Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 12/15/2006

Question
Hello, I've been asking about the concept of love, we are told to love God, love your enemies, love yourself, are all these the same?  How can you love God, if you can never truly know God?  Even love of self can be hard. Can you shed light on any of this?

Answer
Marc,

Thank you for your questions. I will do my best to answer them one at a time.

1. "...we are told to love God, love your enemies, love yourself, are all these the same?"

This is not entirely accurate. Yes, we are to love God with our whole being, but this type of love is not exactly the same love we are to have for others.

Matt. 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mark 12:30
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

These Scriptures teach us that we are to put God first in everything. Our devotion, passion, faith, ect... He is to be the apex of our lives. But in Luke 10, the Bible add's this caviot..

Luke 10:27
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

Loving our neighbor (anyone we come in contact with, or our fellow man), means to treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves.

2. "How can you love God, if you can never truly know God?"

Marc, you can know God! Jesus said that those who have never seen Him, are more blessed than those who did.

John 20:29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

As Believers, we know God, and have a relationship with Him in several ways...

A. Through His Word
1 John 2:5
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

B. Through His Spirit.
1 Cor. 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

2 Tim. 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

3. "Can you shed light on any of this?"

Marc, the New Testament was originally written in Greek. Many words in English have duel meanings. And the English word for love has differ meanings in the Greek. As a matter of fact, when the English translators saw these words, the simply translated them with the word love. Here are a few examples.

Agape is the Greek word for unconditional love, such as a parent has for a child. This is the love that God has for His people
Romans 8:35 "who will separate us from the agape of Christ?"
and it is the greatest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
1 Cor 12:31 - 13:13 "now faith, hope, and agape abide, and the greatest of these is agape"
Jesus calls his people to agape their enemies (Luke 6:27). When Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 in Matthew 22:37 the gospel writers use the Greek word agape.

Phileo is the Greek word for affection or fondness, as in Peter's response to Jesus in John 21, when he said ""Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." This word is used in two difference compound forms in
Romans 12:10 "Love one another with brotherly affection" The word also means "affection for an inanimate thing" (Matthew 6:5 "the hypocrites phileo to stand and pray") which is consistent with its use in English as a root for words such as philosophy – the phileo of wisdom.

Classical Greek had a separate word Eros for sexual or romantic love but this word does not appear in the New Testament.

Marc, Christianity is a religion of love, our God is a God of love who so loved the world that he gave his only Son for it. We are called to love God above all, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
God leave us to try to work up this love by ourselves, but He sends the Holy Ghost with the gifts (1 Cor 13) and fruits (Gal 5:22) of love.

Please let me know if this helps, our if you have any further questions.
Elder Greg Madden