“Agape” and the Aramaic version of the gospels

Recently a friend gave me Neil Douglas-Klotz’s book about an Aramaic version of the Gospels, Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus’s Word. Of course the Greek word ‘agape’ is not used, but his speculation was ‘ahebw’ was the Aramaic word that Jesus used that was translated as the Greek ‘agape’ and mistranslated into the English word ‘love.’  

In the Textual Notes (p. 85) to the quote “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27, 35), the note about ‘ahebw’ is “The word ‘ahebw’ differs greatly from ‘rahm’ {the commonly used word for love}. Here one does not find the breath of compassion and mercy, but an even more mysterious impersonal force, one that acts in secret to bring separate beings together to create new life.”

That note showed me that ‘ahebw’ was just as unusual a word for the audience of Jesus as ‘agape’ was for the audience of Paul. The point is the common word for ‘love’ was not used. And so no English translation should use ‘love.’

 {That’s why I found a deeper understanding throughout this compendium of altered quotes in this blog when the more spiritual meaning of ‘love’ is replaced with ‘agape’  (as when ‘agape’ is shown in 1 John 4:7 “God is agape”).

So in the following translations from sayings of Jesus, wherever ‘love’ is used in a spiritual/mystical sense, it was changed to ‘agape.’}

“From the deepest part of yourself, let agape be born for the rays of the One that shine around you. From this self liberate your whole animal energy and life force to flood your entire grasping mind with agape.

“Help us share agape beyond our ideals and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures. As we find your agape in ours, let heaven and nature form a new creation. Create in me a divine cooperation — from many selves, one voice, one action.

“As human beings, one of the most precious things we can give one another is our complete understanding and support, each day and each moment as we are able, with all our perceived limitations included.

“Blessed are those in emotional turmoil; they shall be united inside by agape.

“Tuned to the Source are those who shine from the deepest place in their bodies. Upon them shall be the rays of agape. Aligned with the One are those whose lives radiate from a core of agape; they shall see God everywhere. Aligned with the One are the compassionate; upon them shall be compassion.”

{And so I include the following quote because the study of the word for ‘heart’ is very helpful to understand Romans 5:5 “God’s agape has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”}

“The word translated as ‘heart’ (‘lebak’ or ‘lebhon’), literally the center of one’s life, also carries the sense of any center from which life radiates — a sense of expansion plus generative power: vitality, desire, affection, courage, and audacity all rolled into one. In the old roots the picture is given of an interior action of creative generation that expands from the center.”

Agape quotes from Henri Nouwen

Among the many inspirational writings of Henri Nouwen is a book he called Lifesigns. And so from the instructions for living given there, I will share some quotes.

(Because I know of his extensive study of the Bible, it is clear that he was familiar enough with the Greek translation, that he knew where ‘agape’ was translated into English as ‘love.’  For example when he quotes about ‘perfect love’ from the Gospel of John, he would have known that in Greek, the word was ‘agape.’ So when he said, “When St. John says that fear is driven out by perfect love, he points to a love that comes from God, a divine love,” I can change those uses of ‘love’ to ‘agape.’ From here on, I change ‘love’ to ‘agape’ and ‘the house of God’s love’ is changed to ‘the house of agape.’)

The perfect love that drives out fear is divine agape. 

The home, the intimate place, the place of true belonging, is therefore not a place made by human hands. It is fashioned for us by God’s love {in other words, agape}.

God so much desired to fulfill our deepest yearning for a home that God decided to build a home in us. Thus we can remain fully human and still have our home in God. 

The house of agape is the place where we can think, speak, and act in the way of God — not in the way of a fear-filled world.

When we are no longer dominated by fear and have experienced the agape of God, we no longer need to know from moment to moment what is going to happen. We can trust that good things will happen if we remain rooted in that agape.

The tragedy is that we are so possessed by fear that we do not trust our innermost self as an intimate place, but anxiously wander around hoping to find it where we are not. Thus we become strangers to ourselves, people who have an address but are never home and hence can never be addressed by the true voice of agape.

When we grasp the truth that we already have a home, we may at last have the strength to unmask the illusions created by our fears and continue to return again and again and again.

Wherever we see people overcoming their fears and approaching each other in mutual vulnerability, we catch a glimpse of agape in the house of God and taste the fruit of that agape.

The more we touch the intimate agape of God which creates, sustains, and guides us, the more we recognize the multitude of fruits that come forth from that agape. They are fruits of the Spirit, such as: joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. When we encounter any of these fruits, we always experience them as gifts.

Gratitude flows from the recognition that all that is, is a divine gift born out of agape and freely given to us so that we may offer thanks and share it with others.

We need new eyes to see and new ears to hear the truth of our unity. A heart filled with agape can perceive the unity of humanity. This requires divine perception. God wants to open our eyes so that we can see that we belong together in the embrace of God’s agape.

The intimacy of the house of agape always leads to solidarity with the weak. The closer we come to the heart of the One who has agape for us, the closer we come to each other in the solidarity of a redeemed humanity.

The same God who cares for everyone without exception, has agape for each individual with an exceptional love. 

The deeper our prayer becomes, the closer we come to this mystery of God’s agape.