Biblical love

Ceron Pugh
Ceron Pugh Member Posts: 19
edited November 20 in English Forum

Good afternoon to all,  I have the platinum edition of Logos, and I am looking for all information pertaining to Biblical love, Godly love, I am looking to research all that my edition have on the subject. Tough love, hurting love etc...

Thank you

Comments

  • Rich DeRuiter
    Rich DeRuiter Member, MVP Posts: 6,729

    Good afternoon to all,  I have the platinum edition of Logos, and I am looking for all information pertaining to Biblical love, Godly love, I am looking to research all that my edition have on the subject. Tough love, hurting love etc...

    Thank you

    This would be an incredibly large project. Do you have a plan to proceed?

    The Bible uses 2 of the 4 Greek words for love: agape and philos. And these have a wide range of meaning. Further, some resources will conflict with each other on what they mean and how (or even if) they are different from each other.

    If you do a search for "Biblical Love" (with quotes will search the exact phrase) you may find something of what you're looking for, though it's likely to be a long list. You could also search for the phrases "tough love" etc. and see what you get there.

    Then dig in and start somewhere. You can always refine your process later.

     Help links: WIKI;  Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)

  • Welcome [:D]

    Good afternoon to all,  I have the platinum edition of Logos, and I am looking for all information pertaining to Biblical love, Godly love, I am looking to research all that my edition have on the subject. Tough love, hurting love etc...

    Suggest creating a collection that excludes bibles:

    image

    Then search collection:

    image

    Scholar's platinum plus library has lots of articles - can order search results by count.

    Also can do a Bible search for love - found 2,366 verses in 55 resources - searching Top Bibles is faster.

    Observation: Top Bibles is an automatic collection of first 5 prioritized bibles - wiki has Prioritizing page

    Keep Smiling [:)]

     

  • Dan Francis
    Dan Francis Member Posts: 5,335 ✭✭✭

    Good afternoon to all,  I have the platinum edition of Logos, and I am looking for all information pertaining to Biblical love, Godly love, I am looking to research all that my edition have on the subject. Tough love, hurting love etc...

    Thank you

    This would be an incredibly large project. Do you have a plan to proceed?

    The Bible uses 2 of the 4 Greek words for love: agape and philos. And these have a wide range of meaning. Further, some resources will conflict with each other on what they mean and how (or even if) they are different from each other.

    If you do a search for "Biblical Love" (with quotes will search the exact phrase) you may find something of what you're looking for, though it's likely to be a long list. You could also search for the phrases "tough love" etc. and see what you get there.

    Then dig in and start somewhere. You can always refine your process later.

     

    I realize it's connected to philo but there is this one too..


    philostorgos, authentically loving, tenderly devoted, beneficent

     

    philostorgos, S 5387; EDNT 3.428; NIDNTT 2.538–539, 542, 550; MM 671–672; L&N 25.41; BAGD 861; ND 2.101–103, 3.41–42

     

    The first characteristic of “authentic love” (Rom 12:9) is that it fills Christians with tender devotion to each other (verse 10; cf. F. Cumont, Studia Pontica III, 20, 14). Thus may we translate philostorgoi, which in the Koine often replaces the simple form storge, 1 which expresses familial affection, an attachment sealed by nature and blood ties, uniting spouses, parents and children, brothers and sisters.2 Because this instinct or feeling is shared by animals and humans,3 Philo considers it a virtue only to the extent that it remains under the rule of reason;4 but in common usage, usage philostorgia has the more positive sense of the mother’s innate love, benevolence, and devotion toward her children;5 then that of a husband for his wife6 or a wife for her husband;7 of a father for his sons8 and of sons for a father.9 But philostorgia is also used for all links of kinship,10 even one’s attachment to guest-friends (SEG XVIII, 143, 69), or the attachment of slaves to their master.11

    Quite often, philostorgia is identified with gratitude.12 Not only do writers of wills leave their property to those who have shown affection for them,13 but on August 29, 58, Phairas writes to his physician: “I hope that if I cannot return in equal measure the affection you have shown me, I may at least show some token of gratitude.”14 This extension of philostorgia to strangers shows that this sentiment is not limited to mere benevolence15 but also includes active beneficence, devotion, and generosity; thus Hippolytus appeals to the dioiketes Acusilaus: “I beseech you, in your philostorgia, concerning my sons who are with Soterichon . . .”16

    In the language of the inscriptions from the second century BC, philostorgos is synonymous with “benefactor.” A decree of Athens confers praise and a gold crown to King Attalus I as the benefactor of the city “with all goodwill and philostorgia. ”17 Attalus II honors his brother Eumenes II “for virtue and goodwill and his philostorgia toward him” (aretes heneken kai eunoias kai philostorgias tes pros heauton, I.Ilium, n. 41). Attalus III writes “so that you may know how much philostorgia we have for him.”18 The merchants of Laodicea erect a statue in honor of Heliodorus “because of his goodwill and philostorgia toward the king and good deeds toward themselves” (eunoias heneken kai philostorgias tes eis ton basilea kai euergesias tes eis hautous, Dittenberger, Or. 247, 6). The city of Gythion honors the public physician Damiadas “who has in everything abundantly demonstrated his goodwill and philostorgia toward our city.”19 The word is also used for devotion to country20 and with a religious meaning as an epithet for the savior goddess Isis of Carene;21 but with the abuse of the expression, especially in the honorific inscriptions,22 it came to be purely a polite term and an expression of official “sympathy” (2Macc 9:21; cf. Dittenberger, Or. 257, 4; TAM II, 283, 360, 443, 484, 662, 716, etc.) or of some undifferentiated form of attachment.23

