God’s chesed love is why He never gives up on those He has adopted as His children. Chesed is often translated as “steadfast love” or “ lovingkindness.” A good example of chesed is found in Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Numbers 14:18, ESV). We find ahabah throughout the Old Testament because of its broad range of meanings, but the Greek word storge is only found in the New Testament as a negative word, astorgos, meaning 'without natural love' (e.g., in 2 Timothy 3:3).įinally, there is the Hebrew word chesed and the Greek word agape, which are used to express the kind of love God demonstrates toward His elect. Of family or tribal love, the Hebrew word is once again ahabah, indicating a deep affection, and the Greek word is storge. The Greek word for brotherly love or affection is phileo, as used to refer to friendship in John 15:19, Romans 12:10, and Hebrews 13:1. The Hebrew word is ahabah, and it is used to describe the love between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:17. There is no sexual connotation it is the love for and by a friend. The second type of love is the brotherly love that exists between close friends regardless of gender. In the original Hebrew of verse 26, the word is yada, meaning “to know” and in this context “to know carnally” or “to have sexual intercourse with.” In the New Testament, the Greek word eros is not found because there is no context in which it might be used. In Genesis 38 Judah makes love with a woman he assumes is a prostitute.

The Hebrew word yada and the Greek word eros are the words used to indicate sexual love.

The ancient languages differentiate among sexual, brotherly, and familial love, and also the kind of love that God has for creation and that we may have for Him. The languages in which the Bible was written, Hebrew and Greek, are more precise in that they utilize different words for the different types of love. We “love” everything from pancakes to parents, but in vastly different ways. In the English language, the word love is forced to bear the burden of a multitude of meanings. The Bible tells us that love originates in God.

To accurately answer the question “what is love?” we need to go to the origin of love. Love can involve personal affection, sexual attraction, platonic admiration, brotherly loyalty, benevolent concern, or worshipful adoration. Love can be a challenge to define at the level of how a person experiences it.

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