The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-10-25
Two Kinds Of Love
Lesson for October Il, 1868

When the religion of Christ be-
gan to spread through the world.
it was so new and totally differ
ent from everything that had
been called by the name Of re-
igion before that Christians al
most had to find new words to
express it. One example is the
familiar English word Love"
We all know the 18th chapter Of
/ Corinthians by heart Tor If we
don't, now is the time to learn
IT'D and we have said all our
lives that love is the greatest
thing in the world. What's new
about that? Unfortunately. the
newness of the idea of Love"
cannot be expressed In our Eng
ish language. but it can in
Greek. which is the language Of
all the New Testament books.
For the Greeks often had sew
eral words for (almoSt) the
same thing. and they used these
words to express the different
varieties of whatever it was
they were talking about. For ex-
ample, there were four different
words in Grek which can all be
translated love" and two in
particular, "eros" rhymes with
morose) and "agape" (pro-
nounced a-GAH-pay).
Selfish Love Is Shellfish Love
BY far the more familiar one
of these two words was eros;
the other one is hardly ever
found before the Christians got
hold Of it and began using it.
Eros is something everybody
knows about: and no pagan
Greek could have seen the point
if Saint Paul had told him eros
is the greatest thing in the
world. But it isn't. and Paul
didn't say it was. Eros can be
a kind of mental sickness, it can
be frustrating, it can injure the
one who has it, for it is what
is often called 'possessive"
love. It is the love a domineer-
ing mother has for a child she
keeps tied to her apron strings.
It is the love of a jealous lover
who can't bear to see his sweet
heart smile at another man. The
song of eros is Il want you all
for mine" This can be very
sweet. and there is room for II
in the varied experiences Of life
But it can be frustrating and
painful. for it is never fulfilled
The eros-lover is never satisfied
! always anxious lest his sweet
possession be swept from him
And at the worst, eros-love de-
StroyS personality, for the ten
dency of eros to seize and to
hold is like the action Of a clam
caring not ninnoW'S worth
for any creature around it, open
ing its shell only to take in
never to give. who ever heard
OF generous CLAMP
The love of which Paul SO elo
quently and beautifully writes, is
not eros, it is agape. Wherever
in the New Testament the love
of God for his children is spoken
Of. it is always agpae, not eros
Now the special glory of agape
is that its desire is not to be
served but to serve. Eros is love
that stops being love when il
finds its affection is not return
ed. Eros is fastidiouS; it loves
only what is lovable and noble
Eros demands that what is loved
come up to a certain standard
Agape loves others as they are
where they are. But agape is
never content to leave the lovel
ones where they are. Agape love
is transforming love. If God
love were eros. he would be
waiting yet - and he might wal
forever nv till man was gooc
enough to deserve to be loved
But God loved us while W.
were yet sinner S." Agape
transforms the unworthy. Fro:
vanishes when the loved objec
fades; Agape, itself unfading
creates a never-fading beauty il
the object Of love.
Where Love Is Needle
Now it needs no argument tt
persuade us that agape-love i!
needed In this distraught world
Persons and nations perish fol
the lack of it. Is there any plac,
where we can find enough
agape-love to go around? L
there any company Of pilgrim.
on this earth who have fed OF
this bread of heaven till they
want no more? One answel
comes straight to mind: Tht
church, Of course the church!
is no doubt indeed the one com
pany out Of all minkind which
makes love its aim; it is thu
one company which has no ex
cuse for its existence if it doe
not make love its aim. But thu
church has never achieved thi
love, or has never achieved i
in such measure that it can say
We need no more. Paul speak
of the need for love, to men ant
women who had many gifts O
the spirit; he speaks Of it tt
those who worshipped with JOY
FIJI hearts R,It even at tho va,-