Recently I’ve been focusing on the way agape has improved my prayer life over the last few years. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, the scripture verses that speak to much of that are Rom. 5:5; 8:26-28, which link the Holy Spirit with agape, and thus show the Holy Spirit praying through us and for us.
In those verses (Rom. 5:5; 8:26-28), we find the basis for God not only giving us the agape of God through the Holy Spirit, but also we find that when we are living with the agape of God, our best prayer practice comes out of realizing that the Holy Spirit actually is returning the agape of God from us to God. In other words, when we agapao God, it is not a case where the human generates agape for God.
The reason for accepting agape as a gift from God is because of the need for accepting the way agape flows through us. If, on the other hand, we acted as though agape was merely a form of human love, then we would have the basic attitude that we generated agape. But the best prayer practice is to be in God’s agape with God. In that spiritual sense, we would be in the agape relationship with God, that God initiated -- rather than think we ourselves are ‘loving’ God with our human-generated affection and adoration. Many religious writers (such as Thomas Merton) have called such prayer, "infused contemplation."
If I try to think of the infinite vastness of God’s Presence, I find it to be dumbfounding that any human could form a relationship with God. Such actions don’t seem to be humanly possible. Our necessary humility before the vastness of God (for example, as portrayed in the last chapters of Job), leaves us realizing that our very limited reasoning ability can’t help us begin to know how to form such a relationship.
The only way such a relationship could be possible is if God initiated it. That of course was one of the key themes of Paul’s writings. One way he expressed it is Rom. 5:5 where he said that our hope lies in the agape of God being given to us through the Holy Spirit. So the more I’ve prayed about that verse for the last several years, the more I’ve come to understand that verse to mean that agape is our God-given access to a relationship with God. In the Gospel of John it is expressed, of course, in those famous verses showing how Jesus was sent to the world to teach how to live by agape and how humans can be accepted into the eternal Life relationship with God. (Jn. 3:16-36)
It is such teaching that I bring into my prayer practices, as I open up to let God’s agape draw me close to God’s Presence.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
The origin of ‘Agape’
As my birthday approaches, I’ve been thinking back over the year, because annually I take time on my birthday to go over the last 12 months. So that caused me to think so much about this blog that I decided to put some of those thoughts into words here. I started this blog a year and a half ago after spending a few years puzzling about why ‘agape’ ended up getting translated into the English word ‘love.’ Finally, I tried letting my own spiritual experiences of agape inspire my understanding of what the Gospels and St. Paul were teaching by not using the common word for love.
The more I let the spiritual power of agape influence my life while I worked on this translation problem, the more I realized that a lot of confusion in modern Christian theology was caused by that problem. In fact, I saw that modern Christians would have trouble understanding the main theme of the New Testament until a change in translating happens.
Although every Christian scholar has acknowledged that translating ‘agape’ as ‘love’ caused a misunderstanding about the basic spiritual meaning of ‘agape,’ the practice continued in every translation since the 18th Century. Because St. Paul was making an important religious point by using ‘agape’ instead of any of the common Greek words for love, we do St. Paul a terrible disservice when we go against everything he was trying to do when we translate him as though he used the most common word for love, which was ‘eros.’ The same way ‘eros’ was used then is what most people today mean by the English word ‘love.’ But St. Paul never used ‘eros.’
Then I began to wonder what could have happened to allow such a blatant distortion of Christian teaching to happen. So I tried to figure out what possible reason could have allowed such a radical misunderstanding to happen in modern Christianity.
But the only reason I have been able to find is the complete lack of any adequate word in English. So ‘love’ became sort of a fall-back substitute. And yet, there must have been something similar between the meanings of the 2 words so that translators could have been willing to use ‘love’ as a substitute translation of ‘agape’ until someone could come up with a better word someday.
So lately I’ve been looking back on my spiritual experiences of agape to try sensing a similarity to love. I think I found the first similarity in the sensation of being drawn into a closeness with divine Presence. This similarity is especially clear during a spiritual, joy-filled sensation of being lovingly opened to and engulfed with Presence. After all, the only way that humans could possibly be able to have such a spiritual awakening is by God giving the means for such access. Of course, from our very limited capability to express with English, we call the feeling of such spiritual sensation of well-being, acceptance, and exhilaration -- “being loved by God.”