  • Jack Caviness
    Jack Caviness Member, MVP Posts: 13,488 ✭✭✭

    I realize it's connected to philo but there is this one too..

    philostorgos, authentically loving, tenderly devoted, beneficent

    philostorgos, S 5387; EDNT 3.428; NIDNTT 2.538–539, 542, 550; MM 671–672; L&N 25.41; BAGD 861; ND 2.101–103, 3.41–42

    The first characteristic of “authentic love” (Rom 12:9)

    I'm confused. philostorgos does not appear in Romans 12:9. Love there is ἀγάπη

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Though it's not in Logos, you'll want to read C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves. In it he discusses the four kinds of love. His chapters (Affection, Friendship, Eros, Charity) correspond to the four Greek words for love: storgē (στοργή), phileō (φιλέω), erōs (ἔρως), and agapē (ἀγάπη).

    Do a Bible Word Study on the word love, and click on the different segments to find passages in Scripture where those Greek words are used:

    image

    I realize it's connected to philo but there is this one too..

    philostorgos, authentically loving, tenderly devoted, beneficent

    philostorgos, S 5387; EDNT 3.428; NIDNTT 2.538–539, 542, 550; MM 671–672; L&N 25.41; BAGD 861; ND 2.101–103, 3.41–42

    The first characteristic of “authentic love” (Rom 12:9)

    I'm confused. philostorgos does not appear in Romans 12:9. Love there is ἀγάπη

    "Rom 12:9" is probably a typo. It's philostorgos in Rom 12:10. Or else Spicq (the author of TLNT) was using a version of the Bible with different versification than ours. MJ Smith might know about that. She's our resident expert on different versifications.

  • Jerry M
    Jerry M Member Posts: 1,680

    Sometimes people refer to agape as the God-kind of love.  I found part of the article on love in the New Bible Dictionary to be interesting.


    a. Etymology

    The commonest Gk. word in the NT for all forms of love is agapē, agapaō. This is one of the least frequent words in classical Greek, where it expresses, on the few occasions it occurs, that highest and noblest form of love which sees something infinitely precious in its object. Its use in the NT derives not directly from classical Greek so much as from the LXX, where it occurs in 95% of all cases where EVV translate the Hebrew by ‘love’, and in every case of love from God to man, man to God and man to his neighbour. The dignity which the word possesses in the NT has been contributed by its use as a vehicle of the OT revelation. It is pregnant with OT associations.

    phileō is the alternative word to agapaō. It is more naturally used of intimate affection (Jn. 11:3, 36; Rev. 3:19), and of liking to do things which are pleasant (Mt. 6:5). though there is considerable overlapping of usage between the two words. Much exegesis of Jn. 21:15–17 has turned on Peter’s willingness to say philō se (‘I am your friend’, J. B. Phillips), and apparent reluctance to say agapō se. It is difficult to see why a writer of such simple Greek as John should have used the two words in this context unless he intended a distinction to be drawn between their meanings. The existence of any clear distinction, here or elsewhere, is, however, seriously disputed by scholars, and is not noticed by ancient commentators, except perhaps by Ambrose (On Luke 10. 176) and in the Vulg., which in this passage employs diligo and amo to translate agapaō and phileō respectively. 

     

     

     

    "For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power"      Wiki Table of Contents

  • Rich DeRuiter
    Rich DeRuiter Member, MVP Posts: 6,729

    Though it's not in Logos, you'll want to read C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves. In it he discusses the four kinds of love. His chapters (Affection, Friendship, Eros, Charity) correspond to the four Greek words for love: storgē (στοργή), phileō (φιλέω), erōs (ἔρως), and agapē (ἀγάπη).

    I also recommend that book. However, storgē (στοργή) and erōs (ἔρως),don't appear in the Biblical literature of the protestant canon (except perhaps in compound words, as mentioned above).

    I just looked and found storgē (στοργή) in the LXX in Macabees (3Mc 5:32; 4Mc 14:13; 17). Interestingly in 4Mc 14:13 it's used together with philoteknia (φιλοτεκνία) ("love of children," also a NT compound) in a structure that seems to say "the affection (στοργή) of parental love (φιλοτεκνία)" - the latter as a genitive, the former in the nominative. Related to storgē (στοργή) is stergō (στέργω), which only occurs in the LXX in Sirach 27:17, and (according to one of my lexicons a few places in other Greek literature (both Christian and non-Christian).

    erōs (ἔρως) and the verb eraō (ἐράω), only in extra-Biblical literature (both Christian and non-Christian).

