Can Agape be misused?

Recently I found yet another of those blogs claiming that 2 Timothy 4:10 proves that “agape” was used also negatively in the NT. Once again this confusion is caused by thinking that ‘agape’ was used as a word for love. But we can get a little closer to straightening this out if we leave ‘agape’ untranslated; then the verse more understandably reads: “...for Demas has deserted me, because his agape was set on this present world; he has gone to Thessalonica.”

Of course, that is such a vague verse, that not much can be “proved” from it at all. We don’t really know what the verse was referring to that Demas did. Every translation puts it differently. I based the translation I used on the New English Bible, which strangely used the word ‘heart’ for ‘agape.’ Whatever is actually meant there, the expression is very unusual (as is every use of ‘agape’).

So, because of all of that, we can only speculate about the meaning. Unfortunately, the problematic expression became clouded by its usage in churches. After that letter became part of the final rendition of the Bible, for centuries that expression “love for the world” was taken out of context from that verse and became a negative expression. (And of course, I don’t think “love for the world” was the original meaning at all -- whatever such a strange expression would mean, anyway.)

My speculation focuses on the spiritual meaning of agape. That leads me to ask, “Is it possible to misuse the power of agape?” To get perspective on a possible answer, I went back to Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

Over a year ago, I posted to this blog a study of Romans 12:9-10 -- “Agape must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly affection. Honor one another above yourselves.”
It is critically important that he began those verses with agape. His point in doing that was to set the stage for the dependence of the verses that followed on agape being used sincerely and faithfully.

Most of chapter 12 is a list of practical actions that spiritual agape helps us do when we open up and let it flow in our life. But it also contained warnings about agape misuse. The main warning is that when agape is used in the wrong way, the result is doing harm.

For positive guidance, Paul talked about the action of treating others as kind family members would treat each other — with respect, showing honor toward other people. For him, such moral action came from spiritual motivation. The spiritual energy behind such action has a transformational quality that works in a person’s life to help her or him not be conceited or proud, but live in harmony and peace with everyone, even to the point of “blessing those who persecute you.” He also pointed out that the spiritual energy involved with agape helps with being patient in affliction. What he spelled out there is the ethic of extending hospitality to strangers. BUT ALL OF THAT ONLY WORKS WHEN AGAPE IS USED SINCERELY AND FAITHFULLY.

Paul used negative warnings to drive home the difficulty people have when they separate agape from God. I think when he started by saying, “Agape must be sincere” -- he was referring to keeping it in its spiritual context. As I’ve recalled so many times, he always meant “the agape of God;” as he said in Rom. 5:5 -- “the agape of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” That is agape’s true and only source. So there is tremendous danger caused by thinking that agape has any other source or any other function than the Holy Spirit.

We must let the Holy Spirit use agape to be transformational in our living. For example, Paul warned about what happens when people try to repay evil for evil, and take revenge. If people resist the proper functioning of the Holy Spirit and are not willing to make the huge effort involved with living by the Holy Spirit’s directing agape, then their minds stay enslaved to the old pattern of the selfish, egotistical, violent era of history. So what I think was meant in 2 Tim. 4:10 is the misdirection of agape. People can get terribly lost if they go out into the world thinking that agape is nothing more than human-generated love.
 
Paul wrote: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:20) But very few people in the 1st Century understood the importance of living that way. They thought it was not humanly possible, so they resisted. Of course, it is the action of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible. That’s what was reflected in 2 Tim. 4:10.

And of course, we are still seeing examples all around us today of very few people understanding the importance of living that way. That lack of understanding can also lead to people misusing the power of agape.

But I think we are seeing a slow change, because fortunately we can see so clearly, by all the evidence of the last 2,000 years, that the old historical pattern (selfish, egotistical, power-hungry, violent) produces so much destruction that it must be ended. That destructiveness cannot be stopped if people continue ignoring the realization that agape comes from God -- as God’s gift to us -- to use to create a new way of living.

When we keep agape connected with the Holy Spirit, it has a transformational quality that helps people be kind, compassionate, and charitable with everyone. Agape guided by the Holy Spirit can break down the pattern of taking revenge against enemies that mistakenly tries to overcome evil with evil.

Living that way requires a strong, lasting decision. We have to decide to let the Holy Spirit liberate our mind from the old pattern of history in order to take part in the new way of living. Only spiritual energy is powerful enough to bring about such liberation. Agape is spiritual power that opens us and liberates us when we tap into its spiritual flowing.