Greek: ἀγάπη (agapē) – self-giving, self sacrificing love
Hebrew (LXX root): אַהֲבָה (ahavah) – love, devotion
Mistranslated: Why Not All “Love” Is the Same
“God is agape, and the one who abides in agape abides in God, and God abides in them.”
— 1 John 4:16
❌ MISUNDERSTOOD: All Love Is Not Agape
Let’s start with the problem:
In English Bibles, every kind of love—romantic, familial, friendly, divine—is usually translated the same way: “love.”
But in the Greek of the New Testament, there’s not just one word. There are several:
- Eros – passionate, romantic love
- Phileo – affectionate friendship or brotherly love
- Storge – natural, familial affection
- Agape – preferential love, often self-giving and sacrificial
- (Some would even add Thelema – desire/will, or Epithumia – longing, sometimes positive or negative)
Each of these words communicates something distinct. And yet, they all get flattened into a single English term: “love.”
That’s more than just poor translation—it’s a mistranslation of divine proportions.
Because when agape gets lumped in with all the rest, we lose the radical distinctiveness of what it actually meant in the New Testament.
🧾 What Agape Meant—and Why It Was Revolutionary
The word agape wasn’t invented by the early church. It already existed in the Greek language. But it wasn’t the preferred word for love in the Greco-Roman world.
Why?
Because unlike eros, phileo, or storge, (or any other word one might translate love) agape didn’t demand anything in return. It wasn’t based on mutual benefit, natural affection, or shared passion.
At its core, agape means to prefer someone else above oneself. It’s a love that chooses the good of the other—even if it comes at great personal cost.
That’s why it could describe both:
- A simple preference for a task (e.g. “show preference light, do not show preference darkness”…), and
- A self-giving, self-sacrificial love (e.g. “Greater agape has no one than this, that they lay down their life for a friend”—John 15:13)
In short:
Agape always means preference—and when it’s directed toward others, it almost always involves sacrifice.
💔 Agape Was Countercultural—Then and Now
In the ancient world, most people loved the way we still tend to love today:
- I’ll love you if you give me something back.
- I’ll show kindness as long as you show loyalty.
- I’ll commit when it benefits me too.
That’s conditional love—and it fits perfectly with eros, phileo, and storge. There’s a mutual payoff.
But agape?
It doesn’t ask what it will receive. It only asks:
What is best for the other?
Agape is the only form of love in the ancient world that puts the needs, dignity, and good of the other before the self—without demanding reciprocity.
No wonder the Greeks didn’t prefer it.
No wonder Jesus embodied it.
🌍 Why Agape Matters
Once we understand agape as preferential love—love that seeks the good of the other over the self—we can finally grasp why the New Testament tells us that God is agape (1 John 4:8).
God’s power, justice, holiness, and wisdom are all shaped by this core reality:
God prefers to bless, not dominate.
God gives life, rather than hoarding it.
God chooses to act in ways that seek the good of others, even at great cost to Himself.
That’s why agape is not just a divine trait—it’s the reason creation exists.
God wasn’t lonely.
He wasn’t needy.
He created because agape always overflows.
Agape prefers communion over isolation.
And it prefers blessing others even over self-protection.
That’s what it means to say:
Agape is the why of creation.
🌀 Agape in the Moral Fabric of the Cosmos
If Shabbat is the goal of creation, then agape is the moral grain that makes that goal possible.
To live in agape is to live with the grain of the universe.
To reject agape is to splinter against the structure of reality.
That’s why sin (hamartia) in Scripture isn’t just the breaking of rules. It’s the disordering of agape—putting self above others, preferring things out of alignment with God’s love.
And that’s why justice (dikaiosune) isn’t cold retribution. It’s the restoration of agape’s proper order—where others are rightly valued, and the vulnerable are lifted up.
This is also why Jesus could say that the entire Torah hangs on two commands:
“Love (agape) the Lord your God… and love (agape) your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:36–40)
Agape is not just one type of love among many.
It’s the ethical foundation of all divine instruction.
🔁 From Eternity to Eternity: God Is Agape
Agape isn’t a temporary attitude. It’s God’s eternal character.
- Before creation, Father, Son, and Spirit shared in eternal agape.
- In creation, agape poured out as life and order and delight.
- In Christ, agape took on flesh, walked among us, and laid itself down.
- In the Spirit, agape is poured into our hearts, calling us into the same pattern of life.
Agape isn’t a feeling.
It’s not even just a choice.
It’s the very logic of divine life—and the destiny God invites us into.
🧱 Agape Is the Foundation for All That Follows
If Shabbat is the state where everything is in harmony—God dwelling, creation flourishing—
then agape is the why that brought that world into being.
It’s the first step in tracing how this creation can be restored.
And it’s the heartbeat behind the Logos—God’s wisdom and reason—which we’ll look at next.
But already we can say:
- Agape is why God created
- Agape is how God rules
- Agape is what God is restoring us toward
🔑 Word Summary:
Agape
- Literal Meaning: Preferential love—esteeming someone or something above another, often at personal cost
- Biblical Function: Describes both God’s eternal nature and the moral architecture of creation
- Theological Meaning: The “why” of creation and salvation; the foundation of divine and human ethics
- In Our Words:
Agape is the self-giving, unconditional preference that defines God’s nature, created the cosmos, and calls us to love others the way we’ve been loved.
🔜 What Comes Next:
Logos – The wisdom and logic through which agape becomes flesh and gives shape to creation.
The Logos of Agape 
[…] Mistranslated series: Word 2 – Agape […]
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