Keywords: ἀγάπη [agápe], God’s Love, unbounded, sacrificial, men, Christians, Holy Fathers
Abstract:
There are Christians who accept being enveloped in fear – that we consider unjustified – when they are required to put emphasis on God’s benevolence and mercy toward us. Moreover, they attempt swiftly to focus their attention on God’s justice, on His sternness, severity and gravity, considering, perhaps, that in case they would emphasize more God’s love in dialogue with various individuals who unfortunately hasten on the misleading paths of this world, the latter would not be able to intensify repentance and the complete change of their lives from bad to good, from darkness to light, from twisted paths to the smooth ones etc. Yet, the Gospel and the experience of life itself teaches us that man, in general, and all of us, in particular, resemble Christ and follow His example by completely changing our lives and mentality, when we are not reprimanded, warned, reproved, frightened, punished, but in the moment when, even we realise how sinful we are, we understand that God considers us worthy of appreciation and that we are loved with a sacrificial love that goes beyond time and space. And in that moment, from a heart full of gratitude, tears of repentance and thanksgiving spring and we weep and cry when inflamed with spontaneous love we acknowledge our sinfulness when we ignore this love. The transformation of man, as the Patristic literature shows, begins with the moving of love. We exist because Somebody has loved us. Talking about love is talking about God and this is without limits, as God is infinite. Christianity considers love as having its roots in God’s nature. For these reasons I considered it necessary to underline and reveal, as completely as possible, God’s love for us starting with the Greek word that designates this love in the New Testament: ἀγάπη [agápē]. Before approaching and revealing the meanings of this word, I considered it necessary to mention the other terms used, especially in the New Testament, when the holy authors refer to love: ἔρως [erōs], φιλία [philía], στοργή [storgē]. Regarding the word ἀγάπη [agápē], we will first offer a general definition. It is a type of love that is so different from any other that everyone undoubtedly recognizes it the very moment it asserts itself in the world because it is unique, special, and original, and it cannot be reduced to something that is strictly human. In the last chapter, I deal with the meanings of two other terms in the New Testament, σπλαγχνίζομαι [splangkhnízomai] and σπλάγχνον [splágchnon], as they reveal in ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος (the Greek common dialect) that was used for writing the New Testament, the unbounded love, the infinite mercy and the profound sympathy of God for men.
Pages: 41-60