Three Kinds of Love

God has given mankind at least three kinds of love. Two of them are mentioned in the New Testament – phileo, the Greek word for friendship, and agape, Greek for selfless, giving love, for the highest good of the person being loved. A third kind is eros, sexual love.

Friendship and sex have been given to the entire human race. Without friendship, everyone would be fighting all of the time (instead of just much of the time). Without sexual love, we would have been long extinct. Let’s thank God for friendship and sex. God has given them to us as a gift, and He made them pleasant sensations. These two kinds of love are not limited to Christians.

God also put restrictions on sex. He did not make it for a plaything. In the beginning, God made one man and one woman. He has been making 50% of each ever since. That means one apiece. He has prohibited fornication, adultery, and homosexual practice.

Selfless love is available to everyone, but it is not natural to everyone like friendship and sex are. It is received as a gift when a person receives Christ. He receives this love because it is the character of God. The Christian is capable and commanded to love his neighbor and his enemies. The normal person is not capable of loving his enemy selflessly, even though he might hold it as an ideal.

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Roots by the River

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