Types of Love - 1 John 4-5

1 John 4:19 (ESV)

We love because he first loved us.

The concept of love in the world has been distorted in more ways than can be recorded.   We use the word love for many things.   We love our pet.  We love pizza.  We love our spouse.   The word does not mean the same in each of those sentences.   The Greeks, of course, understood this and used different words for love.  

1. Eros - romantic love.  Valentine’s Day love. 
2. Philia - deep friendship love.  Happy Birthday love. 
3. Storge - Family love.  Mother’s Day and Father’s Day love. 
4. Ludus - Playful love.   Vacation love.  
5. Pragma - Lasting and enduring love.  Love through pain and sorrow. 
6. Philautia - Self Love.    Spa day love. 
7. Agape - Self sacrificing love.  I will lay down my life for you love.   Wedding Day love. 

In the above text, John is using Agape. This the self-sacrificing love that calls for us to give up our will for the will and good of others.   The world has a form of love.  But what John is telling us is that we don’t know agape love without knowing God.  God demonstrated agape love by sending His Son to die on the cross for us.   That is the type of love we are to demonstrate to others.  The six other loves are great, but John is telling us to love our brother with agape defined love.    That is the love that God gave us. Mankind could not understand that or demonstrate it until God for demonstrated it to us through the sacrifice of His Son.