I remember when I was still in school; as much as I loved learning in general, there were specific topics I did not love learning about. Like math; it was all right when I was younger, but as I grew up and the math became more complex, I got worse and worse at it, eventually requiring a tutor just to pass my classes. Having to complete math homework assignments felt like torture. I was so happy when I finally finished my last ever math class–and no, I have not yet ever needed to do a geometric proof in the real world.

I worry that my blog will become like that if I’m not careful. That it will become too tedious; I worry that it’s already like that. Most of my posts are on the same subject, and are rather…academic in nature.

Some people might be tired of reading about love by now; I considered putting this second part on hold and starting something new for that reason. However, I just feel so strongly that this topic is important. An incorrect understanding of love leads to an incorrect understanding of God’s character, of the Bible, of what a Christian life should be; I am certain it has also led some people to reject God and Christianity. Before I can even begin to address any other topic, I must first begin with love.

A brief recap of what we have learned so far. We talked about three Hebrew root words that translate to love in English: ahv, hsd, and rchm. Ahv words refer to affection, hsd words to a permanent, steadfast, active love, and rchm words to a parental love. We learned that in Leviticus 19:18, the specific ahv word that is used enhances the meaning of the text in such a way that the passage is actually telling us to love others better than we love ourselves. Additionally, the combination of an hsd and rchm root word in Exodus 34:6 tells us that God loves us with a never-ending, never-changing love, as a parent is meant to love their children.

Now that we have completed our study of the Hebrew words for love and certain Old Testament texts that contain them, let us turn our attention to Greek and the New Testament. But first, a disclaimer: while I could reasonably be described as a Hebrew scholar, the same cannot be said for Greek. To be perfectly honest, I barely passed my Greek classes. In this post, I will not attempt to describe the Greek language or write the words in Greek, but I will provide transliterations of each word.

I also want to take a moment to discuss why we didn’t start immediately with the New Testament; with famous texts about love such as John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13, it would seem as if there’s a lot to learn about love without looking any further. Some people may even say that the Old Testament is no longer relevant and there is no need to study it. I disagree with that assessment. The Old Testament provides the context for the New Testament; it is the foundation upon which the New Testament was built. The Old Testament reveals God’s character, establishes core theological concepts (such as sin and redemption), and foreshadows Jesus Christ. These are not two different books with two different Gods, two different sets of rules, but one unified narrative. I may write more about this in a future post, but for now, suffice it to say that it made sense to me to begin with the Old Testament.

But now we are ready to discuss the New Testament. There are four Greek words for love: agape, philia, storge, and eros. Eros is the word for romantic love, or passion; it is not used in the New Testament, though the concept can be found in certain passages, and I will not be examining it in this blog post. However, we will take a look at the other three words and briefly discuss each one.

Agape is a sacrificial love that seeks the greatest good for the object of its love; it’s not an emotion, or not purely an emotion, but a deliberate choice.¹ It is an unconditional commitment to another’s welfare.² In the New Testament, agape frequently refers to divine love³ and is the term for love that is most often used. It is very similar to the Hebrew term hesed.

Philia refers to a mutual affection and personal connection, such as between best friends; both parties respect each other and place a high value on the other’s company.⁴ It does not encompass the self-sacrificial nature of agape, but a bond deep enough that such self-sacrifice could occur. For example, in John 15:13, when Jesus says “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (ESV), philia is used instead of agape.⁵ This signals a certain overlap between the two terms.

A third Greek word that translates to love is storge. Storge is a familial love, such as between parents and children or between siblings.⁶ It encompasses deep loyalty and care; while it is not used in the New Testament texts, the concept of storge is present in verses such as Romans 12:10.⁷ I also thought it was worth mentioning because of its similarity to racham; both represent family-oriented concepts, though not in precisely the same way.

In the next post, we will examine a few different passages about love, discuss which word is used in each passage, and how that impacts the meaning of the text.

1. Haynes, Clarence L. “What Are the Four Greek Words for Love in the Bible?” Christianity.Com, July 17, 2024. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-are-the-four-greek-words-for-love-in-the-bible.html. ↩︎
2. “The Greek Word for Love.” Topical Bible: The Greek Word for Love, n.d. https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_greek_word_for_love.htm. ↩︎
3. “26. Agape.” Strong’s Greek: 26. Ἀγάπη (Agapé) — Love, n.d. https://biblehub.com/greek/26.htm. ↩︎
4. Haynes, Clarence L. “What Are the Four Greek Words for Love in the Bible?” Christianity.Com, July 17, 2024. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-are-the-four-greek-words-for-love-in-the-bible.html. ↩︎
5. “The Greek Word for Love.” Topical Bible: The Greek Word for Love, n.d. https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_greek_word_for_love.htm. ↩︎
6. Haynes, Clarence L. “What Are the Four Greek Words for Love in the Bible?” Christianity.Com, July 17, 2024. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-are-the-four-greek-words-for-love-in-the-bible.html. ↩︎
7. “The Greek Word for Love.” Topical Bible: The Greek Word for Love, n.d. https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_greek_word_for_love.htm. ↩︎