Love Bible
The Christian Scriptures? A Love Bible?
While a love bible sounds like a book related to romance, the truth is the Christian Bible says a lot about the topic of love. However, love in the Bible is a little different than love in contemporary American culture.
The Greek language speaks of four different types of love. They are romantic love, brotherly love, love for family, and selfless love. The romantic type rarely occurs in the Bible, and sometimes is spoken of negatively when misused (as in fornication). Brotherly love is mentioned frequently in the Bible, but the authors of the Bible reserve most of their energy speaking of agape or selfless love.
Agape, according to the Bible, is the type of love God has for His people. It's the type of love that allows the Father to offer His only Son for the sins of the world. An example of agape from the Bible is the mother-child metaphor. Most mothers have a selfless love for their child that transcends any difficulty.
According to the Bible, agape is the love God has for His people. It's also the love that we are supposed to have for our fellow Christian, and even non-believers. This love, according to the Bible, manifests itself in the fruit of the Spirit and in living the beatitudes of Jesus.
Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible speak of God's love. Although God's justice is more prominent in the Old Testament, it also has amazing passages that speak of God's mercy and compassion, especially in the Psalms.
For anyone looking for a good passage on love in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 is the classic text. It is sometimes called the love chapter.
So, the next time someone speaks of the Love Bible, they may not be referring to the Christian Scriptures, but if the love is agape love, they might as well be.