than the other who is receiving this feeling.

Resentment is seen when someone has a deep hurt inside themselves in relation to something that happened, with themselves or in relation to the other. When you have that feeling, what happens is that the energy of love is blocked.

And that can drive love away, leaving room only for resentment. In addition to being harmful to people, when you hold a grudge you can get sick and the person can become bitter. Therefore, it is important to open the way to love.

When someone is jealous of someone else it is because they would like to have what the other has. Instead of admiring the other, she feels envy. And that seems to be one of the worst feelings you can have. Because this occurs not out of necessity, but out of greed.

When you want what the other has, it prevents the evolution of becoming a better person and prevents love from entering your heart. Therefore, it becomes necessary to nourish yourself with love and not with envy, hatred and resentment. It is important to give space and passage only to love, because in this way the energy of love flows in our body.

Over time many literati, poets, composers and others have tried to name and define what love is. But it is difficult and complex to find definitions for love. Despite this, there are some possible definitions according to the Greeks.

Agape love, as seen above, is a love that carries with it genuineness. That is, he does not demand reciprocity, demand. This love loves because loving is good for the heart, moreover, it is unconditional. It happens on delivery and is universal.

Greek love embraces a love for everything and everyone. Here all beings and individuals are worthy of love. And the most amazing thing is that this love expects absolutely nothing in return. Therefore, it becomes genuine, pure and light.

Eros is linked to romantic love, passion, desire. Everything that comes from the heart becomes valid and special. Reason stays in the background and gives room only to emotion.

So much so that Eros is one of the four Greek-Christian terms that mean “love”. Eros is so passionate about love that, in Greece, he was seen as cupid who shot arrows at people to fall in love and attract each other.

Ludus is a lighter, looser and more fun form of love. Love here is characterized by not assuming a more serious commitment to the other. However, the relationship is watered with pleasure and joy. Ludus love is like two people meeting and living forever in a romantic comedy, where no…