“…do this, and you will live." (Luke 10:28) Day 11

Love is all you need.

For the past few days I have been writing about Love. Texts such as Luke 10:25-28 teach us about Love for God and the love for our neighbor. Of course the word Love is used in the English text, while the word Agape is used in the Greek text. Also coming to the Greek language, the word love takes different forms depending on the situation and relationship.

Today I am writing about four different Greek words for love.( Tomorrow we will look at Agape)

The first Greek word for love is storge – best described as love for a member of our family. It is the natural affection/love that a mother feels for her child, or what a brother has for a sister. It is used mostly to describe relationships within the family.

The second Greek word is eros – best described as a sexual or passionate love between a husband and wife. The English word ‘erotic’ has its origins in the Greek word. 

The third Greek word is philia-  it means brotherly love or the love between two fiends. While storge and eros are between relatives or family, philia is love and loyalty to a non-relative. Now in the US there is a city famous for its ‘brotherly love’ – Philadelphia – though sports fans of other cities will not agree.

The fourth Greek word is important for us Christians – xenia-  it is the very important showing of affection to strangers. It means providing hospitality to people who are neither our friends nor relatives. A host exhibits xenia by welcoming a stranger into his/her house and provides food and shelter, expecting nothing in return. At times the host will go out of his/her way to please the guest. And the guest tries not to become a burden.

These four types of love are good. However, they only represent the relationships between humans and they can be abused, corrupted and can even be perverted.

But as Paul says there is “a still more excellent way.” Tomorrow we will look into it. But before that, I have a humble request. Please take some time and reflect if you have abused any of the four love-relationships written above. Have you always loved your ___________(spouse, child, parent, neighbor) as yourself? Have you always shown love for the persons God placed in your life? Please contemplate.

Hope you enjoy this-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hQK6GIrpYU

Thank you Jesus for loving me and taking care of me today and forever. Continue to teach me how to love you and others all the time. Amen.