The Four Loves: Sexual Love Pt. 1
Warning!!!!!!
The following subject matter is for grown folks. If you ain't grown, step!
I will be starting a little series about love. In order not to make this too long I have to break this up into bite size pieces.
There are four words used in Ancient Greek for “love.” They are Eros, Storge, Philia, and Agape. It is my intention in the next few blogs to show you what these words mean and how even to this day they impact us. We will explore what it truly means to “love”.
The first that we will deal with will be Eros. Eros is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Some render it passionate devotion. We get the word “erotic” from it.
The name comes from an ancient greek god. Eros. Eros was known as Cupid to the Romans. Eros was the god of longing and sexual desire. As a pagan god he embodied both the force of erotic love and the first born light that is credited to coming into the world and giving order to all things. In ancient greek mythos Eros had many versions. He was at times called the “elutherios” that is; “the liberator”. Sometimes Eros’s arrows would used for love or indifference. Yet this is a word for love that does not appear anywhere in the NT.
Sexual love or passion is all around us. It’s everywhere. Billboards, internet, television, radio, movies, books, magazines etc… Is this a love that a christian is called to have?
NO. Sexual love is just that. It is a emotion that is tied to the desire for the act alone. One an orgasm or pleaure of anykind has been achieved there is nothing sutaining left. Sexual intercourse is a beautiful thing. Let me say it again in case you missed it, sexual intercourse is beautiful thing. But it is not the wetting of the appetite that is the purpose for existance. No, that is called somehting else. Hedonism.
Hedonism in a brief sentence is this, a doctrine or belief that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. It also views the devotion to pleasure as a way of life. The word originates from the greek word hedone and it means, pleasure or desires for pleasure. It does not appear in a positive way once in the New Testament.
Here are some of the mentions,
Titus 3:3
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”
Luke 8:14
“And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.”
I want you to notice that in the above verse that it is from the Gospel Of Luke. In the context of this quotation Jesus is explaining the meanig of a parable that He told. The seed is the word of God and the various types of ground are diffreent types of people that hear the word. In the above verse it is explained that the hearer first has a thorn like heart and second that the cares, riches (read that materialism) and pleasures (hedone or hedonism) choke the word out and it does not produce in their lives.
Earlier we discovered that the greek god Eros was also called the liberator. Isn’t that interesting. In our society, we are taught even accosted to some degree with the notion that “sex is liberating”. “Sexuality will liberate you.” Eroticism ebodies this idea completely. This is a horrible irony as more suicides have been committed over various issues of sex and sexuality.
But is sex liberating in and of itself?
Hang tight because we will explore this next time.
The following subject matter is for grown folks. If you ain't grown, step!
I will be starting a little series about love. In order not to make this too long I have to break this up into bite size pieces.
There are four words used in Ancient Greek for “love.” They are Eros, Storge, Philia, and Agape. It is my intention in the next few blogs to show you what these words mean and how even to this day they impact us. We will explore what it truly means to “love”.
The first that we will deal with will be Eros. Eros is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Some render it passionate devotion. We get the word “erotic” from it.
The name comes from an ancient greek god. Eros. Eros was known as Cupid to the Romans. Eros was the god of longing and sexual desire. As a pagan god he embodied both the force of erotic love and the first born light that is credited to coming into the world and giving order to all things. In ancient greek mythos Eros had many versions. He was at times called the “elutherios” that is; “the liberator”. Sometimes Eros’s arrows would used for love or indifference. Yet this is a word for love that does not appear anywhere in the NT.
Sexual love or passion is all around us. It’s everywhere. Billboards, internet, television, radio, movies, books, magazines etc… Is this a love that a christian is called to have?
NO. Sexual love is just that. It is a emotion that is tied to the desire for the act alone. One an orgasm or pleaure of anykind has been achieved there is nothing sutaining left. Sexual intercourse is a beautiful thing. Let me say it again in case you missed it, sexual intercourse is beautiful thing. But it is not the wetting of the appetite that is the purpose for existance. No, that is called somehting else. Hedonism.
Hedonism in a brief sentence is this, a doctrine or belief that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. It also views the devotion to pleasure as a way of life. The word originates from the greek word hedone and it means, pleasure or desires for pleasure. It does not appear in a positive way once in the New Testament.
Here are some of the mentions,
Titus 3:3
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”
Luke 8:14
“And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.”
I want you to notice that in the above verse that it is from the Gospel Of Luke. In the context of this quotation Jesus is explaining the meanig of a parable that He told. The seed is the word of God and the various types of ground are diffreent types of people that hear the word. In the above verse it is explained that the hearer first has a thorn like heart and second that the cares, riches (read that materialism) and pleasures (hedone or hedonism) choke the word out and it does not produce in their lives.
Earlier we discovered that the greek god Eros was also called the liberator. Isn’t that interesting. In our society, we are taught even accosted to some degree with the notion that “sex is liberating”. “Sexuality will liberate you.” Eroticism ebodies this idea completely. This is a horrible irony as more suicides have been committed over various issues of sex and sexuality.
But is sex liberating in and of itself?
Hang tight because we will explore this next time.
posted by lazarus da new creation at 3:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home