    [BTW, I found most of the above using BDAG and the Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint - Revised by searching through the table of contents and reading the articles. Which illustrates another way to use Logos do to word studies of this type - if you know where to start, at least.]

    I realize it's connected to philo but there is this one too..

    philostorgos, authentically loving, tenderly devoted, beneficent

    philostorgos, S 5387; EDNT 3.428; NIDNTT 2.538–539, 542, 550; MM 671–672; L&N 25.41; BAGD 861; ND 2.101–103, 3.41–42

    The first characteristic of “authentic love” (Rom 12:9)

    Thanks for pointing this out. If it weren't for the compound with storgē (στοργή), it would be just another compound word of the type phil-[compound]. I'm not sure it's more important than the other compounds as the OP pursues the question of the meaning of Biblical love, but it is more interesting (at least from a linguistic point of view). Also, you made me look more closely into this, and that's always a good thing . . . I think.

     Help links: WIKI;  Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    However, storgē (στοργή) and erōs (ἔρως),don't appear in the Biblical literature of the protestant canon (except perhaps in compound words, as mentioned above).

    ...

    erōs (ἔρως) and the verb eraō (ἐράω), only in extra-Biblical literature (both Christian and non-Christian).

    From Synonyms of the New Testament by Richard Trench:

    I observe in conclusion that ἔρως, ἐρᾶν, ἐραστής, never occur in the N. T., but the two latter occasionally in the Septuagint; thus ἐρᾶν, Esth. 2:17; Prov. 4:6; ἐραστής generally in a dishonorable sense as ‘paramour’ (Ezek. 16:33; Hos. 2:5); yet once or twice (as Wisd. 8:2) more honorably, not as=‘amasius,’ but ‘amator.’

  • Jack Caviness
    Jack Caviness Member, MVP Posts: 13,488 ✭✭✭

    Rom 12:9" is probably a typo. It's philostorgos in Rom 12:10

    I knew it was somewhere in the NT. I was going to look for it, but got distracted (when the wife speaks, I always get distracted), and never returned to the search. Rosie, did you have to point out that it was just a single verse away? [:$] [:D]

  • Rich DeRuiter
    Rich DeRuiter Member, MVP Posts: 6,729

    However, storgē (στοργή) and erōs (ἔρως),don't appear in the Biblical literature of the protestant canon (except perhaps in compound words, as mentioned above).

    ...

    erōs (ἔρως) and the verb eraō (ἐράω), only in extra-Biblical literature (both Christian and non-Christian).

    From Synonyms of the New Testament by Richard Trench:

    I observe in conclusion that ἔρως, ἐρᾶν, ἐραστής, never occur in the N. T., but the two latter occasionally in the Septuagint; thus ἐρᾶν, Esth. 2:17; Prov. 4:6; ἐραστής generally in a dishonorable sense as ‘paramour’ (Ezek. 16:33; Hos. 2:5); yet once or twice (as Wisd. 8:2) more honorably, not as=‘amasius,’ but ‘amator.’

    Thanks for that Rosie! The BDAG entry for eraō (ἐράω) doesn't include the Esther passage; which (interestingly) is listed twice in the NRSV with the references "Esther 2:17" and "Greek Esther 2:17" (I use the NRSV as my default for an English translation of the Apocryphal books). But it does include the Prov 4:6 passage - which I missed.

    I also missed the related/derived word ἐραστής, which, along with the rest of the difficulty of this project, just underscores the need to do root-word searches in the original languages in Logos.

     Help links: WIKI;  Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)

  • Jacob Hantla
    Jacob Hantla Member, MVP Posts: 3,871 ✭✭✭

    Good afternoon to all,  I have the platinum edition of Logos, and I am looking for all information pertaining to Biblical love, Godly love, I am looking to research all that my edition have on the subject. Tough love, hurting love etc...

    Thank you

    My recommendation for how to proceed (before you look at other resources) is to create a passage list and go through the Bible beginning to end (a simple search for love would be a good but not exhaustive place to start). Begin adding pertinent verses to your passage list. Within the passage list you can right click and create headers to organize those entries under topic headers. This will take some time but it should familiarize you with what the Bible says about love.

    Then, moving on from there you can begin searching your commentaries and other books for phrases, for discussion on the especially pertinent verses, etc. 

    As far as some good resources I know of which discuss love, here are my favorites:


     

    But you'll probably do well to study the passages and read commentary on important love passages like:


    • 1 Cor 13
    • Matt 22:37-38
    • John 14:15,21,23
    • John 15:12
    • Matt 10:37
    • 2 Cor 5:14
    • John 21:15-17
    • 1 John 4:17-19
    • Eph 5:2
    • 1 John 3:16-19
    • 1 Peter 4:8
    • Eph 5:28
    • Titus 2:4
    • etc

    Jacob Hantla
    Pastor/Elder, Grace Bible Church
    gbcaz.org