And next then, of course, is the extension of agape power out into relationships with other beings. One of the profound biblical insights involves the way our relationship of agape with God inspires and motivates relationships of agape with “our neighbor.” 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. There is no word that expresses a spiritual meaning for total, complete acceptance, support, and commitment-without-the-beloved-needing-to-fulfill-any-conditions. Many writers have been forced to use the strange 2-word expression, ‘unconditional love.’ But that's really not expressing a spiritual meaning, so they try giving a spiritual meaning by using the cumbersome phrase, ‘divine love given to another person.’
I think St. Paul initially had the same problem with the Greek language. 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 Paul studied with a few of the best scholars of his region, he would have known about the 70 scholars in Alexandria who translated the Torah into Greek (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 I speculated that Paul used the Greek translation of the Shema to get the idea to use that unusual, archaic word ‘agape’ as a 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 that through giving agape to humans, God makes it possible for us to be able to find the profound level 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. (After all, how many times have you heard people complain that such actions "are not humanly possible.")
As I look back over the last few years, I try to see how I’ve been slowly transformed by living my daily life in the reality of such spiritual flow. Even though I still have times when I let myself get overly tired and frustrated, I still find I have been increasing the depth, spiritually, of concern, caring, and compassion in my relationships. The only word that expresses the spiritual depth of such living is ‘agape.’
The more I let the spiritual power of agape influence my life while I worked on this translation problem, the more I realized that a lot of confusion in modern Christian theology was caused by that problem. In fact, I saw that modern Christians would have trouble understanding the main theme of the New Testament until a change in translating happens.
Although every Christian scholar has acknowledged that translating ‘agape’ as ‘love’ caused a misunderstanding about the basic spiritual meaning of ‘agape,’ the practice continued in every translation since the 18th Century. Because St. Paul was making an important religious point by using ‘agape’ instead of any of the common Greek words for love, we do St. Paul a terrible disservice when we go against everything he was trying to do when we translate him as though he used the most common word for love, which was ‘eros.’ The same way ‘eros’ was used then is what most people today mean by the English word ‘love.’ But St. Paul never used ‘eros.’
Then I began to wonder what could have happened to allow such a blatant distortion of Christian teaching to happen. So I tried to figure out what possible reason could have allowed such a radical misunderstanding to happen in modern Christianity.
But the only reason I have been able to find is the complete lack of any adequate word in English. So ‘love’ became sort of a fall-back substitute. And yet, there must have been something similar between the meanings of the 2 words so that translators could have been willing to use ‘love’ as a substitute translation of ‘agape’ until someone could come up with a better word someday.
So lately I’ve been looking back on my spiritual experiences of agape to try sensing a similarity to love. I think I found the first similarity in the sensation of being drawn into a closeness with divine Presence. This similarity is especially clear during a spiritual, joy-filled sensation of being lovingly opened to and engulfed with Presence. After all, the only way that humans could possibly be able to have such a spiritual awakening is by God giving the means for such access. Of course, from our very limited capability to express with English, we call the feeling of such spiritual sensation of well-being, acceptance, and exhilaration -- “being loved by God.”
And next then, of course, is the extension of agape power out into relationships with other beings. One of the profound biblical insights involves the way our relationship of agape with God inspires and motivates relationships of agape with “our neighbor.” 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. There is no word that expresses a spiritual meaning for total, complete acceptance, support, and commitment-without-the-beloved-needing-to-fulfill-any-conditions. Many writers have been forced to use the strange 2-word expression, ‘unconditional love.’ But that's really not expressing a spiritual meaning, so they try giving a spiritual meaning by using the cumbersome phrase, ‘divine love given to another person.’
I think St. Paul initially had the same problem with the Greek language. 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 Paul studied with a few of the best scholars of his region, he would have known about the 70 scholars in Alexandria who translated the Torah into Greek (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 I speculated that Paul used the Greek translation of the Shema to get the idea to use that unusual, archaic word ‘agape’ as a 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 that through giving agape to humans, God makes it possible for us to be able to find the profound level 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. (After all, how many times have you heard people complain that such actions "are not humanly possible.")
