‘Agape’ as a new word

When I was reading other blogs that mentioned ‘agape’ in spiritual terms, I found one that listed all the NT passages that used ‘agape.’ That blog was bebereans.blogspot.com/2011/03/exercise-in-agape-love by Ed from Newark, N. J. In it Ed showed that he was starting to realize the spiritual meaning of agape. He talked about ‘agape’ as a new word because of the way St. Paul was giving it new meaning.

But then when he gave a list of where ‘agape’ was found, he still didn’t realize fully that ‘agape’ could not be translated into English; so he tried to find the meaning of all those scripture readings by using the common English word ‘love.’ In doing that, of course, he missed the point that St. Paul was giving new meaning to ‘agape’ -- but not as some sort of a new word for love. Paul wasn’t talking about love.

When Ed tried to account for the strange use of ‘agape’ in those readings, he commented: “Whenever you introduce a new word into language it’s necessary for that word to be defined, St. Paul defines it for us in 1 Corinthians 13 beginning in verse 4.” So there was a slight recognition that there was something ‘new’ about the way ‘agape’ was used by Paul and some others in the Early Church. And Ed pointed out agape’s strictly spiritual meaning. Still, all of that loses the original meaning from Paul if we merely use the word ‘love.’ Then we are left with the strange impression that Paul was trying to explain love. But why would Paul have felt the need to do that?

But when I gave a similar list in my posting to this blog on Aug. 20, I did what I think Paul would have wanted us to do and that was leave ‘agape’ as a Greek word. I did that because I finally realized, after years of studying and praying about the meaning of agape, that what Paul was mainly doing in his writings about ‘agape’ was trying to explain what his strange word meant and what was the power behind the spiritual reality that word stood for.

So here again, our very limited English vocabulary makes it hard to find words to express a spiritual basis for intense intimacy, affection, respect and caring. We need a spiritual term for “complete acceptance, support, and commitment.” But there is no English word that can express the profound spiritual basis that links God’s action toward us that flows out from us in actions of caring, affection, respect, and intense intimacy.

Many writers, who won’t use a Greek word, have been forced to assign spiritual meaning to the strange 2-word expression, ‘unconditional love,’ -- or they try giving a spiritual meaning by using the cumbersome phrase, ‘divine love given to another person.’ But because there is no single word, a profound mistake in translation happened when ‘love’ was used when the Bible was rendered into all the English versions appearing in the last 200 years. And 400 years ago, translators came up with the new word, 'charity,' but within 100 years it had lost all spiritual meaning.

I think Paul initially had the same problem with the Greek language. When he first began traveling north, he couldn’t find a Greek word for what he was trying to tell his Greek-speaking audiences. None of the normal words in common, everyday usage carried any spiritual meaning. Also he seemed to be trying to explain that only through a profound walk with God can a person begin to truly, deeply understand what happens when God opens us up and draws us into a close experience of Presence. No ordinary word could possibly help with such an explanation.

Because the first Greek-speaking audiences Paul addressed were Jewish, he had an advantage after studying with a few of the best scholars of his region. From that study, he would have known about the 70 scholars in Alexandria who translated the Torah into Greek (called the 'Septuagint'). As far as I can track it, that translation seemed to have been the first time when the verb form of ‘agape’ was used in the important Jewish ‘Shema’ (that Jesus used for the Great Commandment). And at the time of the Septuagint translation, ‘agape’ was an unusual, archaic word. So when the teachings of Jesus were translated into Greek, that version of the Shema became the clue to use ‘agape’ (and the verb form, ‘agapao,’) throughout the Gospels. For example in Matthew’s version, Jesus added a second commandment that was “like” the first: “You shall agapao your neighbor as yourself.”

So it makes sense to me that Paul used the Greek translation of the Shema to get the idea to use that unusual, archaic word ‘agape’ as his important spiritual word. Paul used that idea to begin teaching that God’s agape not only opened us to divine Presence, but also agape opened us up to intense intimacy, affection, respect and caring with those around us.

What an insight to show agape’s double power! So by the time Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he could express this profound insight: through giving agape to humans, God makes it possible for us to be able to find the spiritual reality of intimate, intense affection such that we can give full acceptance and mutual respect to everyone around us. And Paul also explained that only the power of God’s Presence can transform a human life to perform such profound actions.