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Tag: agape

  • 3 Letters from the Apostle John

    3 Letters from the Apostle John

    The world cannot think of John without a picture of a young man next to JESUS who wrote,“God so loved the world…”

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. JOHN 3:16 green man
    John to the seven churches which are in Asia: map with cities pictured and the island of Patmos

    Or Christians perhaps recall the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John on Patmos with little consideration of his age or the path of the Apostle leading him to this isolated Greek island.

    Three intimate letters to believers 

    The A.D. 90's - the END of an era 
    — JOHN's Apostolic love and truth for fidelity in the faith.

    The Elder John writes three letters — along with Jude, the LAST EPISTLES of the New Testament.

    Although our focus will be 2 John and 3 John, I will include 1 John in this overview written about the same time.

    In order to set the cultural stage of the Church enduring beyond the end of the A.D. first century, consider that the Elder writes his 3 Epistles some sixty years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

    map of Ephesus near the churches where John was an Elder "an epistle from John - Elder to the Churches 1 John 2 john 3 John

    Introduction to an Era not unlike our own:

    INTRO – MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY 1-3 JOHN

    quoting Donald W Burdick

    Apart from the Judaeo-Christian sphere, the world was religiously inclusivistic. There was always room for a new religion, provided of course that it was not of an exclusive nature. Syncretism[‘s].. characteristic expression was in the combination of various ideas and beliefs from different sources to form new or aberrant religions. This was the age of of the developing mystery religions, the age of the occult, ane age of the proliferation of Gnostic sects.

    MACARTHUR Commentary 1-3 John, p.1

    Recall from Acts how the young Apostle Jesus loved also preached the Gospel of our risen Lord boldly along with Simon Peter in the Temple. But that was about sixty years ago .

    In the year of our Lord 90

    (approximately)

    Keep in mind that ALL dates used for comparison to various 1st c. events are approximate, but reveal a chronology of John's life.
    • John’s own Gospel account of the events of JESUS’s incarnate life had already been written and distributed to the churches some five to ten years ago.
    • Mark, Matthew and Luke had written and sent out their Gospel’s some thirty years before, back in the 50’s and 60’s.
    • Several missionary journeys of the Paul (begun in A.D. 47) along with many others had concluded prior to the Apostle’s death along with Peter in Rome [~ A.D. 66] also some twenty to thirty years before these final epistles of John.
      • Paul had founded this church in Ephesus where John now serves as an Elder.
      • Paul had written to it as well some forty years before, back in the early A.D. 60’s.

    Rome had political problems of its own.

    In addition to putting down a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem [A.D. 66] and destroying the Temple [A.D. 70], the Caesar’s frequently blamed and banished Christians for their political problems in Rome and other cities of the Empire.

    terrors of death of Jerusalem's defenders and destruction temple by Rome in A.D. 70

    An Apostolic Dogma of John

    The 21st c. Common Era church speaks so little of dogma that I must define it.

    Dogma – 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a religion.

    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

    This is what I refer to as Apostolic Faith, which includes all Apostolic authority continuing through Scripture to this day.

    Referring to the "we" statements of 1 John, the author speaks on behalf of the Twelve." 

    John Stott observes:

    He does not hesitate to call certain classes of people liars, deceivers or antichrists. .. they either have God or have not, know God or do not, have live or abide in death, walk in darkness or in the light, are children of God or children of the devil.

    This dogmatic authority of the writer is seen particularly in his statements and in his commands.

    John Stott commentary, quoted by MacArthur, p.4

    a culture combining aberrant and mystery religions 

    Stick with me on some abridged definitions for your understanding of the A.D. 1st century, (again, not so unlike our 21st century of the Common Era).
    • syncretism –
      • .. fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, ..the result is heterogeneous – AHD
    • aberrant –
      • 3. straying from the right way – AHD
    • mystery religions – (What typifies them?)
      • any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions.
      • .. initiation in Greece became a matter of personal choice.
      • The mystery religions reached their peak of popularity in the first three centuries a.d. Their origin, however, goes back to the earlier centuries of Greek history.
        • Source: Britannica

    The DANGER of gnostics!