As I look back over the last few years, I try to see how I’ve been slowly transformed by living my daily life in the reality of such spiritual flow. Even though I still have times when I let myself get overly tired and frustrated, I still find I have been increasing the depth, spiritually, of concern, caring, and compassion in my relationships. The only word that expresses the spiritual depth of such living is ‘agape.’
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The active presence of Agape in life
In my previous posting I commented on St. Paul’s profound point that we should use agape to do everything that we do in life (1 Cor. 16:14). (And of course, that verse makes a lot more sense when we leave ‘agape’ untranslated, to carry the meaning of powerful faith, instead of weakening his point by using the common English word ‘love.’)
I’ve been trying to follow the meaning of that verse by extending my ‘agape prayer’ beyond my early morning prayer practice. I try letting my experience of the spiritual power of agape extend out in various ways so that I center the activities of my daily life around experiencing agape flowing through me. But... I’m finding it hard to remember to do that in many times during mundane activities. Usually, to see the meaning, I have to wait til the end of the day then reflect back over the times when I was able to experience momentary centering. As I do that looking back, I try finding a pattern to my day that can show me how to be more effective in centering my life with agape.
In that way I’ve been using the pattern-building process, stretched out over a few years, to realize how agape power has opened up my life from the very depths of my being and helped me over the years with my growth in faith. So my commitment is to focus on agape-flow in daily prayer exercises and then find ways throughout the day to let agape flow through me. During all this time it has been increasingly important to my faith development to continue to experience agape as a flowing spiritual power that opens me to ACCESS spiritual Presence all around me, within me, and extending infinitely.
As I look back over the last few years, I try to see how I’ve been slowly transformed by living my daily life in the reality of such spiritual flow. Even though I still have times when I let myself get overly tired and frustrated, I still find I've been increasing the depth of concern, caring, and compassion in my relationships. And I’ve always included in relationships: non-human creatures, and the rest of Creation. Then I try to experience this happening as others are drawn into this flow because of my participation in it and openness to it’s permeating all my living.
I’m confident that this process is available to everyone who is willing to prayerfully open up to find how God is pouring agape into our hearts. I’ve continued to read comments from more and more people, and it’s becoming apparent that a wide-spread change in perspective is happening as the experiencing of agape is spreading and the awareness is increasing. Of course, very few people recognize that it is agape.
As people describe their spiritual breakthroughs, they write about the exhilaration that brings a sense of freeing up of perspective on living. That change of perspective also allows people to see our period of history in a new light. More and more people are describing a greater awareness as people break free from the deadly, destructive perspectives that have held people back for too many centuries.
That’s why I describe what I’ve experienced as agape bringing “sacred freedom.” Not only does agape open people to new faith awareness, but also agape opens up relationships to new possibilities.
So I feel a similar hope to St. Paul’s when he expressed his hope in terms of the spiritual power of agape pouring into the heart of a faithful person (Rom. 5:5 -- if we leave ‘agape’ as its original Greek word). And so as more and more people are opened up spiritually to receive agape, each can experience agape’s power of patience and kindness. So that brings us back to 1 Cor. 13 and the wise rejoicing in the truth. In that chapter (when we leave ‘agape’ untranslated) we find the basis of true, charitable, profound compassion (as a religious principle; instead of the common English word ‘love’). And so we can let the Greek word ‘agape’ help us see the implication of 1 Cor. 13:1-3 -- if we don’t live by that spiritual power God gives us, then there is the despair of futility as all the words of the world are nothing more than clanging gongs or clashing cymbals (or symbols?), and all the knowledge of philosophy and the prophecies of religion are nothing, and all charitable acts amount to nothing. Those are harsh words indeed from a man who was forced to witness the pathetic results of trying to build a religion without the spiritual basis of accepting the gift of agape from God. But of course, he also witnessed the profound hope from people being opened up to sense God’s Presence in Life.
