21. Q.-What is the difference between ἀγαπάω and φιλέω? I am only quite a young Greek scholar, and know very little about it, yet I often get great help in understanding the scriptures from the Greek. 'Αλαπάω, seems, I think, the highest, for John only of the apostles uses it in his epistles, and a great many times in his gospel; and God is love (ἀγάπη), yet "the Father loveth (φιλεῖ) the Son." (John 5:20.) (φιλέω), is translated kiss in three places. I am sure it is of importance to distinguish them. (2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:14-19.) B. S.
A.—Αγαπάω, means "to love," and is used of God who loves His Son, and who so loved the world as to give His Son to die, and who loves His children. Christians are to love one another, and their enemies, for God is love; so, as born of Him, they are to manifest it. (1 John 4; Matt. 5:44.)
φιλέω speaks rather of affection or attachment to a person, or an object. Thus the Pharisees loved (φιλέω) the uppermost seats at feasts (Matt. 23:6), and the world loves its own. (John 15:19.) So the Lord warns us against loving father or mother more than Him. (Matt. 10:37.) Then we read that the Father loves the Son (φιλεῖ), and shows Him all that He does (John 5. -20); and He loved the disciples because they had loved the Son (John 16:27). Of the Lord we read, that whilst He loved (ἀγαπάω) the Philadelphian saints, He shows His love (φιλέω) to souls in rebuking and chastening where needed. (Compare Rev. 3:9 and 19.) One sees the import of the term used when addressing the Laodicean assembly. And we can understand the significance of it as used by Martha and Mary, when they sent to the Lord in their sorrow, and said, He whom thou lovest φιλεῖς is sick." (John 11:3.) And surely the term was well chosen, when the Jews at the grave, observing the Lord's emotion, said, "See how he loved him" (ἐφίλει). Peter's answer to the Lord's challenge is all in character, as he uses but one word of himself. He loved Christ (φιλέω), whatever his denial of Him might seem to imply. And in harmony with this is the apostolic word, "If any man love not (φιλεῖ) the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." (1 Cor. 16:22.)
A derivative of φιλεῖν is φιλημα,"a kiss." So καταφιλεῖλεῖν is "to kiss." How base the treachery of Judas to manifest special attachment to the One whose betrayal he had compassed! With the bearing of φιλεῖν before us, we can see the import of the compound φιλαδελφία, brotherly love; φιλαργνρία, love of money (1 Tim. 2:10);φιλανθρωπία, love towards man (Titus 3:4);φιλήδονος,, a lover of pleasure. (2 Tim. 3:4.) And one can see the force of the word used by James, when denouncing the friendship (φιλία) of the world as enmity with God.—(James 4:4.) C. E. S.
22. Q.-Do we get any expressions in scripture which give the same idea as one would get from reading the lines- "Who didst for sinners shed Thy blood:"- "Which He on Calvary spilled," &c.; which we find in the " Little Flock " hymn-book? T. A.
A.-His blood was shed. (Matt. 26:28.) And He gave His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28), and the life of the flesh is in the blood. No man taketh it from Him (John 10:18.) He offered up Himself. (Heb. 7:27.) The Lord Jesus was the offerer, the offering, and the priest; and it was at a place called Calvary in Latin, (Luke 23:33), Golgotha in Aramaic, there they crucified Him. We must not quarrel with these expressions in the "Little Flock" hymn-book. C. E. S.