search help for love

Reading John 21:15-17, love is translated from agapao and phileo in my KJV. How can I find possible word(s) originally used? English uses one word (love) for the two different words in Greek. Did the speakers originally use one or more words? Why did the Greek require two words to fully describe what we know as love? I use L4 platinum.

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Alexander

Brian:

If you open the interlinear pane, you can see what greek words underline each english one. Or you can right click the word in english, choose the "lemma" selection and then use the "look up" feature. The reason the Greek uses more than one word for "love" is they had different concepts. Agape was originally a very empty term for love. Once Christ and Paul came along, the word came to be used for a selfless unconditional type love. Phileo is the type of love that would be between friends - hence Philadelphia being the city of brotherly love Greek, like many other languages, has more succinct ways of expression.

Dave Hooton

Why did the Greek require two words to fully describe what we know as love?

Right click love in a resource and choose Bible Word Study. The Greek Words section will show how many words are translated "love".

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Did the speakers originally use one or more words?

Yes, in John 21:15-17 two Greek words have been translated as Love in English.

Why did the Greek require two words to fully describe what we know as love?

English is not Greek (nor Hebrew); many words have different range of meanings and nuances. A Bible Word Study for Love shows 222 translations of Love in "The Cambridge Paragraph Bible of the Authorized English Version" (AV 1873) New Testament plus 195 translations of Love in AV 1873 Old Testament for a variety of Greek and Hebrew words:

Hovering mouse over a word in AV 1873 New Testament has a pop-up in the panel showing Greek word plus morphological use with Strong's and Louw-Nida #'s.

Scholar's Silver and above includes => Lexham Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament that has cognate (related) words. For example, προσφιλής (prosphilēs) used in Philippians 4:8 has a cognate verb of φιλέω (phileō) that is used by Peter in John 21:15.

Original Languages and above includes => Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains that has contextual tagging of word meaning. In contrast, a Strong's lexicon is like a Dictionary that lists all word meaning uses, which may or may not include specific verse reference. Louw-Nida numbering tags contextual range of meaning for word.

For more extensive Greek word study, Scholar's Platinum includes => A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (BDAG) whose effective use involves looking up word usage and meanings in many places then pondering what usage is contextually appropriate.

Screen shot includes => Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament that is not included in any Logos base package. For Greek interlinear display, personally prefer manuscript form plus Louw-Nida number since can hover over Louw-Nida for contextual word meaning with option to click number to open Louw-Nida's Greek-English lexicon, which has been done for two words translated love in John 21:15.

hence Philadelphia being the city of brotherly love

Philadelphia can literally be translated as => Love Brother. Louw-Nida 25.34 has:

25.34 φιλαδελφία, ας f: affection for one’s fellow believer in Christ—‘love for one’s fellow believer, affection for a fellow believer.’ περὶ δὲ τῆς φιλαδελφίας οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε γράφειν ὑμῖν ‘there is no need to write you about affection for your fellow believers’ 1 Th 4:9; ἡ φιλαδελφία μενέτω ‘keep on loving one another as fellow believers’ He 13:1.

In the NT the terms φιλαδελφία and φιλάδελφος (25.35) have acquired highly specialized meanings which restrict the range of reference to fellow believers. In nonbiblical contexts these terms would refer to affection or love for persons belonging to a so-called ‘in-group,’ but in the NT this in-group is defined in terms of Christian faith.

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Vol. 1: Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: Based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.) (292). New York: United Bible Societies.

Keep Smiling [:)]