    For those of you who really don’t know much about false religions, before we begin John’s three strongly-worded epistles, I need to define this great threat to the Church — gnosticism.

    of a person (25 terms) gnostic 1607–
    Historical. (With capital initial.) Chiefly plural.

    The designation given to certain heretical sects among the early Christians who claimed to…

    source: OED

    Until fairly recently the term was generally applied collectively to the majority of those 2nd cent. movements which called themselves Christian or borrows heavily from Christian sources, but which were rejected by the main stream of Christian tradition.

    more..

    .. Gnostic systems which make testing intellectual demands, others which depend on mumbo-jumbo and sleight of hand.

    .. high-minded ascetic, and others who are licentious charlatans.

    “GNOSTICISM” – Tenney Encyclopedia of the Bible, pub. ZONDERVAN, vol.2, p.736-739

    The gnostic doctrine of God

    Gnostics borrowed from the anti-christian philosophers:

    • ‘that God is so utterly transcendent that He can have no direct contact with the world;
    • and can have no contact with God..’
    • THEREFORE, they conclude:
    • ‘Man is thus a creature of mixed origin, a mixture of incompatibles.
    • Christianity is ‘self-condemned:’

    ..the claim that God became man is impossible, since God and Matter could not mix.

    ibid. p.736

    God is conceived as remote from all material creation..

    If God’s transcendence implies the impossibility of His contact with matter, how could God take a human body —(*that of Christ, whom the gnostics oppose) — still less suffer in one?

    ibid. p.737

    John’s opposition to developing heresies

    Various heresies of the A.D. first century antichrists creeping into the houses of worship in various places led John to write his epistles to the faithful who believed his Gospel of the the Lord Jesus Christ. The Elder’s purpose in writing is to urge the faithful to REJECT false gospels, false philosophies cloaked in christian garments and especially to send away FALSE teachers.

    MacArthur continues in his commentary on 1 John 1-4:

    He [the Elder John] clearly expected his readers to obey his commands unquestioningly. Only an apostle, known and respected by those whom he addressed, could have written such an authoritative letter and not given his name.

    ibid. p.5

    John’s first epistle clearly calls on those under his Apostolic authority to apply the test of faith he puts forth and to obey his commands of how to deal with these liars, deceivers and antichrists bringing false faith into the practices of their gatherings and worship.

    The Elder’s second and third epistles, the shortest of John’s letters (other than the brief tests revealed to the 7 churches in his apocalypse) addresses certain faithful leaders of the Church more personally with specific individual instructions.

    Key Scriptures from Epistles of the Elder

    John will reiterate some of his purpose in writing in his second and third Epistles, the focus of our Apostolic look at his last letters. The partial list from 1 John provides a larger context for the Apostle’s last two letters near the end of the A.D. first century.

    the First Letter of John the Elder and Apostle of Jesus Christ

    Key verses from 1 John

    1 John 1:3-5,9; 2:1,10-11,15,18,26,28-29; 3:5-6,8,18; 4:3-4,10,19; 5:1,13,18-19

    This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

    1 Letter of John 1:5 ESV

    Do you want to know IF someone truly believes that JESUS Christ is the Lord — the only Son of God?

    Without introduction, the Elder John writes to the Church in his own Apostolic authority with two tests for the saints of God to know if another has fellowship with God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

    1. Belief in God
      • .. if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
        • 1 John 1:7 (and in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5:8)
    2. Certainty of Sin
      • If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
        • 1 John 8
      • If we confess our sins, he is faithful..
        • 1 John 9a

    If we say we have not sinned, we make him [Jesus Christ] a liar, and his word is not in us.

