On Wednesday nights here at Faith Baptist Church I am preaching through the book of I Corinthians. This past Wednesday I began chapter thirteen. Like me, many of you have memorized portions of this chapter and have probably heard a great deal of preaching on the subject. I had several messages in my files that I have written and preached from this great chapter of the Word of God.
As I began preparing, I began thinking about the word for charity, "agape". Unlike many others, I make no pretense about being a Greek or Hebrew scholar, although I have studied both. I was taught in Bible college that you could look up the Greek words and find added meaning to texts. I have always been very reluctant to tell our congregations much about what the " the Greek" says since I pastor Americans and not Greeks. I have found that "citing the Greek regularly" tends to impugn the confidence we have in the English and it seems to set up a "priesthood" within the priesthood. By that I mean this, when we constantly refer to th Greek we set ourselves up as someone who can find the answers that the 'common' Christians are not qualified or able to find. God promised in Psalm 12:6-7 that He would preserve His word to all generations. Jesus reiterated this in the NT in Matt. 5:18. I do not think you have to go to the Greek to have the word of God.
Having said all of that, I was studying one of the Greek words for love, "agape". I well remembered the Bible college Greek expositors going crazy with John 21:15-17 where our Lord asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?' Their idea is that Jesus was asking Peter, with the higher Greek word (AGAPAO), if he loved Him deeply and intimately. Supposing that Jesus thought Peter digressed by using the lower Greek love word (PHILEO), Jesus repeated the question three times to Peter. (By the way, he asked him three times because Peter had denied Him three times.) Since graduating from college I've heard scores of references to this agape love and I've never heard one person ever even suggest that tere is no difference between agape and phileo love or that are used interchangeably. As I began studying agape love I found that this whole premise is flawed.
I found PUZZLING GREEK CROSS-REFERENCES -- "Then Peter . . .seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved (AGAPAO)" - John 21:20 (19:26; 21:7) "She. . .cometh . . .to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved (PHILEO)" -- John 20:2 "For whom the Lord loveth (AGAPAO) he chasteneth." -- Hebrews 12:6 "As many as I love (PHILEO), I rebuke and chasten" - Revelation 3:19 "ye love (AGAPAO) the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets." -- Luke 11:43 "love (PHILEO) greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues" -- Luke 20:46 Why would John tell us that Jesus loved that disciple intimately, deeply, selflessly, and spiritually in one place, but tell us in another that Jesus loved him only casually? Why would Luke tell us that the Pharisees loved "greetings" and "uppermost seats" in the synagogue intimately, deeply, selflessly, morally, or spiritually in one place, but tell us in another place that they only loved these things casually?
Let me go a step further. "Demas hath forsaken me having loved (AGAPAO) this present world." -- 2 Timothy 4:10 "men loved (AGAPAO) darkness rather than light." -- John 3:19 "For they loved (AGAPAO) the praise of men more than the praise of God. --John 12:43 "sinners also love (AGAPAO) those that love them." -- Luke 6:32. The theories, which we have heard regarding the word "AGAPE" (which some tell us is the highest form of love) are many, i.e., selfless love, intimate love, moral love, spiritual love, Christian love. Could Demas actually have had a selfless or spiritual or Christian or moral love for this present world? Is it possible for sinners to have the same kind of selfless, moral, spiritual love that saved people have? Can darkness (John 3:19), praise of men (John 12:43), masters (Matthew 6:4),the world (1 John 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:10) nations (Luke 7:5), creditors (Luke 7:42), wages of unrighteousness (2 Peter 2:15), life (1 Peter 3:10) be loved in such away?
Here is the bottom line. Self avowed Greek scholars have duped a lot of believers into thinking that they need two years of Greek to understand the Bible. The next time someone tells you what the Greek says and then tells you what it means, check it out. It may be a lie. God's Word is plain we just need to study it more.
Steven E. Mays,
Pastor - Faith Baptist Church, Laurens, South Carolina
BroMays@FaithBaptistTrumpet.org