In researching for a different post, I stumbled upon an interesting contradition.
Christians have adopted "agape love" as the epitome of how a Christian should love.
According to a Christian site:
Agape
Philia love, on the other hand:
source: The Different Kinds of Love Mentioned in the Bible > Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension
But if we go to good ole Wikipedia, we get a sort of opposite rendition:
Agape:
Philia:
Is it just me, or did the Christians flip the meanings of the words? Philia seems to me to be the more virtuous sort of love. Futhermore, the selflessness that is supposed to characterize agape love is completely missing from its actual Greek definition. In fact, agape love seems to be rather similiar to the common English definition of "love", though Christians seem to go through great pains to draw disimilarities between them. What gives?
Christians have adopted "agape love" as the epitome of how a Christian should love.
According to a Christian site:
Agape
andA special word representing the divine love of God toward His Son, human beings in general and believers. It is also used to depict the outwardly focused love God expects believers to have for one another.
This kind of love is perhaps best expressed in Jesus Christ's statement in John 15:13, "Greater love [agape] has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus Himself perfectly exemplified this kind of love throughout His lifetime, continually giving of Himself and His time and energies to serve others and ultimately offering up His life as a sacrifice for all of humanity. This is the kind of love God wants each of us to exemplify in our lives and particularly in our marriages.
Philia love, on the other hand:
means "'to have ardent affection and feeling'—a type of impulsive love" (Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1995, "Love"). This is the natural, human type of love and affection that we have for a friend and is often defined as "brotherly love."
In John 21:15-16, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him with the agapao type of love and Peter responded that he had the normal human phileo type of love for Him. Later, after receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter would be able to genuinely demonstrate agapao-type godly love, serving others throughout his lifetime and making the ultimate sacrifice in martyrdom.
source: The Different Kinds of Love Mentioned in the Bible > Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension
But if we go to good ole Wikipedia, we get a sort of opposite rendition:
Agape:
means "love" in modern day Greek, such as in the term s'agapo (Σ'αγαπώ, which means"I love you". In Ancient Greek it often refers to a general affection rather than the attraction suggested by "eros"; agape is used in ancient texts to denote feelings for a good meal, one's children, and the feelings for a spouse. It can be described as the feeling of being content or holding one in high regard.
Philia:
which means friendship in modern Greek, a dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. In ancient texts, philia denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.
Is it just me, or did the Christians flip the meanings of the words? Philia seems to me to be the more virtuous sort of love. Futhermore, the selflessness that is supposed to characterize agape love is completely missing from its actual Greek definition. In fact, agape love seems to be rather similiar to the common English definition of "love", though Christians seem to go through great pains to draw disimilarities between them. What gives?