I’ve been trying to follow the meaning of that verse by extending my ‘agape prayer’ beyond my early morning prayer practice. I try letting my experience of the spiritual power of agape extend out in various ways so that I center the activities of my daily life around experiencing agape flowing through me. But... I’m finding it hard to remember to do that in many times during mundane activities. Usually, to see the meaning, I have to wait til the end of the day then reflect back over the times when I was able to experience momentary centering. As I do that looking back, I try finding a pattern to my day that can show me how to be more effective in centering my life with agape.
In that way I’ve been using the pattern-building process, stretched out over a few years, to realize how agape power has opened up my life from the very depths of my being and helped me over the years with my growth in faith. So my commitment is to focus on agape-flow in daily prayer exercises and then find ways throughout the day to let agape flow through me. During all this time it has been increasingly important to my faith development to continue to experience agape as a flowing spiritual power that opens me to ACCESS spiritual Presence all around me, within me, and extending infinitely.
As I look back over the last few years, I try to see how I’ve been slowly transformed by living my daily life in the reality of such spiritual flow. Even though I still have times when I let myself get overly tired and frustrated, I still find I've been increasing the depth of concern, caring, and compassion in my relationships. And I’ve always included in relationships: non-human creatures, and the rest of Creation. Then I try to experience this happening as others are drawn into this flow because of my participation in it and openness to it’s permeating all my living.
I’m confident that this process is available to everyone who is willing to prayerfully open up to find how God is pouring agape into our hearts. I’ve continued to read comments from more and more people, and it’s becoming apparent that a wide-spread change in perspective is happening as the experiencing of agape is spreading and the awareness is increasing. Of course, very few people recognize that it is agape.
As people describe their spiritual breakthroughs, they write about the exhilaration that brings a sense of freeing up of perspective on living. That change of perspective also allows people to see our period of history in a new light. More and more people are describing a greater awareness as people break free from the deadly, destructive perspectives that have held people back for too many centuries.
That’s why I describe what I’ve experienced as agape bringing “sacred freedom.” Not only does agape open people to new faith awareness, but also agape opens up relationships to new possibilities.
So I feel a similar hope to St. Paul’s when he expressed his hope in terms of the spiritual power of agape pouring into the heart of a faithful person (Rom. 5:5 -- if we leave ‘agape’ as its original Greek word). And so as more and more people are opened up spiritually to receive agape, each can experience agape’s power of patience and kindness. So that brings us back to 1 Cor. 13 and the wise rejoicing in the truth. In that chapter (when we leave ‘agape’ untranslated) we find the basis of true, charitable, profound compassion (as a religious principle; instead of the common English word ‘love’). And so we can let the Greek word ‘agape’ help us see the implication of 1 Cor. 13:1-3 -- if we don’t live by that spiritual power God gives us, then there is the despair of futility as all the words of the world are nothing more than clanging gongs or clashing cymbals (or symbols?), and all the knowledge of philosophy and the prophecies of religion are nothing, and all charitable acts amount to nothing. Those are harsh words indeed from a man who was forced to witness the pathetic results of trying to build a religion without the spiritual basis of accepting the gift of agape from God. But of course, he also witnessed the profound hope from people being opened up to sense God’s Presence in Life.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Agape or Charity?
I’ve been trying to find out why the Latin translation of the Greek Bible translated ‘agape’ as ‘caritas.’ So far, it seems that ‘caritas’ was originally not used as a spiritual term, but merely seemed like some sort of a term of endearment. But then I guess that’s not very surprising, because at the time of the translation, Latin was not a language with spiritual words.
That means that it was left to the churches and monasteries to do what Paul did, and that is make sure the word is given spiritual meaning. If that is not done, then ‘caritas’ was not a good translation of ‘agape.’ But at least there seemed to have been one similarity: just as ‘agape’ in the Greek language was not used as a normal word for love, so ‘caritas’ was not the normal Latin word for love.
So during the centuries after Paul’s letters became part of the New Testament corpus, when churches spread throughout the Mediterranean regions and then into Europe and Asia, those churches were supposed to keep alive the original spiritual meaning of ‘the agape of God.’ But… unfortunately… somehow that meaning got lost, until finally by the 18th Century, churches no longer were aware of the main thing that was meant to form their identity.
