The Lord and the Love Which Serves Him (John 20:15-22)

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-44, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully  use you, and persecute you.”
      Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (II Corinthians 12:15)

John said in I John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God.”
      He then explains how true love is manifested. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9-10).
      Therefore, John explains, there is an obligation on our part to love one another. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God  welleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (I John 4:11-12).

Paul explains to the Romans, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

Paul admonished the Ephesians to love as Christ loved. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling saviour” (Ephesians 4:32-5:2).

 John explains, “The Father loveth the Son, and bath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35). At the Lord’s baptism the Father said, “This is my beloved Son (HO AGAPAYTOS), in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) and reaffirmed that same love on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5).

 Jesus explained that it is impossible to serve two masters because of the very nature of AGAPAO love. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
      The apostle Paul connects love with the calling that fulfills the purpose of God and shows how they relate to the benevolent providence of God. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
      James explains the rewards of eternity flow out of love that constrains the saint to faithfulness even during times of hardship. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12).

The writer to the Hebrews quotes the Psalmist in describing the Son’s love for righteousness which is the symbol and authority of His Kingdom. “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews 1:8, 9).
      In a negative way Jesus illustrates the love of the Jews for the applause of this world that is so great they will not forsake it even though they also believed on Jesus. “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise o men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42, 43).
      Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they loved the prestigious seats of the synagogue and rabbinical greetings more than they loved God. “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.”
      The Scripture plainly declares that the love of God and the love for this world are simply not capable of being mingled together and we must forsake the latter if we are to experience the first (I John 2:15-17).

      Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is  of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

 In possibly the last recorded words we have Paul, the Apostle speaks warmly of the reward he and the faithful saints will soon receive. In doing so he expresses the love that yearns to see the Lord in His personal presence. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (II Timothy 4:8).

Jesus compared the love of family members and the love His followers have for their Lord. “He that loveth (PHILEO) father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth (PHILEO) son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
      This PHILEO love is not limited to human affection. Jesus described the relationship between Him and the Father. “For the Father loveth (PHILEO) the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel” (John 5:20).

Jesus described the love of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:5, 6. “But all their works they do for to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love (PHILEO) the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.”
      John the Revelator described the affection of sinners for falsehood. “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth (PHILEO) and believeth a lie” (Rev. 22:15).

Jesus used PHILEO to describe the natural tendency of man to love the present life in John 12:25. “He that loveth (PHILEO) his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
      Again Jesus used PHILEO to describe the hypocrites’ love for ostentation. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love (PHILEO) to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward” (Matthew 6:5).

“Phileo means TO BE A FRIEND TO (FOND OF, i.e., HAVE AFFECTION for) denoting PERSONAL attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling; while AGAPAO is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety. While PHILEO is chiefly that of the heart, AGAPAO is of the head.”

 In almost all these passages of the New Testament, the Vulgate, by the help of DILIGO and AMO, has preserved a distinction which we have let go. This is especially to be regretted at John 21:15-17.; for the passing there of the original from one word to the other is singularly instructive, and should by no means escape us unnoticed.
In that threefold “Lovest thou Me?” which the risen Lord addresses to Peter, He  asks him first, AGAPAS ME; At this moment, when all the pulses in the heart of the now penitent Apostle are beating with a passionate affection toward his Lord, this word sounds far too cold to very imperfectly express the warmth of his affection toward Him.
The question in any form would have been grievous enough (ver. 17); the language in which it is clothed makes it more grievous still. He therefore in his answer substitutes for the AGAPAS of Christ the word of a more personal love, PHILO SE (ver. 15). And this he does not on the first occasion only, but again upon a second. And now at length he has triumphed; for when his Lord puts the question to him a third time, it is not AGAPAS any more, but PHILEIS. All this subtle and delicate play of feeling disappears perforce, in a translation which either does not care, or is not able, to reproduce the variation in the words as it exists in the original.

“for God so LOVED the world, that he gave” (3:16)
“men LOVED darkness rather than light” (3:19)
“the Father LOVETH the Son” (3:35)
“If God were your Father, ye would LOVE me”
(8:42) “Therefore DOTH my Father LOVE me” (10:17)
“Now Jesus LOVED Martha, and her sister” (11:5)
“they LOVED the praise of men more” (12:43)
“HAVING LOVED his own which were in the world he LOVED them” (13:1)
“One of his disciples, whom Jesus LOVED” (13:23)
“LOVE one another; as I HAVE LOVED YOU, that ye also LOVE” (13:34)
“If ye LOVE me, keep my commandments” (14:15)
“He it is that LOVETH me;
and he THAT LOVETH me SHALL BE LOVED of my Father,
and I will LOVE him” (14:21)
“If a man LOVE me, he will keep my words;
and my Father WILL LOVE him” (14:23)
“He that LOVETH ME not keepeth not my sayings” (14:24)
“If ye LOVED me, ye would rejoice” (14:28)
“world may know that I LOVE the Father (14:31)
“As the Father HATH LOVED me, so HAVE I LOVED you” (15:9)
“That ye LOVE one another as I HAVE LOVED you” (15:12)
“I command you, that ye LOVE one another” (15:17)
“HAST LOVED them, as thou HAST LOVED me” (17:23)
“thou LOVEDST me before the foundation of the world” (17:24)
“the love wherewith thou HAST LOVED me” (17:26)
“the disciple standing by, whom he LOVED” (19:26)
“that disciple whom Jesus LOVED saith” (21:7)
“(son) of Jonas, LOVEST thou me more than” (21:15)
“Simon, (son) of Jonas, LOVEST thou me” (21:16)
“the disciple whom Jesus LOVED following” (21:20)