Walking with the Lord: Part Three by Michael Podhaczky

We have been looking at the topic of ‘Walking with the Lord,’ and we will continue with it. Here we will look at loving God with all our heart. So, what kind of love are we talking about here? In English, we use the one-word love in various ways, but is this the case in the New Testament’s original language (NT)?

Well actually, there are four words for love, but only three are used in the NT. The four words are storge, philia, eros and finally agape. C.S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves suggests that storge can be understood as affection the humblest of all loves,[1] philia as tender affection, friendship, or cherish[2] eros as part of the sexual, sensual, and romance experience, or passionate love[3] and finally agape as charity and a vulnerable and unconditional love, but above all divine gift love.[4] However, the most used are the verb agapao or agape a noun, which is used approx. 216 times.

When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, He said the following,

³⁷ “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: Love your neighbour as yourself. The entire Law and all the demands of the Prophets are based on these two commandments’” (Matt 22:37-40 NLT; cf. also Mk 12:28-33; Lk 10:25-28).

Jesus used the word agape here, but who can love God and others this way? A couple of things need to be said here in the qualification of this kind of love. Firstly, though someone can love using agape, it has its origin with God. This leads to the second thing; a person needs to have been born again of God’s Spirit to love with agape. The reason for this second point is that, when a person is born anew, they receive this love from God as a fruit of their life, see Gal 5:22. A person cannot love God in this way unless they have come to know Him. The only way a person can know Him is through His Spirit, bringing them into a relationship with Him.

Pause in His presence for a moment and think this over…

---

[1] Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. (Glasgow, UK: Collins, 1987), 33, 35.

[2] Lewis, The Four Loves, 55. Barclay, W. New Testament Words. (London: SCM Press LTD, 1983), 18.

[3] Lewis, The Four Loves, 85, 100. Cf. also Barclay, New Testament Words, 17-18.

[4] Lewis, The Four Loves, 107, 111, 117-119.