Now, we’re faced with the daunting task of recovering what agape was meant to do for Christians and communities of faith. And in the process of fulfilling that task, churches will need to reformulate the main identity (as set forth in John 13:35 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love'). That task has been the main purpose of this blog. I hit upon 2 methodologies for doing that: (1) through direct experience of God’s agape in my prayer life; and (2) through Bible study, starting with Paul's efforts, and then following Paul’s influence on Greek-speaking Christians as they translated the teachings of Jesus into Greek.
In my previous posting I explored the way Paul went about explaining the spiritual meaning of agape (especially in Romans and 1 Corinthians). I began with Paul’s great hope that by receiving and living by God’s gift of agape, faithful people could find peace with God through Jesus Christ, and then through faithfully living in the power of agape people would gain access to God’s grace. Paul showed that through that power and grace, faithful people can gain endurance for troubles in such a way that their character is built up. (Rom. 5:1-5) He proclaimed that the agape of God gives such a strong binding force that nothing in the world can separate a person from God’s divine Presence when a person learns to live by the spiritual power of agape. (Rom. 8:35-39 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love')
I took to heart Paul’s advice in Rom. 12 to let the Holy Spirit use the power of agape to transform my mind to keep me from conforming to the patterns of the present age of history. In my prayer practice I try to follow Paul’s advice to open up to spiritual agape’s help in opening me to its spiritual flow, and then I try letting agape flow through the relationships of my life. Paul wrote very specifically about the way agape’s power works in our relationships, helping us work for good against evil. Of course, at first I found that to be very difficult to let happen. I have to admit that I haven’t always been able to follow Paul’s advice to be welcoming and hospitable to strangers, and bless people who harass me. But I keep trying because I’m sure that he’s right -- if I can learn to let the spiritual power of agape work in me, I will experience a more charitable and hospitable attitude develop in me, and I’ll be better able to keep frustrations from getting the best of me.
And I agree with Paul -- when we open our heart to agape and let it slowly transform our living, we find that it is patient and kind. That seems to mean that patience and kindness are of the very essence of what the spiritual power is. And that’s why he said that agape “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor. 13:3-7 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love')
Such profound understanding of the power of agape is why Paul said in Galatians that agape is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, because its spiritual power opens us up and draws us close both to God and to other people in such a way that what comes into our being is a profound sense of joyous wellbeing. That deep spiritual sense allows us to accept other people in a life-affirming way, such that we become neither agitated with them nor attach any degree of importance to anything they may to do us. (Gal. 5:16-23) And when we hear such impossible-sounding teachings, then -- especially then -- we know that only through God’s agape working within us to transform us are we able to fulfill such teachings.
So we see that it is through the power of agape that we are able to show respect and honor toward other people. We stop acting in conceited or proud ways, but live in harmony and peace with everyone, even to the point of blessing those we disagree with or who would persecute us. He emphasized the important power agape had to help people have more empathy. (Rom. 12:15-23)
So he was showing that agape guided by the Holy Spirit can overcome that most dangerous part of human societies -- if enough people are able to open up to God’s agape, then there can be a breakdown of that old destructive worldly pattern of taking revenge against enemies -- that mistakenly tries to overcome evil with evil. Through agape, God gives the power to free minds and hearts from the old pattern of history in order to take part in the new way of living. That is ultimately what agape is all about -- bringing about a new world. But enough people need to let that happen.
Near the end of 1 Cor., Paul said that we should use agape to do everything that we do in life (1 Cor. 16:14 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love'). It is that spiritual power of agape that brings to the center of our being the peace that is the spiritual power of patience itself; the spiritual strength of kindness; the wise rejoicing in the truth; and the basis of true, profound compassion. So that brings us back to 1 Cor. 13, where the implication of that whole chapter is this: our lives will amount to nothing until we are willing to work with the all-important spiritual power of agape.
That means that it was left to the churches and monasteries to do what Paul did, and that is make sure the word is given spiritual meaning. If that is not done, then ‘caritas’ was not a good translation of ‘agape.’ But at least there seemed to have been one similarity: just as ‘agape’ in the Greek language was not used as a normal word for love, so ‘caritas’ was not the normal Latin word for love.
