AGAPAO vs AGAPE

[T]

Just wondering the difference between AGAPAO and AGAPE love. All I can find is AGAPAO is a verb and AGAPE a feminine noun. As far as definition they seem to be totally different. AGAPAO being more humanitarian love and AGAPE more the love that comes from God. Help please!

[ryan]

What source are you getting "AGAPAO being more humanitarian love" from?

[T]

Lexicon Results Strong's G25 - agapaō ἀγαπάω
Transliteration
agapaō
Pronunciation

ä-gä-pä'-ō (Key)


Part of Speech
verb

Root Word (Etymology)

Perhaps from agan (much) [or cf φιλέω (G5368)]

TDNT Reference
1:21,5
Vines
View Entry

Outline of Biblical Usage 1) of persons

a) to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly

2) of things

a) to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing

[T]

Lexicon Results Strong's G26 - agapē ἀγάπη
Transliteration
agapē
Pronunciation

ä-gä'-pā (Key)


Part of Speech
feminine noun

Root Word (Etymology)

From ἀγαπάω (G25)

TDNT Reference
1:21,5
Vines
View Entry

Outline of Biblical Usage 1) affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love

2) love feasts


Authorized Version (KJV) Translation Count — Total: 116 AV — love 86, charity 27, dear 1, charitably+2596 1, feast of charity 1

[T]

The reason I ask is because this verse:

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

The love used here is AGAPE. So how can love that only comes from God and is ONLY in believers, grow cold?

[Deleted]

So this is another example of how to handle one or even a couple "questionable" verses in light of the multitude of non-questionable, matter of fact, clear verses that define what Biblical Agape is and have been given already. We must not pervert the clear meaning by means of an "unclear" meaning. Never-the-less, everyone who does a study on these two words will find that the noun and verb differ in application. When I asked the same question as you, this was the answer I got and it helped me tremendously.

The key phrase is, "only God can produce agape in the believer." That is the Agape of God, for God, and between those who have believed into God and those of God toward those who are lost.

"First, in the research of the word agape, we must understand that the word was around before the New Testament to describe a kind of love among people. There were 4 kinds of love. First, phileo was a word that described love among friends. Second, eros described the erotic or passionate love. Then stergo described the love that parents have for their children and even sometimes described the love of a wife for her husband. Then agape which represented a sacrificial love. It represented a kindness toward someone or something else that required sacrifice of one's self and also represented that the person doing the sacrificing did not take into consideration how the recipient responds - whether reception or rejection.

When the New Testament was written, the writers were inspired to use agape to describe the kind of love that God has for the human race. He came to sacrifice Himself for the human race without consideration if His provision would be received or rejected. In the New Testament, the human understanding of agape was applied to the spirit realm for the first time. In I John 4:8 it says that "God is love." His nature and character is agape. According to Galatians 5:22, only the Spirit of God can produce this kind of agape toward the things of Christ and others. Hence the definition, "Agape is the concern for someone's spiritual welfare" when agape is produced by God. He is the only one that can produce a love and a concern for the things of Christ and for the spiritual welfare of others concerning their relationship with Christ.

Another example of the worldly agape is I John 2:15: "Love not the world, neither the things in the world. If anyone is loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Here agape is used throughout the text. It means, if a person sacrifices themselves for the world and what the world has to offer, then the love of the Father is not in him. The reason is the Father produces an agape for Christ and His Word, not for the world. People who go for the things of the world are practicing the meaning of agape as it is understood by the world - sacrifice. See also James 4:4 where it says that if you make yourself a friend of the world, you have placed yourself as an enemy of God.

This is one of those things like faith. There is a human faith that is practiced and produced by people and there is a faith that is produced and given by the Holy Spirit. The human faith (persuasion) is a person persuading themselves to think positive and think unrealistic. The faith (persuasion) produced by the Holy Spirit is one where the Holy Spirit is persuading the person to follow Christ and His Word. Both persuasions are represented by the same word, but each is produced by a different source.

The text in Matthew 24:12 could refer to the love produced by people in a sacrificial way or God "withdrawing" or pulling His love back and out of the world. It would appear that the context of the text is indicating that even the agape shown among people, in a human sense, has dissipated to the point that it is every man for himself."

[T]

Okay that makes total sense. So, does AGAPAO and AGAPE the same except one is a verb, the other is a noun?

[Deleted]

Yes they are the same in that Agape is a noun and the Agapao is the verb form of that noun and that when use secularly it is a sacrificial human generated love and when in reference to a Christian or God is a God generated love.

However, with the exception of a couple "questionable" verses, every clear use of the noun Agape in the NT refers only to the love of God as your lexicon pointed out.

Love and loving in the Bible is sort of like "life" and "living". If one has the life of Christ in them they are alive though they're living as though dead. And if one does not have the life of Christ in them then they are living as though alive though they are dead.

This opens up to the difference in a Dictionary (or Lexicon for Greek) between a definition and a meaning. What you read in Strong's etc is a definition. It's an attempt to give you the closest one word equivalent. But when you look at a word, say Agapao, in the Bible, the meaning is determined from the context. Is it the human generated sacrificial type of Agapao toward the things of this world, or a God generated sacrificial type of Agapao from out of a Christian toward the lost. It's very important to understand the difference between word definitions and what the word means in it's context as used.

[T]

This reminds me of a saying:
Knowledge understands, by definition, that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

So basically, in reference to the verse above, we now that the AGAPE love of God cannot grow cold. So, our conclusion must (like always) be drawn from context of the passage, or even the context of the entire bible. As you said Mark, either this passage is talking about human generated AGAPE love, in which because of iniquity abounding, it will grow cold. Or, God's AGAPE influence in this world is being withdrawn, therefore in its absence, what is left is human AGAPE which begins to fade. But either way, this verse speaks nothing of God's AGAPE growing cold, but rather man's definition of and use of AGAPE growing cold.

[Deleted]

I would say that it is the context of matt 24:12 that must determine the meaning. Specifically the context question to determine how apape is being used is who are the "many". If the many are saved people, then we know from the clearly presented statements regarding Agape and the saved that it would mean that God will purpose to "grow cold" or lessen His expression of Agape through believers. BUT if the "many" are the lost, then it means that their human generated sacrificial tender affection for others has lessened because of the harsh conditions of end times scenario.

I do believe that the context is pretty clear that the "many" are the unsaved. "Many" will come in My name, "many will mislead, "they" will deliver you up, "many will fall away and betray and hate one anther, "many" false prophets will arise and mislead, and "many" people's love will grow cold.

[T]

Thanks Mark! I am satisfied with your answer and this gives me a major leg up on future studying.