    1 John 1:10 ESV

    John provides a plumb line to delineate true faith in Christ.

    The beloved Apostle makes clear that those who claim falsely to have no sin, ‘lie and do not practice the truth,’ a direct affront on the claim of some that the body can sin while the spirit separately remains pure.

    Fellowship

    Love and fellowship permeate the Apostle’s larger focus not only in John’s Gospel, but in the 3 Letters from the Elder as well.

    κοινωνία – koinōnia is the share which one has in anything, participation; intercourse (between loved ones, but not eros), fellowship (between near friends), intimacy (as that of family members who live lovingly together with each other).

    BluueLetteBible.org – Strong’s G2842 – koinōnia *with parenthetical clarity added by RH

    What does this mean in relation to God?

    Perfect PERSONAL fellowship of the One Triune GOD in the Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

    Fellowship between the Father and the Son.

    Fellowship between believers and the Holy Spirit.

    AND within the Church — the Body of Christ — fellowship of personal relationship in the love of the Light of life, our Lord Jesus Christ.

    John, in the authority of Christ, sows the seeds of the Father’s love given in the Person of the Son redeeming us from our sins.

    Do not love [agapaō] the world or the things in the world.

    If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ..the world is passing away along with its desires,

    but whoever does the will of God [theos] abides forever.

    1 John 2:15,17 ESV

    The Apostle urges a fellowship with the loving Person of the Father, not simply an acknowledgment of God, Who IS forever.

    Have fellowship with God.. and fellowship with Light.. fellowship AND love [agapaō  & phileō]…

    Obey God, because of His love for you and His holy ones..

    Propitiation of a Personal God 

    Propitiation would seem to be a technical theological term unfamiliar to many Common Era Christians. 
    The concept is important.. and not so difficult.

    ἱλασμός – hilasmos –

    from a Greek root word found only in John’s first letter

    – English translations: propitiation, the sacrifice that atones, atoning sacrifice, expiation, sacrifice to take away

    Christ’s love for His Church.

    The ‘one Jesus loved’ (the Elder’s own self-identification) instructs believers in how to relate to God as your personal loving God, as John himself had experienced God in Jesus Christ.

    Herein is love [agapē],
    not that we loved God,
    but that he loved us,
    and sent his Son
    to be the propitiation
    for our sins.

    1 John 4:10 KJV

    What human father would do that?

    Is OUR love of God the reason Christ became the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the world? NO!

    It is the LOVE — agapē — of our Father in heaven, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who in His love for us Personally sacrificed Jesus to the Cross for the price of our sins.

    Jesus is The Christ!

    Therefore, in light of the cultural challenges we introduced as an impetus for the Elder’s epistles, John calls on the Church to identify antichrists among us — that is, heretics and gnostics. 

    We will not again address end times today as before.
    7 Epistles of John with the same Revelation

    The Elder addresses his beloved saints in Ephesus (and other churches):

    Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,

    even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

    I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

    Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

    First Epistle of John 2:19-20.22 King James Version 

    Now don't go calling any of your questionable 'christian' colleagues, 'antichrists.' 
    The Elder explains why some saints will sit under Godly teaching while others listen only for a time they hope to influence the body.. and then leave the church.

    ‘Do Not Love the World,’ ‘Beware of Antichrists,’ and ‘Remain in Christ,’ read the subheadings for these.

    Behold what manner of love..

    We recognize this same Apostle once nearest to Jesus as the Elder now embraces his fellow saints with the same concern for their souls as Christ held for His Disciples.

    Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!

    The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

    Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.

    1 John 3:1-2a BSB

    ‘You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin,’ John reminds [ESV].

    No one who abides in him keeps on sinning..

    1 John 3:6a ESV

    The Elder then continues in his delineation between the saints of Jesus and antichrists of the devil:

    By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:

    whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

    1 John 3:10 ESV

    the Elder’s foundational exhortation of his epistle

    My little children,
    let us not love in word, neither in tongue;
    but in deed and in truth.