So during the centuries after Paul’s letters became part of the New Testament corpus, when churches spread throughout the Mediterranean regions and then into Europe and Asia, those churches were supposed to keep alive the original spiritual meaning of ‘the agape of God.’ But… unfortunately… somehow that meaning got lost, until finally by the 18th Century, churches no longer were aware of the main thing that was meant to form their identity.
Now, we’re faced with the daunting task of recovering what agape was meant to do for Christians and communities of faith. And in the process of fulfilling that task, churches will need to reformulate the main identity (as set forth in John 13:35 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love'). That task has been the main purpose of this blog. I hit upon 2 methodologies for doing that: (1) through direct experience of God’s agape in my prayer life; and (2) through Bible study, starting with Paul's efforts, and then following Paul’s influence on Greek-speaking Christians as they translated the teachings of Jesus into Greek.
In my previous posting I explored the way Paul went about explaining the spiritual meaning of agape (especially in Romans and 1 Corinthians). I began with Paul’s great hope that by receiving and living by God’s gift of agape, faithful people could find peace with God through Jesus Christ, and then through faithfully living in the power of agape people would gain access to God’s grace. Paul showed that through that power and grace, faithful people can gain endurance for troubles in such a way that their character is built up. (Rom. 5:1-5) He proclaimed that the agape of God gives such a strong binding force that nothing in the world can separate a person from God’s divine Presence when a person learns to live by the spiritual power of agape. (Rom. 8:35-39 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love')
I took to heart Paul’s advice in Rom. 12 to let the Holy Spirit use the power of agape to transform my mind to keep me from conforming to the patterns of the present age of history. In my prayer practice I try to follow Paul’s advice to open up to spiritual agape’s help in opening me to its spiritual flow, and then I try letting agape flow through the relationships of my life. Paul wrote very specifically about the way agape’s power works in our relationships, helping us work for good against evil. Of course, at first I found that to be very difficult to let happen. I have to admit that I haven’t always been able to follow Paul’s advice to be welcoming and hospitable to strangers, and bless people who harass me. But I keep trying because I’m sure that he’s right -- if I can learn to let the spiritual power of agape work in me, I will experience a more charitable and hospitable attitude develop in me, and I’ll be better able to keep frustrations from getting the best of me.
And I agree with Paul -- when we open our heart to agape and let it slowly transform our living, we find that it is patient and kind. That seems to mean that patience and kindness are of the very essence of what the spiritual power is. And that’s why he said that agape “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor. 13:3-7 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love')
Such profound understanding of the power of agape is why Paul said in Galatians that agape is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, because its spiritual power opens us up and draws us close both to God and to other people in such a way that what comes into our being is a profound sense of joyous wellbeing. That deep spiritual sense allows us to accept other people in a life-affirming way, such that we become neither agitated with them nor attach any degree of importance to anything they may to do us. (Gal. 5:16-23) And when we hear such impossible-sounding teachings, then -- especially then -- we know that only through God’s agape working within us to transform us are we able to fulfill such teachings.
So we see that it is through the power of agape that we are able to show respect and honor toward other people. We stop acting in conceited or proud ways, but live in harmony and peace with everyone, even to the point of blessing those we disagree with or who would persecute us. He emphasized the important power agape had to help people have more empathy. (Rom. 12:15-23)
So he was showing that agape guided by the Holy Spirit can overcome that most dangerous part of human societies -- if enough people are able to open up to God’s agape, then there can be a breakdown of that old destructive worldly pattern of taking revenge against enemies -- that mistakenly tries to overcome evil with evil. Through agape, God gives the power to free minds and hearts from the old pattern of history in order to take part in the new way of living. That is ultimately what agape is all about -- bringing about a new world. But enough people need to let that happen.
Near the end of 1 Cor., Paul said that we should use agape to do everything that we do in life (1 Cor. 16:14 when agape is not mistranslated as 'love'). It is that spiritual power of agape that brings to the center of our being the peace that is the spiritual power of patience itself; the spiritual strength of kindness; the wise rejoicing in the truth; and the basis of true, profound compassion. So that brings us back to 1 Cor. 13, where the implication of that whole chapter is this: our lives will amount to nothing until we are willing to work with the all-important spiritual power of agape.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The Holy Spirit guiding Agape
In my last posting to this blog I wrote about connecting Rom. 5:5 with Rom. 12:3-23. Now I’ll take that a step more.
