The Essence of Agape Love in the New Testament Essay

The Essence of Agape Love in the New Testament - Essay Example The majority of scholars have thought of this word to represent divine, self-sacrificing, volitional, unconditional, active, and thoughtful love. Despite the word not having a specific religious connotation, it has been used by a majority of ancient and contemporary sources which include the Bible authors and Christian authors. (Wahlde, 2010) In the Old Testament, the Hebrew used the word Ahab to describe love, it was also used in extensive ways and milieus as the English term: sexual love, love of humanity by God, love of spouse or child, friendship, and so on. In the New Testament, the word ‘agape’ was used without bringing in too much philosophical or theological baggage because the word was Greek. Thus, among the majority of early Christians, the word ‘agape’ was used to refer to the unearned love of God for humanity. This love is so immense that God sent his only son to agonize and pass away for the sake of the sins of mankind. The essence of agape love in the New Testament is, therefore, self-sacrifice. It does not denote the romantic or sexual love of English. It is unique and is distinguished by its characters and nature. According to the Book of John, it affirms that agape is love which is of and from God, whose exact nature is said to be love itself. The apostle affirms that God is love. This implies that God does not only love, but he is love itself. Therefore, everything that God does flows from His love. Therefore, agape has received a broader usage with the Christian writers. It has, however, been denoted to Christian love or charity or God himself. Agape has been expounded by on by various Christian writers some of which we are going to look at. The most common attribute of agape love that will be realized in their writings is that it is a high kind of love that is selfless, and contributes to a passionate commitment to the wellbeing of the other. With reference to 1 John 2 19-20, we try to realize the kind of commitment one is required to have in trying to demonstrate love to his community and faith in God. The book tells us that once we have a feeling of belonging to a community, family or part of any tradition, it is not worth to walk out of it. In this excerpt, the author writes to the Christian community trying to warn them of the advent of antichrist. It is not easy to tell when this book was written. However, it is known that it was written by John, one of the apostles of Christ at around A.D. 180. He refers to them – the antichrists – as opponents who depart or go out from the Christian community. According to the author, their departure means that they were actually never part of the Christian family. In order to understand the importance of this verse, one must first comprehend the setting and the background of the bone of contention that had been hugely reflected in John 1 and 2. 1 John 19 – 20 strongly suggests that there was – before the dispute at present à ¢â‚¬â€œ a time when those departing the Christian community considered themselves as part of the community. The antichrists have now departed from the congregation, the Christian community due to this cause of disagreement – disagreement over Christological doctrines.