Sunday, March 9, 2014

Love

Philia (φιλία) Love:
Philia is that love found between friends, as found between David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 18). Nowadays, true friendship is a lost art. C. S. Lewis said, "to the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it." Modern society does not value the worth of philia love because so few have experienced true friendship. Nowadays, everyone is out for themselves and will quickly and readily throw you under the bus if it means they can get ahead in life. Friendship is a strong bond that exists between people who share common interests or activities. Philia love is freely chosen; there is nothing biological about it. You are not obligated to be someone's friend.

Storge (στοργή) Love:
Storge is that love through familiarity, such as brotherly love or familial love (love between family members). It is affectionate. Storge love is the most natural, emotive, and widely diffused (the ability to overlook one's faults and accept one as one is). It is natural because it does not have to be coerced out of another person. It includes give and take. Its give is what C. S. Lewis called "Gift-love," and its take is what he called "Need-love." Storge love's strength is also its weakness, however, in that people come to expect it irrespective of their behaviour and its natural consequences. We can see another of its weaknesses in modern society where, because of one's love for one's family, they become blind to justice, conscience, logic, and common sense.

Eros (ἔρως) Love:
Eros is that sensual and/or romantic love. It is the sense of "being in love" or "loving" someone. Eros love can be good or bad, as C. S. Lewis says, "Eros in all his splendour...may urge to evil as well as good." Walter Hooper said that eros love turns need-pleasure into the most appreciative of all pleasures, while Lewis warned against the modern tendency for eros love to become a god to people who fully submit themselves to it. Sadly, this is precisely what we see on a colossal scale in our modern society. Eros love has become a god to the people; the need-pleasure rules their lives and their beliefs, justifying every sexually perverse deed they do: swingers, orgies, homosexuals, etc.

Agape (ἀγάπη) Love:
Agape is that love that is unconditional, selfless, and self-sacrificing. It is a love that loves irrespective of whether the other person deserves that love or has earned that love. This is the love that husbands and wives are commanded to give unto one another (Eph. 5). Agape is the greatest of loves. It has no expectations or agendas behind it. In a world where arranged marriages were normal, the command to show agape love puts an even greater understanding upon the duties of both husband and wife. Agape love is the love with which God loves us. We do not deserve His love, and we sure have not earned His love. What Jesus did for us on the cross was the highest demonstration of agape love.