Early in this Letter to the Romans, Paul reported that his hope for the human race came from the spiritual power of the agape of God, that was “poured” into the hearts of faithful people (5:5). Then later he talked about the victory that was won through Christ Jesus bringing his followers agape. And Paul proclaimed that such victory gave us spiritual bonding so strong that nothing can separate us from the agape of God -- “not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.” (8:35-39 Common English Bible)
Then most of chapter 12 is a list of practical actions. He began by urging followers of Christ to let the Holy Spirit transform their minds so they do not conform to the patterns of their present age of history. Then beginning with vs. 9 he focused on the actions that spiritual agape helps us do when we let it open us to its spiritual flow in our life. He wrote about the way agape’s power, when we let it work in our relationships, helps us work for good against evil. For example -- be welcoming and hospitable to strangers, and bless people who harass you.
When describing good, healthful relationships, he gave the illustration of treating others as kind family members would treat each other — with respect, showing honor toward other people. Also he showed how agape helps faithful people not be conceited or proud, but live in harmony and peace with everyone, even to the point of blessing those you disagree with or who would persecute you. When he pointed out the strengthening aspects of agape, he described the way that spiritual energy helps with being patient in affliction (note, he didn’t insinuate that we would in any way escape affliction -- all of the great examples from the New Testament, from Jesus to the Disciples to Paul, had to go through afflictions).
When emphasizing the important power agape had with bringing empathy to people, Paul wrote: “Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. … If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. Don’t try to take revenge. … If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:15-23 Common English Bible)
What we can so very clearly see in Romans is that when we keep agape connected with the Holy Spirit, it can transform people to be kind, compassionate, and charitable with everyone. Agape guided by the Holy Spirit can overcome that most dangerous part of human societies -- God’s agape can actually break down that old worldly pattern of taking revenge against enemies that mistakenly tries to overcome evil with evil. Paul knew how truly that was needed because of, partly, what he saw going on in towns and cities from Jerusalem through Turkey and Greece, all the way to Rome.
And so after the last several hundred years of increasing evidence throughout the globe, we can see, as Paul did, that through agape, the Holy Spirit liberates 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. Thus agape works with the Holy Spirit to open us and liberate us when we tap into its spiritual flowing.
Early in this Letter to the Romans, Paul reported that his hope for the human race came from the spiritual power of the agape of God, that was “poured” into the hearts of faithful people (5:5). Then later he talked about the victory that was won through Christ Jesus bringing his followers agape. And Paul proclaimed that such victory gave us spiritual bonding so strong that nothing can separate us from the agape of God -- “not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.” (8:35-39 Common English Bible)
Then most of chapter 12 is a list of practical actions. He began by urging followers of Christ to let the Holy Spirit transform their minds so they do not conform to the patterns of their present age of history. Then beginning with vs. 9 he focused on the actions that spiritual agape helps us do when we let it open us to its spiritual flow in our life. He wrote about the way agape’s power, when we let it work in our relationships, helps us work for good against evil. For example -- be welcoming and hospitable to strangers, and bless people who harass you.
When describing good, healthful relationships, he gave the illustration of treating others as kind family members would treat each other — with respect, showing honor toward other people. Also he showed how agape helps faithful people not be conceited or proud, but live in harmony and peace with everyone, even to the point of blessing those you disagree with or who would persecute you. When he pointed out the strengthening aspects of agape, he described the way that spiritual energy helps with being patient in affliction (note, he didn’t insinuate that we would in any way escape affliction -- all of the great examples from the New Testament, from Jesus to the Disciples to Paul, had to go through afflictions).
