Agape in John 13-17

In my last posting I went back to the Gospel of John and looked anew at the teachings of Jesus about agape in chapters 13-17. After all these years of reading those verses, this time when I left “agape” where it was meant to be (not translated into the non-spiritual English word “love”), I could more clearly understand that Jesus actually was teaching about agape.

He was demonstrating to his closest followers what that spiritual power could do in human life and in relationships. That’s why he could make the great identity proclamation that using the power of agape is the way everyone will know the followers of Jesus Christ (John 13:35). 

Now I have been able to see that those chapters contained an important connection between the two Greek concepts: “agape” and “Paraclete.” Jesus promised to send to his followers, after his resurrection, a special new spiritual power (that was Paraclete, that usually gets weakly translated into English as ‘Counselor’ or ‘Advocate’ or ‘Helper’ or ‘Companion’). That promise followed directly after he commanded his followers to share agape.

I found it to be better, when translating, to just leave Paraclete as ‘spiritual power’ and to leave ‘agape’ untranslated, as in the following: “If you share my agape, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will send spiritual power, to be with you forever. This spiritual power is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him because he lives with you and will be with you.” (14:15-17)

Again, of course, this shows connection with Romans 5:5 -- “The agape of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Common English Bible -- with “agape” untranslated) That was Paul’s way of showing that same connection as in John between agape and the Holy Spirit. Paul seemed to be saying that the spiritual power sent by Jesus continued to pour agape into the hearts of his followers and into the heart of the community of followers. Of course, Paul’s additional point had to do with the need to live by agape in order for it to truly be effective for growth in faith. So those people who do not put agape into action in the relationships of their lives, they remain stunted in a childishly selfish form of faith. (1 Cor. 13:11)

The sad realization, about the increasingly violent world, is that not enough of those claiming to be Christians actually do learn to live by agape. When Christians don’t put agape into action, then the potential influence of Christian compassion and kindness doesn’t get realized strongly enough to produce the desperately needed reduction in violence.

So today, when we continue following in that tradition established by Jesus and spread abroad by Paul, we take to heart that prediction (from John 13:35) that what identifies the followers of Jesus is living by the power of spiritual agape, and then sharing agape with each other and also allowing the Holy Spirit to extend agape through our actions out to others. It must be done through our actions. Agape becomes like a radiating energy, spreading out from Christian groups to the world around them. So the Christian influence to change the world is known through the evidence of agape.