The greatest love story:
Explanation of the types of love:
According to the Bible love is of different kinds. There are three principal Greek words which can be translated as “love” in English, each with different connotations. The two most common were 1) Eros, which refers to sexual love (Eros love - known as 'erotic love', is based on strong romantic feelings towards another. This is the love between a man and a woman)
And 2) philos, which means friendship or brotherly love (Philos love - a love based on friendship between two people who share a mutual, 'give-and take' relationship). Eros does not appear in the New Testament, but philos does. And the third kind of love in the Bible is Agape love.
3) Agape love – Agape (ah-gah-pay) is the main word used for “love” in the New Testament. Unconditional love that is always giving and impossible to take or be a taker. It devotes total commitment to seek your highest best no matter how anyone may respond. This form of love is totally selfless and does not change whether the love given is returned or not. This is the original and only true form of love.
How is "agape love" different from other types of love? The essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Agape does not mean charity, a term which the King James translators carried over from the Latin. Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character.
Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The Apostle John affirms this in 1 John 4:8:“God is love.” God does not merely love; He is love itself. Everything God does flows from His love. But it is important to remember that God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental love such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely (us!), not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is His nature to do so, and He must be true to His nature and character. God’s love is displayed most clearly at the Cross, where Christ died for the unworthy creatures who were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), not because we did anything to deserve it, “but God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The object of agape love never does anything to merit His love. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He lavishes that love. His love was demonstrated when He sent His Son into the world to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and to provide eternal life to those He sought and saved. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for those He loves.
Now let us go to the Bible and look at the greatest love story.
Genesis 1:26-29 (Contemporary English Version)
26God said, "Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures."
27So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. 28God gave them his blessing and said:
Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.
29I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat.
Genesis 2:7-9 (Contemporary English Version)
7The LORD God took a handful of soil and made a man. [b] God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. 8The LORD made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there. 9The LORD God placed all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees in the garden. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life--the other gave the power to know the difference between right and wrong.
Genesis 2:15-17
15The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. 16But the LORD told him, "You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 17except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!"
Genesis 2:21-25
21So the LORD God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, 22the LORD made a woman out of the rib.
The LORD God brought her to the man, 23and the man exclaimed,
"Here is someone like me!
She is part of my body,
My own flesh and bones.
She came from me, a man.
So I will name her Woman!" [d] 24That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.
25Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:1-8 (Contemporary English Version)
The First Sin
1The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the LORD God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, "Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"
2The woman answered, "God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 3except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die."
4"No, you won't!" the snake replied. 5"God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does."
6The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. 7Right away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.
8Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the LORD God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
We can get the following lessons from the story above.
1) Adam’s love triangle –God, the father loved Adam and Eve. Adam loved Eve and deserted God the father. Adam’s love for Eve is greater than his love for God, the father. He did not care or paid no attention to God. It was a direct command to Adam, not to eat the tree of knowledge of good and bad. He could not part from Eve. The thought was unthinkable for him. For Adam, death or life, it has to be with Eve only. He knew that if he obeyed God and walked with God, God is able to create another woman. But Adam has the greatest love for his wife Eve. The very thought of Eve dying was intolerable for him. So he chose to die with her and for her. He did not want to part from Eve, no matter what. He made a conscious decision to be with her regardless of consequences. He has shown tremendous love or great love towards Eve, his wife. So he willfully rejected God, the father and His agape love towards Adam and Eve. It is not self less love. It is extremely selfish love. But that is what Erotic love is. It is the most self centered love. Adam cared for himself, rejected everybody, including God, his own creator and maker. He showed his inability to love unselfishly. It seems to be impossible for man to live and to love without selfish interests. . Romeo and Juliet’s love story cannot match Adam’s love for Eve, as Adam risked everything for the sake of Eve, to the point of disobeying his own maker. I believe that Adam’s love story is the greatest love story ever told. Adam refused to obey God and loved Eve more than God and committed sin and pulled the whole human race into sin which leads to death.
2) Love of God for Humanity:
Even though Man rejected him, God responded with even greater love for the Man. He came up with a plan to save man from perishing forever, under the dominion of Satan, God’s archenemy.
Genesis 3:14-15 (New International Reader's Version)
14 So the Lord God spoke to the serpent. He said, "Because you have done this,
"I am putting a curse on you.
You are cursed more than all of the livestock
and all of the wild animals.
You will crawl on the ground.
You will eat dust
all of the days of your life.
15 I will put hatred
between you and the woman.
Your children and her children will be enemies.
Her son will crush your head.
And you will crush his heel."
God has shown his Agape love for man. It is the most unselfish love, as we learnt above. It is God kind of love. Man cannot show it. It is impossible for him to love unselfishly. Man has limitations. He cannot love without rewards. God is not man; he needs no favours from nobody. He need not fear anybody, that someone could harm him or damage him in some way. He is the Supreme Being; nobody can stand before him, nor question him, nor threaten him with dire consequences. There is no force on earth, nor in heavens that can oppose and stand before him. In that sense God is unique. Only God can bestow agape love. It is the unselfish love of the Creator for His creation. It is the love of God, the father for His own offspring. Since God can not abandon man, God loved man with infinite love. God cannot disown himself, as man is his own handiwork. Can a mother or father abandon his/her child? May be they can and will, as we see in the news now days. Whereas Adam abandoned God in his love (lust) for Eve. God could never do that. It is against His character.
Isaiah 49:15-16 (Contemporary English Version)
15The LORD answered,
"Could a mother forget a child? Who nurses at her breast?
Could she fail to love an infant who came from her own body?
Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you.
16A picture of your city is drawn on my hand.
You are always in my thoughts!
This love of God to man/woman/humanity is the greatest love story of all times. nobody has died for another man, as God sacrificed his own begotten son, Jesus for the sake of rebellious man.God showed His greatest love here.
As Adam failed God, the father has to look within Himself to rescue the fallen human race. He did it by sending His own son Jesus to be born as a man.
3) The love of Jesus to fellow man and to God, his father:
Then came Jesus as a fulfillment of God’s promise to man, to save him, man, from self-destruction. He obeys God, the father as Jesus loves the father more and stands his test of love in the greatest love story. He restores what Adam has lost due to his misplaced love for the creature, Eve, than the creator God. Jesus is the perfect lover. Lord Jesus love is bilateral. His love for humans is phylos or brotherly love as fellow human and also agape love for humans as God. His love for his God, the father is greater. Adam disobeyed God, Jesus obeyed God. God fulfilled His plan for humanity through Jesus. Jesus did not fail God and Man. The responses of both Adam and Jesus had eternal consequences for man’s destiny. With Adam’s actions man hugged death and was condemned to hell for eternity. There was no hope for man. He could not save himself. He needed a savior. God the father, in his infinite love for his creation, sent his only begotten son to save man from eternal condemnation. Jesus love of God has produced salvation to Man, fulfilled God’s plan for man. God-Jesus-Adam. This is a great love triangle. God loved Man, Jesus loved man, and Jesus loved God and obeyed him. The love of Jesus for man on one side and God the father on one side is a great love story.
Man has failed God utterly, but God did not and cannot fail God. This is the greatest love story ever told.