    1 letter of John 3:18 KJV

    On Denying the Incarnation

    This heading from the NIV addresses John’s concern for the saints holding fast to the truth of the Gospel in the recognition of the false teachers of tolerant gnosticism, inclusivist universalism and other antichrists posing as the godly.

    Dear friends,

    do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:

    Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

    This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

    1 John 4:1-3 NIV

    John comforts: ‘You, dear children, are from God.. [v.4] and warns:

    They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

    1 John 4:5 NIV

    Of course the world entangled in sin will neither accept the Truth of Christ or His Incarnation and return in a final Judgment.

    Herein is love.. agapaō

    In this is love, not that we have loved God,
    but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...

    We love,
    because He first loved us.

    1 John 4:10,19 LSB
    John the Elder

    John’s Conclusion to his First Letter

    Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

    We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

    1 John 5:1,19 BSB

    That is, proclaims the Elder: Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God, protects you, beloved saint and holy one of His, from Satan and the anti-christs of this passing world.

    Next: the last 2 of 3 letters

    3 Letters from the Elder John 3 paintings of the Apostle John as the Elder and one as a young Apostle of Jesus Christ

  • To have and to hold Christian Love

    To have and to hold Christian Love

    Dearly beloved, Paul writes earlier – a greeting of agape love NOT inappropriate for a marriage, but the Apostle’s intent in this section addresses spiritual gifts and love of the CHURCH specifically.

    we have the mind of Christ.

    1 Corinthians 2:16 KJV

    ἔχω – echō

    • to have, i.e. to hold
    • to have i.e. own, possess

    So think of it this way:

    WE (referring to the Church) hold the mind of Christ. And WE possess the mind of Christ as HIS body, the Church. 

    AND, of course, don't miss this application to our vows of Christian marriage as well, (not to mention our relationship to a dearly beloved local church family). 
    Do our marriage vows model a Common Era witness of christianity to an uncommitted world?

    to HAVE and to HOLD

    used of those joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or marriage or friendship or duty or law etc., of attendance or companionship

    Strong’s G2192 – echō

    Dearly beloved,

    Do you take this bond of your church (etc.) to:

    have and to hold?

    OR do WE just want to try out relationships of LOVE and church es — NOT having or holding any commitment to Christ Jesus and His body the Church?

    But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have G2192 his own wife, and each woman is to have G2192 her own husband.

    Paul has already pointed the Corinthians to a higher standard.

    Abide in Marriage, Singleness and Christ – 1 Corinthians 7

    Yet HERE the Apostle continues to apply this love to the body of the CHURCH.

    So what is this agape LOVE?

    The Lord Jesus had warned those who would follow:

    And because iniquity shall abound, the love G26 of many shall wax cold.

    Matthew 24:12 KJV

    The Apostle had opened this section by listing what agape LOVE is NOT.

    Love’s clear contrasts in the love of believers 

    Paul now proceeds to list a few of the insufficient adjectives which describe the love of God in Christ Jesus - both what LOVE is and what agape LOVE is NOT.

    Love Charity

    ◄ 1 Corinthians 13:4 ►
    • is patient
      • long-spirited
      • forbearing
      • suffereth long
      • is long-suffering,
    • is kind
      • gentle
      • gracious
      • benevolent
      • desires to do good to others
    • does not envy
    • does not boast
      • brag
      • vaunt itself
      • employ rhetorical embellishments in extolling one’s self excessively
    • is not proud.

    ◄ 1 Corinthians 13:5 ►

    • Doth not behave itself unseemly
      • behave rudely
      • act unbecomingly
      • dishonor others
      • is not disrespectful
      • or inconsiderate.
    • It is not self-seeking
      • seeketh not her own
      • himself, herself, itself, themselves
    • is not easily provoked
      • irritable
      • resentful
      • angered
      • gets annoyed
      • aroused to anger
    • thinketh no evil
      • does not keep an account of a wrong suffered
      • no record of being wronged
      • love that forgives and forgets

    ◄ 1 Corinthians 13:6 ►

    it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,

    but rejoices with the truth.

