What Is Agape?

Agape is the standard word for love in the Greek New Testament, it is the highest form of love. Agape is rooted and grounded in the character of God. It is a sacrificial love that voluntarily suffers inconvenience and discomfort for the benefit of another without expecting anything in return; it is unconditional. This is the foundation for the best and most noble relationships that humans are capable of.

What Does Agape Love Mean For A Christian?

John 13:35: The Christian life is characterized by sacrificial agape love.

Romans 5:8; Revelation 1:5: It was agape love that caused Jesus to sacrifice Himself for us.

John 15:9-10; Romans 13:10: When we agape love God, we show it by obeying His commandments because His commandments teach us how to love.

Love will reveal our spirit. Love will reveal if our Christian experience is genuine, because if we do not possess love, we are not born of God. Jesus says that all people will know we are His disciples by the love that we have for one another John 13:34-35. There is no book that speaks more about agape than 1 John. One main theme from 1 John is we cannot agape love God while not agape loving fellow believers. The second theme is that we inconsistently and falsely claim to agape love God when we do not obey Him. 1 Corinthians is the love chapter, so there is a lot to learn about agape in Corinthians as well. In 1 Cor. 13; Paul says: “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

God calls us to love Him and one another with the same love He has loved us with. This is a tough task, but the most important commandment was to love your neighbor and love the Lord your God! Do we just write off the most important commandment thinking it is impossible? Do we think we cannot reflect the love of God? Do we forget whose spirit lives inside of us? Christians are called to this standard of agape love.

Exercising Agape: The Unselfish Nature Of Love

“To love we must give of ourselves, of our time,.. of whatever it takes to show love; giving is fundamental to the biblical idea of love.” –Jay E. Adams

“Love is longsuffering, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” (1 Cor. 13:4-10)

1. Love suffers long and is kind. Longsuffering can also mean endure. I like the use of long suffering over patience because it implies that loving others can often be difficult. Christians love should be long suffering, because longsuffering is a chief characteristic of God. How long did God endure our disbelief? How long has God endured our sins? If it weren’t for His longsuffering, we would perish. If God treated us with as much impatience as we treat others, we would be in hell right now. God continues to love us regardless of our disobedience, unbelief, blasphemy, and sin. We are called to love as He does. “Keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8) I believe Paul pairs longsuffering and kindness together because longsuffering includes kindness. We are to be kind in our response to our suffering, meaning not being hostile, seeking revenge, or being bitter.
2. Love does not envy, love does not say “I told you so”Envy is to desire the attainments or advantages of another, you want what they have or wish they didn’t have it. This is a direct opposition to love. Love desires the success of others. The kind and loving person swallows the words “I told you so”, and do not kick others when they are down. Love is not big headed, but big-hearted.
3. Love is sensitive to the needs and desires of others. Love is not possessive, demanding, stubborn, or dominating; love does not insist on its own way. Love listens and love sacrifices. Love is self-giving, not self-seeking.
4. Love is not provoked. Love does not have a short fuse, nor is it exasperated by annoyances. Love has the ability to tolerate weaknesses in others without readily expressing anger. Scripture says to be “slow to become angry” (James 1:19). God is “slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 86:15). The truth that God is measured in His wrath is immediately followed by the truth that He overflows with love. The connection between the two is this: love puts the brakes on anger, slowing it down for the sake of the one loved.
5. Love does not take into account wrong suffered. Love does not keep a score card on evil deeds. Not take into account simply means: to not consider, not taking notice of. When wrongs are done against us, our fleshly nature is quick to take offense and have hurt feelings, yet God has called us to not even notice when wrong is done to us. When we choose to not forgive but to take into account a wrong suffered, the consequences of an unforgiving heart will be grievous. Not only is this heart in disobedience to our God, but it bears the fruit of anger and bitterness which will infiltrate throughout other areas of our lives.
6. Love does not rejoice in inequity, but rejoices in the truth. Not only do we commit sins, but we encourage others to do them as well. We rejoice when we see sins being committed as if it somehow excuses ours. True love rejoices in truth.
7. Love bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things. To “endure” is to hold your position at all cost. Love holds fast, perseveres, and refuses to give up. Love refuses to take failure as final. The reason the believer can take such an attitude is that God is in the business of taking human failures and producing spiritual giants out of them.We are the opposite of 1 Corinthians 13 in every aspect. This love list is the character of God Himself. You can go back through 13:4-10 and every time you see the word “love” replace it with “Christ” and the scripture will still hold the same truth. This kind of love, agape, the love of God, we cannot attain as humans, unless we are abiding in God and asking Him to live his supernatural love in and through us. Love is ever lasting, love is eternal. Our love will not be perfected until Christ comes again. We will know His love in fullness, face to face; not as we do now looking in a “mirror dimly”.We cannot become the loving being we desire without a relationship with the author of love himself. This must be cultivated first and foremost. Then, we can love those closest to us, and then we can better love the world around us! The divine dictionary of love will be a lifetime challenge, but the demonstration of this virtue will evince that we are truly the Lord’s disciples (John 13:35).