"The Greatest of these is love "
By Michael Browder Ph.D.
February 7, 2010
I Corinthians 13:13

February brings St. Valentine’s day and the season of love. Love is the most important commandment given to us by Christ, but it is a different kind of love from what we think about when we send valentine cards.

In fact, the original Greek language of the New Testament talks about several types of love. There are three or four different words.

The first Greek word is eros. This is where we get the English word erotic. Eros refers to the romantic love between a man and a woman. Lest we think that God doesn’t understand these matters, we must remember that a whole book of the Bible is devoted to this topic, the book of the Song of Solomon.

The second Greek word is philia. This word means brotherly love, or the love of friends. It is where we get the word Philadelphia, which means “the city of brotherly love.”

Another Greek word for love is storge. Storge refers to the love a parent, especially a mother, has for a child. We recently thought about this love when we read the Christmas story with Mary and the baby Jesus.

Finally, the Bible talks about agape. Agape is the self-sacrificing love which is modeled for us in Jesus Christ. This is the word for love which is used in the “Love Chapter” of the Bible, I Corinthians 13.

I think that we should experience all these types of love. But in this season of St. Valentine, I pray that you will especially receive and share the agape love which we find through our Savior Jesus.

Rev. Mike Browder