The origin of the word “Agape”

My reflection after reading Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens follows this post. His chapter on the long millennia of religious development caused me to give a summary of my research into the spiritual meaning of agape.

I gave a quick summary of my decades long query about why St. Paul chose to use such a weird, archaic term as ‘agape.’ Of course, we can only guess because there is no indication. So my research was developed to help me make an educated guess. After all that I concluded he was only using the word to point to a spiritual experience.

What had finally come thru to me happened when I considered it to be not a word that described anything. To his listeners and readers the choice of a word they’d never heard of would have made no sense — and that might have been all he wanted. So at the time, when someone first read 1 Cor. 13, a reader’s question might have been, “What??” after reading that without agape, nothing people do means anything. So Paul could only give a list of adjectives and descriptive phrases. And he concluded that the spiritual experience of agape was more important than experiencing faith and hope. 

So of course, it would destroy his whole effort when modern translators try using a word that was descriptive of something — like, oh I don’t know, maybe like ‘love’ or ‘friendliness.’ The point seems to be for all time, there is no word that should be used to translate ‘agape.’ Paul’s point is made by continuing to do what he did, so we should just use a weird, archaic word.

But where did he get the word? Well, after years of searching, I turned to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures (made by seventy scholars who gathered in Egypt about a century before Paul). And again I have to guess, this time I guess he would have read the Septuagint. In the most famous passage in Deuteronomy, that Jewish tradition calls the “Great Shema” (because that is the beginning word, which is — as usual — weakly translated in English as ‘hear’ or ‘listen,’ even though that is far too calm a word for its full meaning). 

You see ‘Shema’ is a Call word: commanding a spiritual experience. It is used like blowing the shofar horn: calling the whole people into a worshipping community. When those 70 scholars got to the Great Shema they would have known that it was very important what word they chose to express the way of answering the call to bring each worshiper’s whole being (“all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength”) into a profound experience of divine Presence. 

But they probably realized that no commonly used Greek word carried that full meaning of spiritual power. And that spiritual-experience word they chose was ‘agape.’ That then becomes the key to the meaning of agape. Then the 70 scholars must have realized that the authors of Leviticus made the huge, radical, profound leap to have that spiritual experience be the basis for what forms the community of the faithful people: the call is extended to “your neighbor as yourself;” thus making spiritual experience the basis for forming a community. So in the Septuagint the translation continued to use ‘agape’ in  Leviticus. Then in the Gospels we have Jesus make the final huge, radical, profound leap to call for that spiritual experience extended to enemies. The practical action that flows from that spiritual experience of relationship is then called for in the form of the Golden Rule. And so the Greek version of the Gospels used ‘agape.’All of that is why I think St. Paul was using the word ‘agape’ to point to the power of that spiritual experience when he claimed [Romans 5:5] the hope for humanity was found in the way the Holy Spirit had poured into human hearts the power to have that spiritual experience. So that’s my guess as to why he chose ‘agape’ to point to that spiritual experience.

“Agape” the spiritual power, and “Sapiens”

For my birthday, my son, Noah, gave me Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, the book that studies the entire millions of years development of our species. I’ve been slowing working my way through this amazing 416-page work. Of course, in order for him to cover that much in one book, he had to over-generalize many times, which was frustrating to read but still thought provoking.

My attention was focused, of course, on the chapter about the history of religion,

and so I was very frustrated by his over-generalizing. A complaint I have with his analysis deals with the way he focuses on the development of religions but ignores their origins. That’s unfortunate because most of religious development did not stay faithful to the profound spiritual insights of their founders, those insights that Einstein called “spiritual genius.” Some of the later people, we could call them ‘religionists,’ did a major disservice to the original spiritual geniuses by distorting their words and lives in order to construct a religion.

Harari did have a point, though, about how human is the development of religion. That brought him to the modern development of humanism, and how it showed the 7,000 years of human theories about life, were just that: human theories about life. Now, that might seem obvious, but of course, there have always been some people who built a religion on the claim that their theories about life were somehow more than merely human theories. And in the process of such development over all those years, those people claimed that their ‘more than merely human theories’ were more inspired and thus “more true” than other people’s such theories. 

Of course all that Homo Sapiens can do is run thoughts thru their brain’s filters. Even if a person were to experience ‘beyond human’ revelation, whatever would come out would have to be expressed in human language. And such inevitable process would necessarily make any theory a human-produced theory. And so, looking back over 7,000 years, all religion becomes in that way a form of humanism. 

AlthoughYuval Harari tried to separate out modern humanism by claiming that the definition required “the worship of Homo Sapiens.” But I think there is a type of humanism that merely takes into account that all theories are expressed in human language. So we can still appreciate spiritual geniuses while acknowledging they had to speak in human language. 

That’s what I’ve had to do when researching language about 'agape' and the spiritual genius of Jesus and Paul. Well, my stumbling around trying to figure out why Paul chose to express his revelation with such a strange word, had led me to speculate that he wasn’t trying to come up with a descriptive word but instead wasn’t trying to describe at all but was ‘pointing’ (as Martin Buber would have said). 

In Paul’s time, they didn’t have a way to say ‘spiritual power,’ so in trying to point to a spiritual power in the heart, he said, “God’s agape.” In trying to talk that way, he would have made no sense, and to me that was exactly it. So of course, when religionists translated it with a meaningful word, like ‘love,’ that just messed up the whole point. That particular ‘beyond human’ cannot be made sensible with language, so Paul just gave it an ancient sound that would have made no sense. No one would have known what “God’s agape” meant, and that would have been the point. It was a spiritual experience without knowing what a spiritual experience was, and anyone who didn’t have the spiritual experience wouldn’t have known what he was talking about, and no amount of language would have made any difference.

