What is ‘Agape?’

We all try to achieve ethical perfection. As Christians, we try to be more Christ-like. We can’t be exactly like Christ, but we are to be like Christ.

For this article, it’s important to learn some Greek history. The Greeks had separated love into three different types of words for love: Philia, storge, and eros. Philia refers to a love between friends, storge refers to a love between a parent and child, and eros refers to a love between a husband and wife. This concept might be a little difficult to understand, so make sure to read over this paragraph and have an idea of what it’s talking about… All three of these types of love are conditional ways to love. In other words, you don’t love the other person unless they benefit you.

However, when Christians came along, they made a fourth type of love called agape. This type of love refers to a love between you and God. It’s also called “true love” because agape is the only unconditional type of love that exists.

After understanding that, please refer to 1 Peter 4:8. It talks about how agape love prevents a multitude of sins. This is because if you truly love God, then you will not want to hurt God in any way.

So if you want to live a life of ethical perfection, don’t try to follow a list of rules! You will fail every time because that’s not a proper way of motivation. Rather, you should simply love God and everything will fall into place.