What is love?
Love can be a challenge to define in terms of how a person experiences it. Love can involve personal affection, sexual attraction, platonic admiration, brotherly loyalty, benevolent interest or adoring adoration. To answer the question precisely “what is love?” we must go to the origin of love. The Bible tells us that love originates in God.
The languages in which the Bible was written, Hebrew and Greek, are more precise as they use different words for i different types of love. Ancient languages distinguish between sexual love, fraternal and familial, and also the kind of love that God has for creation and that we can have for Him.
The Hebrew word yada and the Greek word eros are the words used to indicate l’sexual love. In Genesis 38 Judas makes love to a woman he assumes is a prostitute. In the original Hebrew of the verse 26, the word is yada, what does it mean “know” and in this context “to know carnally” O “have sexual intercourse with”. In the New Testament, the Greek word eros it cannot be found because there is no context in which it can be used.
The second type of love is l’brotherly Love that exists between close friends regardless of gender. There is no sexual connotation; it is love for and from a friend. The Hebrew word is ahabah , and is used to describe the love between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuele 20:17 . The Greek word for brotherly love or affection is phileo, used to refer to friendship in Giovanni 15:19, Romans 12:10 ed Jews 13:1 .
From family love a tribal, the Hebrew word is once again ahabah , which indicates deep affection, and the Greek word is storge . We find ahabah throughout the Old Testament because of its wide range of meanings, but the Greek word storge is found only in the New Testament as a negative word, astorgos , what does it mean “without natural love” (eg, in 2 Timoteo 3:3 ) . .
finally, there is the Hebrew word chesed and the Greek word agape , which are used for express the type of love that God shows towards his chosen ones. Chesed is often translated as “constant love” O ” kind loving.” A good example of chesed is located in Numbers 14:18
“The LORD is slow to anger and rich in mercy, forgive iniquity and transgression”
God's divine love is why he never gives up on those he has adopted as his children. Throughout the Old Testament, God's people have repeatedly fallen into idolatry and sin, yet He has always preserved a remnant; He never gives up on his people. The reason is his love chesed .
A similar idea is found in the New Testament with the Greek word agape. Agape love is the good will and benevolence of God shown in self-sacrifice and unconditional commitment to the loved one. Agape It is similar to chesed as he is resolute, regardless of the circumstances. Agape love is the kind of love we must have for God in fulfillment of the greatest commandment (Matteo 22:37). Jesus wants to instill agape in His followers as we serve others through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matteo 22:39 ; Giovanni 13:34).
In the most basic sense, Love is the emotion felt and actions taken by someone concerned for the well-being of another person. Love implies affection, compassion, care and self-sacrifice. Love originates in the Trinity Divinity, within the eternal relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (1Giovanni 4:7–8). Loving is unique to the human experience of being an image bearer of God. A pet owner can love his dog; she is concerned about his well-being and takes care of him. On the other hand, her dog doesn't really love her. Oh, scodinzola, he sits next to her and comes when she calls, but all those answers are based on the fact that she feeds him and keeps him warm. Animals cannot love the same way humans can love, created in the image of God.
Here is the conclusion of love:
“This is how God manifested his love among us: He sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is Love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear, because God loved us so much, we too must love one another… We love because he loved us first" ( 1 Teacher 4,9-11.19 ).
