Is the Meaning of Love Greek to You?

October 15, 2021 Cyndi

When you have your quiet time with the Lord in His Word, have you ever stopped and wondered what the original Greek (or Hebrew or Aramaic) meant? The words and passages in the Scriptures that you’re reading harbor meanings in the original language that you may be missing out on. Truth be told, not many of us stop to ponder the profound meanings behind simple words amidst a sea of various English translations of the Bible.

Why would we, right?

Well, Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man (or woman!) who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates (or ponders) day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. (exclamation added)”¹

Rich rewards await those who look beyond the finite English language to seek the intentional language and enlightening figures of speech. Not only that; did you notice the vivid picture that the psalmist painted of a person who delights in God’s words? They are like a fruitful tree – something that the children of God should purpose to be. Meditating/pondering on God’s Word is a worthy action and one that we, as perpetual students of the Bible, should have a passion for.

In a world that can be confusing, disheartening, and downright rebellious, we have endless reasons to dust off, sharpen, and wield the inspired Sword (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). It’s how we combat the lies from the enemy of our souls, just as Jesus used Scripture to combat him in Matthew chapter four. Our Swords weren’t meant to be mounted on the wall for display.

So, let’s learn a new tactic with our offensive weapon against that ancient enemy. Let’s go back to the basics, so to speak. We’ll start with a word that has been misused, abused, and twisted for as long as it’s been uttered: LOVE. Ahhh, love. That simple, yet diverse and complicated word for an entire range of feelings and emotions. We fall into it. We fall out of it. We do silly things for love, don’t we?

I remember many moons ago…I was a teenager in love. My boyfriend at the time ran 12 miles on foot one way just to see me. Can you remember a time you did something outrageous for love? We can laugh about these moments now, but while we were living those moments, they were captivating and real to us.

The real and captivating love of Christ goes beyond the depths of any love we experience in this lifetime. It is truly beautiful. Intimate. Personal. Constant. And so much more than we could fathom.

The purpose of this series isn’t to be a sole linguistic or historical read, but to:

Awaken our awareness of God’s infinite, true, pure, and holy love through the original language
Combat the enemy with the infinite, infallible, and eternal Word of truth
Discover ways that we can use the intended Scriptural meanings of love to point others to truth
Search our own hearts for those times we may have skewed the meaning of love and/or misunderstood God’s view and renew our minds afresh with a perspective influenced by the Word of God

Are you excited to start this journey of introspection and light hermeneutics? Are you ready to go counter-culture and search for truth in a world that is utterly lost when it comes to love in its various forms? Fantastic, sister!

To start us off, we’re going to delve into four of the many known Greek variations of love: agape, storge, eros, and philia.

Our goal, like 2 Timothy 2:15, is to rightly divide the word of truth. The word, “divide” is “orthopodeo” in the Greek and it means to set forth truthfully, without perversion or distortion. May we be a generation that takes God at His Word. May we be a people that don’t distort what’s intended in the Bible. May we be women who walk, speak, and live in the truth set before us long ago.

If you want to dig further into the Greek language of the Bible, these great resources are a wonderful starting point: The Blue Letter Bible app has an option to click on the text and see the Interlinear/Concordance in their “study” section. This app covers not only the Greek, but the Hebrew and Aramaic, as well.

One of my favorite non-electronic study books is simply a Greek linear. What is a linear, you ask? It’s basically having the same text in various languages printed on different lines or sections. For instance, in my linear, the left side is the New International 1984 translation, then in the middle is the Greek. On the right side is the King James Version. Having two different English language translations are helpful in comparing and deciphering the original text.

I personally use the Mounce linear published by Zondervan, but I don’t doubt there are other fantastic linears out there. This tool is one that is never far from my reach. I desire to be an approved “workwoman” for God who rightly handles His Word.

I am by no means a Greek expert, nor do I boast in what knowledge I have – I am a simple daughter of God, like you. I want to know my Father. I want to listen to Him. I desire to obey Him. And I want to love Him and love like Him in the way He intended. Do you?

Let’s go forth as fellow daughters and unpack the word of “love” together in the next couple months.