“Agape” in the St. Francis Prayer

Recently I ran across a book by Kent Nerburn entitled Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace. It is based on the famous internationally known prayer that has appeared in many languages beginning in 1912 and finally translated in English in 1929 in a Quaker magazine. There it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. In that translation, the expression “sow love” was used in a spiritual, unconditional way that seems to mean what we have come to recognize as agape.

This prayer study takes a spiritual understanding of the many life illustrations used throughout the book, as Nerburn said, the prayer “reminds us that we are the reed through which the breath of God is blown, the strings on which the music of God is played; our lives are music in the heart of God.” Wherever Nerburn used ‘love’ with the spiritual meaning that ‘agape’ was used in the Greek New Testament, I changed ‘love’ to ‘agape’ in the following quotes.

“Agape is a habit of the heart, an inclination of the spirit. Agape is something indwelling in our hearts. It only comes alive by being given. If we feel ourselves surrounded by loneliness, our first act should not be to call out for someone to give agape to us but to seek out someone or something on which to lavish agape. Only then will we break down the barriers of our own sense of isolation.

“The prayer challenges us from the very outset to stare hatred in the eye and trust in the power of agape to stand against it. This is no small challenge. It asks us to overcome our fear and to have faith in the power of goodness. It asks us to believe that agape is strong enough to take root in a field that seems choked with the weeds of hate.

“We must sow a seed of agape — if we plant a seed it will grow if it is tended and will soon become strong enough to stand in witness against the dark forces against which it is arrayed. If we take the chance and plant a seed of agape — a miracle can occur. 

“If we can get someone who is filled with hate to make just the smallest of choices in favor of goodness and agape, we are moving their heart further from the path of darkness and further along the path of light. We have sowed the seed of agape in that empty place at the center of their heart, and though they may not notice, agape has taken root and begun to come alive.

“Agape is active and generative. Its seed must be planted if it is to grow. Agape has no judgment; it is not conditional. It asks no recognition; it demands no response. Its reward is in its giving, but it has no thought of reward. It reaches out to those around it, not because they are deserving or because they can offer something in return, but because they are part of God’s creation, and all of creation is worthy of agape.

“Agape that is given takes root where it will, and its branches spread out to shelter those around it. And as its seeds fall, new agape grows and the cycle of agape begins anew.

“The agape we give, no matter why or in what measure it is given, will be returned to us a thousandfold. It will fill the vessel of our own need and will spread out across the world like ripples on the water, reaching places we neither dream nor imagine. We need only trust that it must first be given, and all else will be revealed.

“When we give, we are opening the doors of possibility in a way that allows the light of agape to shine through. And in that light, miracles can occur.

“We will learn that nothing we can ever give will compare with the gift we receive when a human heart says, ‘Come on in. I’ve been waiting for you.’ For in that moment, we will feel a touch upon our spirit that for all the world feels like a blessing from the hand of God.”

“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.

“Agape” and the Purpose of Human Life

Recently my further reading, to find quotes about spiritual love and divine love, started a thought process to formulate what was the overall purpose of living.

The way many of the writers used terms didn’t seem to fit the inspirations I’d been receiving for 30 years. So I was challenged to come up with this formulation: THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE IS THE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE. Of course, that description doesn’t mean much without formulating what is “spiritual development” and how does it happen. 

The main inspiration I’ve received over the years had to do with the crucial role of agape. So far I’ve realized that agape is a spiritual power created within every human for 2 functions: 

1. to bring humans into relation with divine Presence, and 
2. to facilitate relations with All that Is.    

Those 2 functions of agape show the importance of relationships for fulfilling each person’s purpose in life. And of course agape is important for connecting each person with all of the human race. That importance comes from realizing that we are all in this together, and so we can help each other’s spiritual development; in fact, we need each other for spiritual development. Also agape opens each person to the motivation then into action to do what is necessary to help other persons grow spiritually. The way agape works, it not only draws each person into direct connection with God but also develops throughout the human race the capacity to expand the awareness of Divine Presence.

And that’s why agape is the key. It is the spiritual power that is creative in the process of spiritual development. It is the spiritual power that draws people together to help in all that needs helping. It is the motivational power that creates the ‘loving’ in loving community. It is the inspirational power that creates in people the awareness that we need loving, sustaining, supportive community. It is what creates a deep awareness in people that we need to do all that is possible to do to help, support, and nurture each other.

The action that is necessary to grow spiritually comes by working with agape power flowing through us. Even more importantly is the spiritual process in which each of us grows spiritually by recognizing agape flowing in others, and then participating in agape flowing among those with whom we relate. So such is not only the basis of the most profound, creative relationships while also the basis of individual spiritual growth and the spiritual development of the human race. 

But now, I have to admit the obvious problem here: each person has to be willing to sense the agape power deep within. Then not only do we need to sense it, we need to allow it to work in our life. The melancholy of human existence comes from not realizing agape power as the basis of our identity, but instead trying to build an identity from an ego. What holds back the spiritual development of the human race is the vast number of people who ignore their agape power when building an identity. Such a vast number, over thousands of years, has produced societies built upon ego-identifying instead of agape-identifying. And so humanity’s spiritual development has been held back.