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34 A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves.

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Love is a word that has mystified believers for a long time, especially with our English translations.

We either take love to mean something very playful or something very serious. And it becomes so confusing.

But at the time the Gospels were written, different words were used to mean different types of love. We just translated them all as love.

 

So let's look at the original words and try to see what happened. Here are some of the different types of love. Let's start with what should be the easy ones.

 

    Storge- Familiar Love: This is like the love between a parent and a child. Not a physical or sexual type of love, but a strong bond or kinship.

    Philia- Affectionate Love: This is the kind of love you experience with your friends.Love between people who consider themselves equal. 

    Ludus- Playful Love: Most of you know what i'm talking about. Butterflies in your stomach, silliness when your love walks through the door, never wanting to be without them.(It has been shown your brain is lit up like it is on cocaine. Just like someone who is high on a drug.)

    Eros- Romantic Love: Romantic, passionate, and physical love. An expression of passion and desire.

   Pragma- Enduring Love: Eros tends to burn out quickly. Pragma has to be developed over a long period of time. Like older couples that have been together for years and still hold hands. Both people are good at making compromises and each of them put in equal efforts to make the other happy.

  Philautia- Self Love: Okay stop right there. Not that kind of self love. Self-love is not negative of unhealthy in any way. It is necessary to be able to give and receive love from others. We cannot give to others something we don't have.  

Mania- Obsessive Love: This is not necessarily a good type of love. It can lead someone into jealousy, anger and madness. Philautia (self love) helps keep this in check.

 

And now the type of love Jesus was talking about:

 

Agape- Unconditional Love: Selfless, unconditional, sacrificial. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. Radical because so few people seem capable of feeling it long term. Agape is used to describe our love for God and to describe a servant's faithful respect for his master.

 

Impossible? Yes... Unless you give yourself over to the Holy Spirit.

 

Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children.

 

God truly loves you. Let Him pour His love into you so that you can let His love flow through you to others.