Quote:
Originally Posted by A little brother
Dear brother, I really don't know what to do with you. After pointing out all the scripture references showing the Greek word agape does not always mean God's love, you still insist. Since when gotquestions.org became a more authoritative source of truth than the scripture?
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I already agreed with you that it does not always mean God's love and we have already established that the word agape in 1 Cor 13 refers to God's love. So "agape does not always mean..you still insist" is not relevant, is it? In 1 Cor 13, the word agape,
always means, God's love. Paul must have thought it obvious to any Greek reader that he was referring to God's love, because he used the word agape. This is because the Greek word agape was hardly ever used in Greek-speaking societies but in the New Testament it is used over 300 times. So it would be unlikely for a Greek speaker to wrongly interpret the word 'agape' as a natural kind of human love.
I think it is correct to say:
There is no literal reference to God's love in the English translation of 1 Cor 13.
There is literal reference to God's love in the Greek of 1 Cor 13 because of the words special meaning and special use by Paul.
Still, it does not bode well for anyone to be arguing from the English translation while being ignorant of the Greek because they miss the meaning completely: the intention of Paul in 1 Cor 13 was to apply God's agape love to the situation at hand, and not to provide a generic definition of natural human love.
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All of our answers are reviewed for biblical and theological accuracy by our staff. Our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann, is ultimately accountable for our content, and therefore maintains an active role in the review process. He possesses a Bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies from Calvary University and a Master's degree in Christian Theology from Calvary Theological Seminary (Kansas City, MO).
Quote:
Originally Posted by A little brother
Paul also said in Rom 8 nothing can separate us from God's love. So if love is the person of God, and we cannot be separated from it, so we are person of Love, and then we are the person of God?  |
A person may say "Nothing can separate us from God's love" or "Nothing can separate us from God", because "God is love".