When emphasizing the important power agape had with bringing empathy to people, Paul wrote: “Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. … If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. Don’t try to take revenge. … If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:15-23 Common English Bible)
What we can so very clearly see in Romans is that when we keep agape connected with the Holy Spirit, it can transform people to be kind, compassionate, and charitable with everyone. Agape guided by the Holy Spirit can overcome that most dangerous part of human societies -- God’s agape can actually break down that old worldly pattern of taking revenge against enemies that mistakenly tries to overcome evil with evil. Paul knew how truly that was needed because of, partly, what he saw going on in towns and cities from Jerusalem through Turkey and Greece, all the way to Rome.
And so after the last several hundred years of increasing evidence throughout the globe, we can see, as Paul did, that through agape, the Holy Spirit liberates 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. Thus agape works with the Holy Spirit to open us and liberate us when we tap into its spiritual flowing.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Known by Agape
In my last two postings I mentioned that in the teaching about agape in the Gospel of John, we are told that everyone will know the followers of Jesus by agape. That is the great challenge from our Master -- that using the power of agape is the way everyone will know who are the followers of Jesus Christ (John 13:35).
So today, when we continue following in that tradition established by Jesus and spread abroad by Paul, we take to heart that prediction. But what does that mean -- for people to know the followers of the Christ by the actions of living by the power of spiritual agape, and then sharing agape with each other and also allowing the Holy Spirit to extend agape through concrete actions out to others?
In order for us to be true Christians, agape must be seen through our actions. That’s the whole story today. Agape can become like a radiating energy, spreading out from Christian groups to the world around them. And that’s our challenge -- from the very beginning. So the Christian influence to change the world is known through the evidence of agape. That’s it! That’s what changes the world, because that’s how the power of God works.
And yet… and yet…
...most Christians don’t know what agape is. Those few aware Christians, who have at least heard the word, think it has something to do with love, but they know it can’t be what they normally think love is. But they’re not sure what else agape can be. Even they just don’t know what agape is.
So we have this strange condition in the 21st Century: what the world is supposed to know Christians by is unknown to almost all Christians. How pathetic is that?
We have the ancient challenge from Jesus Christ. And it was meant to be the very thing that defines the mission of our whole enterprise. And yet …
...how can we even begin to know how to start to meet that challenge and proceed with our mission …
… if we don’t even know what the main word is that defines our mission?
So the most important investigation we must complete in order to move forward in the 21st Century is to rediscover what agape is. And we have been held back in our prime investigation by weak translations for 600 years. We can no longer rely on translations of the New Testament. It is of utmost importance that, as quickly as possible, we have to discover through deep prayer -- opening up to the power of God -- what God is giving us in agape.
Then of course, we are challenged by Christ to let that spiritual power of agape work through us.
So today, when we continue following in that tradition established by Jesus and spread abroad by Paul, we take to heart that prediction. But what does that mean -- for people to know the followers of the Christ by the actions of living by the power of spiritual agape, and then sharing agape with each other and also allowing the Holy Spirit to extend agape through concrete actions out to others?
In order for us to be true Christians, agape must be seen through our actions. That’s the whole story today. Agape can become like a radiating energy, spreading out from Christian groups to the world around them. And that’s our challenge -- from the very beginning. So the Christian influence to change the world is known through the evidence of agape. That’s it! That’s what changes the world, because that’s how the power of God works.
And yet… and yet…
...most Christians don’t know what agape is. Those few aware Christians, who have at least heard the word, think it has something to do with love, but they know it can’t be what they normally think love is. But they’re not sure what else agape can be. Even they just don’t know what agape is.
So we have this strange condition in the 21st Century: what the world is supposed to know Christians by is unknown to almost all Christians. How pathetic is that?
We have the ancient challenge from Jesus Christ. And it was meant to be the very thing that defines the mission of our whole enterprise. And yet …
...how can we even begin to know how to start to meet that challenge and proceed with our mission …
… if we don’t even know what the main word is that defines our mission?
So the most important investigation we must complete in order to move forward in the 21st Century is to rediscover what agape is. And we have been held back in our prime investigation by weak translations for 600 years. We can no longer rely on translations of the New Testament. It is of utmost importance that, as quickly as possible, we have to discover through deep prayer -- opening up to the power of God -- what God is giving us in agape.
Then of course, we are challenged by Christ to let that spiritual power of agape work through us.
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