ἀγάπη: Difference between revisions

|Definition= [[Image:Agapi-oxford.jpg|thumb|250px|The entry for "agape" from the Oxford 1996 edition]] ἡ, <span class="sense"><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">A</span> <b class="b2">love</b>, <span class="bibl">LXX <span class="title">Je.</span>2.2</span>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Ca.</span>2.7</span>, al.; ἀ. καὶ μῖσος <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Ec.</span>9.1</span>; dub. l. in <span class="title">PBerol.</span>9859 (ii B. C.), <span class="bibl">Phld.<span class="title">Lib.</span>p.52</span> O; of the love of husband and wife, Sch.<span class="bibl">Ptol.<span class="title">Tetr.</span>52</span>. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">2</span> esp. <b class="b2">love</b> of God for man and of man for God, <span class="bibl">LXX <span class="title">Wi.</span>3.9</span>, Aristeas <span class="bibl">229</span>; φόβος καὶ ἀ. <span class="bibl">Ph.1.283</span>, cf. <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Ep.Rom.</span>5.8</span>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">2 Ep.Cor.</span>5.14</span>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Ev.Luc.</span>11.42</span>, al.:—also <b class="b2">brotherly love, charity</b>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">1 Ep.Cor.</span>13.1</span>, al. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">II</span> in pl., <b class="b2">love-feast</b>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">2 Ep.Pet.</span> 2.13</span>, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">Ep.Jud.</span>12</span>. </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">III</span> <b class="b2">alms, charity</b>, PGen.14 (iv/v A. D.). </span><span class="sense">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="bld">IV</span> <b class="b3">ἀγάπη θεῶν</b>, title of Isis, <span class="bibl"><span class="title">POxy.</span>1380.109</span> (ii A. D.).</span>

|astxt=† [[ἀγάπη]], -ης, ἡ [in LXX for אַהֲבָה, which is also rendered by [[ἀγάπησις]] and [[φιλία]];] <br />love, goodwill, esteem. Outside of bibl. and eccl. books, there is no clear instance (with Deiss., LAE, 18:4, 70:2, cf. the same writer in Constr. Quar., ii, 4; and with MM, VGT, s.v., cf. Dr. Moulton in Exp. Times, xxvi, 3, 139). In NT, like [[ἀγαπάω]], -ῶ,<br /><b class="num">1.</b>Of men's love:<br /><b class="num">(a)</b>to one another, Jo 13:35; <br /><b class="num">(b)</b>to God, I Jo 2:5.<br /><b class="num">2.</b>Of divine love;<br /><b class="num">(a)</b>God's love: to men, Ro 5:8; to Christ, Jo 17:26; <br /><b class="num">(b)</b>Christ's love to men: Ro 8:35. <br /><b class="num">3.</b>In pl., love feasts: Ju 12 (DB, iii, 157).SYN.: [[φιλία]]. ἀ., signifying properly (v.s. [[ἀγαπάω]]) love which chooses its object, is taken over from LXX, where its connotation is more general, into NT, and there used exclusively to express that spiritual bond of love between God and man and between man and man, in Christ, which is characteristic of Christianity. It is thusdistinct from [[φιλία]], friendship (Ja 4:4 only), [[στοργή]], natural affection (in NT only in compounds, v.s. [[ἄστοργος]]) and [[ἔρως]], sexual love, which is not used in NT, its place being taken by [[ἐπιθυμία]]. (Cf. [[ἀγαπάω]]; and v. Abbott, Essays, 70f.;DB, vol. i., 555; Cremer, 13, 593; MM, VGT, s.v.).