Terry Storch

Writing about life, leadership, faith, and anything else I find interesting.

What is Love?

 

How would you define love? It’s a bit complex. We use the word love in so many different ways. From loving our spouse and kids to loving our new car or loving being debt-free, maybe loving a sunrise, or I love ice cream to even the crazy about of love some have for college football. Love, a single word, used in so many different ways. It has to have multiple meanings, right?!

When we think about love, especially in the English language, it’s indeed one word that has a lot of different meanings. When we read the Bible, it's important to remember that it was not written in English. Whoa, a big surprise! The original Bible was not the King James Version, and it wasn't in English. The Bible was primarily written in two languages, a majority of the Old Testimate was written in Hebrew, and the New Testimate was written in Greek. 

So as we dive into the 1 Corinthians 13 and unpack love, let us remember this was originally written in Greek and translated to English. Why is that important? Because the word love in Greek has four different names. So, four words in the original text that have four different meanings get distilled down into one English word that we can accidentally merge into one meaning. Here are the Greek words for love: Eros, Storge, Philia, and Agape.

  • Eros (Pronounced: AIR-ohs) is the Greek word for sensual or romantic love.

  • Storge (Pronounced: STOR-jay) is the Greek word that describes family love, the affectionate bond that develops naturally between parents and children, and brothers and sisters.

  • Philia (Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh) is the type of intimate love in the Bible that most Christians practice toward each other. This Greek term describes the powerful emotional bond seen in deep friendships.

  • Agape (Pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay) is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible. This term defines God's immeasurable, incomparable love for humankind. It is the divine love that comes from God. Agape love is perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, and pure.

Ok, so we have that foundation we can now understand that every time we read love in the Bible, we are not talking about the same thing. So, for example, when we read in 1 Cor 7:5 or Heb 13:4 and are talking about marriage, we are reading Eros. In Matt 10:37 or John 20:2, Jesus is describing love using Philia. Romans 12:10 you will find Storge. And today, 1 Cor 13 lands us in Agape. Take a moment and jump around to those verses and see the difference. 

Back to 1 Corinthians 13, what’s Paul saying here? Well, to pull this together, we need to jump back to chapter 12. The Corinthians had a bit of an obsession with the gifts of the Spirit. Paul dove into this in chapter 12 and closed out the chapter stressing the importance of the body of Christ, and each one plays a very critical part. One is not better than the other! I read this and make some assumptions that people were trying to one-up each other - fighting and quarreling about the gifts and ranking them and trying to gain or earn more gifts. That’s how I read this; it might not be the case. But check this out, look at how Paul closed chapter 12, that leads us into chapter 13:

“Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet, I will show you the most excellent way.” - ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This sounds to me like Paul is saying, hey guys...you are desiring each other’s gift and trying to one-up each other with the basics. I want you to stop that, and desire something much more significant! Let me show you the most excellent way, the greatest gift of all - LOVE! 

Make sure you carry this thought into today's reading. Then Paul drops the hammer:

“If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” - ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Without Agape love, a love that is from God, a love that is perfect, unconditional, pure, and sacrificial, we have nothing. Love is superior to any and all of the gifts. Love is superior to any sacrifice that I might make for God. This takes us back to the Gospel, and the understanding that nothing we can do to earn God’s love, it is a free gift that was gifted out of the greatest Agape Love ever, Jesus. 

“And now these three remain faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” - ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As we step into our day may we convert these learnings and knowledge into action. I pray we can love in a way that honors God and reflects His character. 

other writing
John 20 - The Gospel

John 20 - The Gospel

The Gospel, the Good News! Jesus, Son of God, was born of Mary, lived as the Son of Man, died, and rose to life to rescue the world and bring about a new life. The central message of the gospel. Jesus, the centerpiece! John 19 & 20 cover the brutal death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

In this scene, I can not imagine how the disciples felt. John describes them as overjoyed...but those words just fall short of what I can imagine this moment was like.

John 19 - The Magnitude of the Cross

John 19 - The Magnitude of the Cross

The day of Jesus' crucifixion fulfilled 28 Old Testament prophecies. Scripture was fulfilled! Beyond that, trying to wrap my mind around what happened this day, on the cross, and fully grabbing the magnitude of the cross is mind-boggling.

Sure, we can dumb this down or simplify it to a place where I just don’t believe it is anywhere near accurate. We can get into penal substitution and argue over was God full of love or was God full of wrath and hate that he killed his son. To me, John 3:16 is pretty clear on the love part.

John 18 - Jesus levels an army

John 18 - Jesus levels an army

In John 18, we come to the great betrayal. Judas came with the soldiers, officials, and chief priest and Pharisees. We know the scene. But this morning, I saw something I don’t remember reading and surly don’t remember learning about.

“So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭18:3-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 17 - The Lords Prayer

John 17 - The Lords Prayer

John 17 is Jesus looking heavenward and praying to God the Father. So much beauty and mystery in this prayer. One thing that jumps out to me is that Jesus, fully God, and fully man prayed. Jesus is God fully. Why did he need to pray, He was One with the Father, He was God...and yet he prayed. This is so powerful;

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭17:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 16 - What does it take to believe?

John 16 - What does it take to believe?

By the end of John 16, Jesus had done countless miracles, preached some amazing sermons, transformed so many lives, and developed a close and personal relationship with his disciples. So, when reading these verses, I am just utterly confused on so many levels.

“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭16:28-31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John 16 - Undervaluing God in Spirit

John 16 - Undervaluing God in Spirit

Jesus’ time on earth is quickly coming to a close, and he finishes up his last sermon or teaching to his disciples as they walk to Gethsemane. This final teaching was a heavy one that no doubt left his disciples with a heavy heart. Jesus said it this way;

“...None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭16:5-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus goes on to say;

John 15 - Constant Growth

John 15 - Constant Growth

We were built for growth, constant growth. From birth, all the way until our death, we were designed by God for constant growth. The problem is, we often can find ourselves stuck in a belief, a phase, or a part of life where we stop growing.

One of the most brilliant investors embodies this understanding. Charlie Munger, at 96 years old, is still learning and growing as a person. I love this quote:

“Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.”
- Charlie Munger

John 14 - The Gift of Peace

John 14 - The Gift of Peace

John 14 opens with Jesus, saying, Don’t let your hearts be troubled. And the chapter closed down with Jesus saying Don’t be troubled or afraid.

A message that needs to resonate with our spirit and our inner self. This was such a good reminder, reading through John 14 over and over. This passage lifted off the screen.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart…

John 14 - Troubled Hearts

John 14 - Troubled Hearts

The world today seems so volatile and chaotic. Everywhere you look, whatever we read and see on TV just seems to be troubling. Last night, I noticed my lovely wife Tweeted this;

“I can’t be the only one who watches the news and is simply embarrassed right now, right? (Dear Jesus, we tap out. Come on back.)”

I find this first humorous, but then I also find it sad. It’s true, watching the news as a Christ-follower is pretty embarrassing. In John 14, we see Jesus…

John 13 - Unselfish Concern

John 13 - Unselfish Concern

Summarizing John, chapter 13, looks like this. The Lords Supper takes place. Jesus washes the disciple's feet. Jesus calls out Judas, and Satan enters him. Night comes, Judas leaves, and Jesus says he must go, and where I am going, you can not come. To cap it all off, Jesus also calls out Simon Peter and tells him that he will deny and completely disown Jesus three times. Whoa, a really full chapter, and historical day.

Nestled in the wrap up of the day is the parting message Jesus leaves his disciples, a message Jesus is sharing with us right now.

 
thoughtsTerry Storch