    1 Corinthians 13:6 ESV

    • ἀδικία – wrongdoing
      • injustice, of a judge
      • unrighteousness of heart and life
      • a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness

    The Greek word for “truth” is “aletheia,” which signifies not only factual accuracy but also sincerity and integrity.

    In the biblical narrative, truth is often associated with God’s character and His revelation to humanity.

    John 14:6

    source: BibleHub Study Bible

    Agape rejoices with the truth;

    It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

    1 Corinthians 13:7 BSB

    • It always protects,
      • always trusts,
      • always hopes,
      • always perseveres.
    • Love never gives up,
      • never loses faith,
      • is always hopeful,
      • and endures through every circumstance.

    ἀγάπη agapē never fails,

    1 Corinthians 13:8a

    And again, the Apostle's list and concern is for spiritual gifts.
    If I.. How NOT to worship

    BUT.. 

    Paul continues,
    • As for prophecies,
      • they will pass away;
    • as for tongues,
      • they will cease;
    • as for knowledge,
      • it will pass away.
    • 9 For we know in part
    • and we prophesy in part,
    • 10 but when the perfect comes,
      • the partial will pass away.

    1 Corinthians 13:8b-10 ESV 

    And let's not forget, the Apostle's instruction to the Corinthians is to contrast these to our agape love in Christ as His body the Church. 

    Now Paul, their teacher for a year and a half concludes his settling of their differences by essentially telling the Corinthian saints to:

    Grow up!

    When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;

    but

    when I became a man, I put away childish things.

    1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV

    Have YOU, dearly beloved, 21st century saint?

    For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.

    Now I know in part,

    but then I shall know just as I also am known.

    1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV

    Take a look in the mirror

    TalkofJesus.com post [2 min.] from September 11, 2013

    and now abide 

    νυνὶ δὲ μένει

    menō – not to depart

    • to continue to be present
    • to be held, kept, continually

    to remain as one, not to become another or different 

    These are just a few of the meanings when the Apostle pleas with his beloved church to have and to hold Christ -- the love of God for saints chosen to abide in the love of the Lord.

    What Paul writes here sounds like a benediction — a closing thought. But is not since the Apostle has more to say about spiritual gifts.

    And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love [ἀγάπη agapē].

    1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV 

    NEXT: (with an interruption for Lent 2025 CE) in chapter 14 the Apostle Paul will conclude this section of his epistle on order in worship and spiritual gifts.

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel

  • If I.. How NOT to worship

    If I.. How NOT to worship

    If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, …

    Modern Translations of 1 Corinthians 13:1

    And though I have .. so that I .., but have not love, I am nothing.

    Classic Translations 1 Corinthians 13:2

    and if I give away all .. and if I give up my body.., and do not have love, I am profited nothing.

    Literal Translations `1 Corinthians 13:3

    IF I – Paul’s conditional approach to God’s love & ours

    WE worshipers typically overlook conditional statements where WE ought to evaluate and discern OUR own approach to Jesus Christ, worship and others in OUR church.

    In fact, the Apostle’s entire first letter to the Corinthians seeks to heal divisions between factions of Corinthian saints of Christ by exposing the conditions of our spiritual refining in the Lord.

    Before we get to OUR favorite part of Paul’s letter (so often emotionally recited over christian marriages), let’s look briefly at where the Apostle fits love into the overall themes of his instructive letter to the saints of Corinth.

    First Corinthians overview

    John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – 1 Corinthians

    This epistle was most likely written in the first half of A.D. 55 from Ephesus. His departure for Corinth was anticipated even as he wrote

    The Apostle Paul ministered  in Corinth for over a year and a half (Acts 18:11)

    Unable to fully break with the culture from which it came, the church at Corinth was exceptionally factional, showing its carnality and immaturity.

