JOHN 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16; KJV)

I grew up hearing about the three different types of love: Eros, Philia, and Agape.
(C. S. Lewis wrote in 1960 about “The Four Loves”, including “Storge”, or “Affection”).

Recently, I heard a sermon that put the three types of love into a different perspective. “Eros”, said the priest, “is about receiving”. I thought about that and had to agree. When a person is in love, the emotion is commonly called infatuation, and the sense is one of wanting. When you are in love, the focus is often inwards, about how good you feel.

"Philia is one of sharing", went the sermon. You have something and are happy to share it with friends and relatives.

“Agape is the kind of love that gives”, the priest continued. This is very similar to what I’d heard before, that agape love is unconditional love, the kind of love that causes a mother to give up her meal because her young son is sitting in a restaurant shivering from the cold. Instead of ordering two meals, she ordered one, then ran out to buy a thick shirt to keep her boy warm. She gave up her own meal so that her son was safe.
(I was that boy).

Agape is the kind of love that gave us Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, to be offered as a sacrifice for sin. It is the kind of love that will do anything to keep someone safe from harm.

But that is only one part of “John three-sixteen”.

Imagine if I had rejected the shirt that my mother had bought for me. How hurt she would have been, and how cold I would have been. The shirt was there for me to wear, but I had to accept it and put it on to become warm.

The second part of the verse says “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Salvation through the death of Christ is there for everyone, but we need to accept it and put it on for it to affect us.

And just as I wouldn’t put on that thick shirt and then stand in front of an air-conditioner, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to accept salvation and then stand in the cold blast of sin. When we accept the forgiveness that came as a result of the Crucifixion, we take on the responsibilities that go with it. Those responsibilities need not be a burden either. If you heart is filled with the Spirit and your desires are God’s desires, salvation is just the icing on the cake.

Published: April 23rd, 2006

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