Page 111 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible Student Textbook

Philia was a deep friendship kind of love. It meant a deep comradely friendship that developed
between brothers in arms who had fought side by side in battlefield. It was about showing loyalty to
your friends, sacrificing for the, as well as sharing your emotions with them.

Agape was the most radical type of love. It is a selfless love. This was a love that could extend to
anyone. In Latin, it was translated caritas, which is the origin of our word, “charity.” This is the type of
selfless love that would motivate a person not only to serve another person without repayment, but to
the degree that the loving person would be willing to lay down his life for another person.

Translating these words in English as just the word, love, leaves behind much of the true meanings of
the words. Here is an example in John 21:15-17:

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me
more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My
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lambs.” He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him,
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“Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He *said to him the third
time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third
time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus
said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

In John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” But Jesus uses different Greek words in his
questions to Peter. The first time He asks, He asks, “Peter, do you agape (sacrificial love) me? Peter
responds, “Yes, Lord, you know that I phileo (friendship love) you.” Peter does not answer Jesus’
question. So Jesus asks him again, “No, Peter, I asked you if you agape (sacrificial love) me.” Again
Peter responds, “You know I phileo (friendship love) you, Lord.” Then Jesus asks him a third time, only
He says, “Peter, do you even phileo (friendship love) me?” Peter is grieved in this third question,
because Jesus used Peter’s word for love. Remember, Jesus is asking Peter these questions just days
after people denied him before the crucifixion.

Understanding the words being used gives a whole new dynamic to this entire conversation, but we
totally miss that, because in the translation, English has only one word for love. The word “love”
appears 310 times in the King James Bible, 348 times in the New American Standard Bible, 551 times in
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the New International Versions, and 538 times in the New Revised Standard Version. And in every
appearance of the word, the English reader really does not know the degree to which the Greek
audience understood the use of the word.

it is not possible to produce a 100% word-for-word translation of the Bible that is consistently
meaningful in a target language. So translations such as the KJV, the ESV, the NRSV, and even the NASB
(statistically the most word-for-word translation commonly published and used) are actually best
understood as predominately word-for-word and minimally thought-for-thought. If you want to see
what a completely word-for-word translation might look like, find an interlinear Bible and read the
English renderings of each Hebrew or Greek word in order. Give it a try.

30 https://www.quora.com/How-many-times-does-the-word-%E2%80%9Clove%E2%80%9D-appear-in-the-
Bible#:~:text=The%20word%20%22love%22%20appears%20310,the%20New%20Revised%20Standard%20Version.
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