    John MacArthur commentary

    So far Paul has addressed:

    • His  Calling and Benefits of Sainthood for the Corinthians
    • Disunity in the Church
    • Immorality in the Church
    • Marriage in the Church
    • Liberty in the Church

    Are ANY of these challenges for YOUR 21st c. Common Era christian CHURCH?

    NOW (as MacArthur points out), the Apostle’s focus moves on to:

    Worship in the Church (11:2–14:40)

    with focus on three separate, yet related points
    1. Roles of Men and Women in the Church
    2. The Lord’s Supper
    3. Spiritual Gifts (12:1–14:40)

    What IF YOUR fruit is rotten? 

    First of all,  ἐὰν - IF.. which the Apostle uses in this letter 48 times!

    For if G1437 you were to have countless tutors in Christ,

    1 Corinthians 4:15

    If G1437 I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

    1 Corinthians 13:1 LSB

    ἐάν;
    I. a conditional particle (derived from εἰ ἄν), which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event, whether it is certainly to take place;

    Each of the Apostle’s conditional references here point toward the evident sweetness of what ought to be the fruit of our salvation in Christ.

    If I speak..

    λαλέω – A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb

    Yet we do speak G2980 wisdom among those who are mature.. But we speak G2980 God’s wisdom in a mystery..

    I Corinthians 2:6a,7a LSB 

    And you mature saints will likely know some translation of this to which Paul will proceed soon:

    When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

    1 Corinthians 13:11 

    AND note: this too points to a conditional change.

    Human or Angelic tongues

    Though I speak with the tongues of men [the KJV translates] and of angels,

    Men [anthrōpos – both men and women] of course have tongues [glōssa] in order to speak [regardless of what language].

    and angels [angelos ] – a messenger, envoy, one who is sent, an angel, a messenger from God

    If I shall speak with every human and Angelic language and have no love in me, I shall be clanging brass or a noise-making cymbal.

    1 Corinthians 13:1 Aramaic Bible in Plain English

    "If I shall speak with every human and Angelic language.." 

    Perhaps like me you had never read this translation; making the conditional connection so clear. 

    The 'IF' we speak -- even messages supposedly from God -- conditionally connects to the sound that proceeds into the ears of others.

    ἔχω – the familiar sounding echo

    to have and to hold…

    13:1 – Though I ..have G2192 not charity,

    13:2 And though I have G2192 the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have G2192 all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have G2192 not charity, I am nothing.

    It's ALL conditional -- Spiritual Gifts yet no fruit
    Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

    And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have G2192 not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

    1 Corinthians 13:3 KJV 

    AGAIN, It's ALL conditional --
    EVEN IF YOU have Spiritual Gifts 
    BUT bear no fruit, which is the love and charity of God and Christ.

    ἀγάπη – agapē

    the LOVE of Paul’s “love chapter”

    LOVE is so misunderstood by 21st c. C.E. ears that I have recently addressed agape as ‘Biblical jargon’ READ more

    agapē a fruit of Love from a Higher Branch

    By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love G26 one to another.

    Gospel of John 13:35 KJV from the command of Jesus – fruit

    What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, G26 and in the spirit of meekness?

    1 Corinthians 4:21 KJV

    Knowledge puffeth up, but charity G26 edifieth.

    1 Corinthians 8:1b KJV

    Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, G26 I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

    First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians 13:1 – KJV

    Charity [ἀγάπη – agapē] suffereth long..

    KJV translation of 1 Corinthians 13:4a

    MORE on agape love

    NEXT time, God-willing, concluding the LOVE Chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 in the apostle’s instructions about spiritual gifts, we will THEN be ready to apply these fruits to the WORSHIP of the Church the Apostle will address in 1 Corinthians 14.

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel