Love Is Blind Biography
Love Is has four different words for love to cover different aspects, including (but obviously not limited to) love suited to physical attraction, and love suited to family ties. Hazy memory: eros is physical attraction; philia is friendship; storge is affection; agape is what St Paul was writing about in 1 Corinthians 13 (see above). (See also: The Four Loves, by CsLewis.)
The fact that we can gloss the four Greek words goes to show that English has several different words for love as well. It might be more accurate to say that Bible translators have used the same English words for these four Greek words. Though this was not always the case (cf faith hope and charity becoming faith hope and love in the newer translations.)
Note that that does not mean that the words "love" and "charity" are synonyms in the English language. I would also challenge that they are even near-synonyms in general in Christianity, even if they might be due to context in that part of the bible. (This comment arises due to a now-deleted page that was apparently a take-off on the above translation paragraph.)
Storge was rarely used, but it could refer to familial affection or (less frequently) sexual love. It appears in the Bible (actually the NT) only in the compound word filostorgos in Romans 12:10. Eros we could gloss as "desire" (or any of its English synonyms). It does not appear in the NT. Scholars currently think that agape and filia mean the same thing when they refer to love. This conclusion is based on diachronic studies performed by Robert Joly in 1968. In the Hellenistic period, the verb kunein ("to kiss") was falling out of use because it sounded like kuein ("to impregnate"), especially in the aorist where the forms are exactly alike. This no doubt resulted in various unsavory puns. So people started to use the word filein ("to love") to refer to kissing. Then the word agapan ("to be content with") they began to use to refer to love. In the koine of the NT, both agapan and filein were in common use as words for love.
Love Is has four different words for love to cover different aspects, including (but obviously not limited to) love suited to physical attraction, and love suited to family ties. Hazy memory: eros is physical attraction; philia is friendship; storge is affection; agape is what St Paul was writing about in 1 Corinthians 13 (see above). (See also: The Four Loves, by CsLewis.)
The fact that we can gloss the four Greek words goes to show that English has several different words for love as well. It might be more accurate to say that Bible translators have used the same English words for these four Greek words. Though this was not always the case (cf faith hope and charity becoming faith hope and love in the newer translations.)
Note that that does not mean that the words "love" and "charity" are synonyms in the English language. I would also challenge that they are even near-synonyms in general in Christianity, even if they might be due to context in that part of the bible. (This comment arises due to a now-deleted page that was apparently a take-off on the above translation paragraph.)
Storge was rarely used, but it could refer to familial affection or (less frequently) sexual love. It appears in the Bible (actually the NT) only in the compound word filostorgos in Romans 12:10. Eros we could gloss as "desire" (or any of its English synonyms). It does not appear in the NT. Scholars currently think that agape and filia mean the same thing when they refer to love. This conclusion is based on diachronic studies performed by Robert Joly in 1968. In the Hellenistic period, the verb kunein ("to kiss") was falling out of use because it sounded like kuein ("to impregnate"), especially in the aorist where the forms are exactly alike. This no doubt resulted in various unsavory puns. So people started to use the word filein ("to love") to refer to kissing. Then the word agapan ("to be content with") they began to use to refer to love. In the koine of the NT, both agapan and filein were in common use as words for love.
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
Love Is Blind
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