Agape Probably Doesn't Mean What You've Been Taught in Bible Study

It's important that we share our faith accurately, honestly, and biblically (2 Timothy 2:15). Sadly, there are some very popular misunderstandings about God's love.

I've written at length about the misleading use of the word “unconditional” when describing God's love (see links below). It has produced enormous misunderstandings.

Today I want to take a bit longer than my usual one-minute devotion to address another error that is often combined with “unconditional love” misunderstandings.

Why am I discussing these errors? Because there's nothing more important than sharing our faith accurately, and we need to be aware of how widespread some errors have become.

So let's look at the popular misunderstanding of the Greek word agape.

If you google “agape,” the majority of Christian sites will present it as God's perfect love, and many will claim that it also denotes unconditional love. 

John Piper summarizes the problem: 

“One of the most popular linguistic and exegetical fallacies in modern times is that the Greek word for love, agapao, carries in it the implication of a divine love that is unconditional and comes to us in spite of our sin. That is not true. Context must decide if agapao refers to our proud, cliquish love for our cronies (as in Matthew 5:46), or if it refers to God’s merciful and sacrificial love for sinners (as in John 3:16), or if it refers to our love for leaders, not unconditionally but precisely because of their labor (1 Thessalonians 5:13).” ~ John Piper 

In English, the meaning of “love” is also defined by the context. We use the word love whether we're talking about loving pizza or loving God. 

If Christians are sharing God's love with good intentions, does it really matter if we pass along this error about the Greek word agape? I think it does. We don't need to misrepresent a Greek word to emphasize the beauty of God's love. 

We should “always be prepared” to explain our faith to others (1 Peter 3:15), and we should seek to do it honestly and accurately (2 Timothy 2:15). If we are going to emphasize a point by explaining the meaning of the original Greek word, let's do our homework. Our faith is worth more than sloppy scholarship. 

When we teach errors, we can lose our credibility, especially when sharing the gospel with unbelievers. So let's be like the noble Bereans and make sure Scripture supports the things we're taught (Acts 17:11). 

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

God's love is incredible (Ephesians 3:17-19). We don't need to redefine Greek words to prove that. 

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Read 7 Truths about God's Love to see some of the wonderful things Scripture teaches about God's love. 

To better understand the error of describing God's love as unconditional, see God's Love Is Better than Unconditional. And I also encourage you to read Is Unconditional the Best Description of God's Love? because it answers some common questions. You also might want to watch this six-minute video with R. C. Sproul and John McArthur: God's Love Is Not Unconditional.

Additional Resources about Agape

See the Greek explanation of agape HERE. 

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Thomas Nelson’s Bible Dictionary:
“AGAPE [ah GAH pay] — a Greek word for love used often in the New Testament (John 13:35; 1 Cor. 13; 1 John 4:7–18). Contrary to popular understanding, the significance of agape is not that it is an unconditional love, but that it is primarily a love of the will rather than the emotions. The New Testament never speaks of God loving unbelieving human beings with emotional love or a love that expects something in return. But He loves with His will (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8). The reason for this is that God can find nothing enjoyable about a sinner on whom His wrath still abides. So He loves by His will; it is His nature to love.” [underlining is mine] *

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The word agape did not originate in New Testament writings. To believe that agape means God's perfect love would mean the pagan Greeks developed the best description of God's love.

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“Both agape and phileo can be used as synonyms, and it is the usage in the context of conversation or narration that tells us the degree of love or the object of love in focus.” ~ Let's Stop Overinterpreting Agape

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“In John 3:35, Jesus says, 'The Father loves the Son,' and in John 5:20 he says precisely the same thing—only in one verse he uses agapao and in the other phileo, with no discernible difference in meaning.”

~ What Does Agape Love Really Mean?

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“In Matthew 24:12, agape is described as growing cold. Yet if it is a Godly love, how can it change? … Agape was used throughout other Greek literature of the time and when the New Testament was written, it had become the standard word for love in the Greek culture. We should therefore expect it to be the standard word for love in the New Testament.”  ~ Is “Agape” a special kind of love? 

“Agape is used to speak of God’s love that He has for the world and that Christians are supposed to emulate. This is the word for 'love' that is most commonly used in the New Testament. For a while it was thought that Christians must have coined the word agape to speak of a godly kind of love that the Greek world knew nothing of. But the word agape was in fact in use in the Roman Empire, and it was not coined by Christians to communicate God’s love.” ~ Got Questions

💙Be sure to check out The Bible Love Notes devotional Wisdom for Life. Discounted on Lifeway, Amazon, and CBD. And sign up for a free subscription to Bible Love Notes 1-minute devotions HERE.

*Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

Bible Love Notes