Agape Love (Matthew 5: 38-48)

Agape Love

Matthew 5: 38-48
38You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
39 But I say to you: Do not resist the one who is evil; Before, anyone who wounds you on the right cheek, turn the other one too;
40 and whoever wants to sue you and take off your tunic, let him also put the cloak;
41 and whoever forces you to carry a load for a mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him who asks you; and whoever wants to borrow from you, do not refuse him.
43 You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy."
44 But I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you;
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and who rains on the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not the publicans do the same?
47 And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more? Do not Gentiles also do so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Currently the word * LOVE * has lost meaning. It is used so often and indiscriminately that we come to confuse its meaning. The love we are talking about is something more than the love between a couple and is something greater than what is commonly given between friends.

In most cases the love that is declared depends on the physical attractiveness, the material convenience and the correspondence of the loved one, that is, we love those who love us and we are indifferent to others, this is the "love because" I mean, I love you because you're good ... attractive ... nice ... smart ... rich ... etc. In our Bible the word used is agape, agape love is unconditional love, we could say that it is "love in spite of", I love you even though you do not love me ... even though you hurt me ... even though I do not nothing.

This is the way Christ loved us, to the degree that he was willing to give us his life for us, that is the love to which we are called. That is why Jesus says that we love our enemies and do good to those who harm us.
The apostle Paul gives a description of this kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13
The preeminence of love
1 If I spoke human and angelic tongues, and have no love, I come to be like a metal that resonates, or a cymbal that rattles.
2 And if I had prophecy, and understood all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I had all faith, so as to remove the mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
3 And if I distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, and have no love, it is of no use to me.
4 Love is long-suffering, it is kind; love has no envy, love is not boastful, it is not puffed up;
5 does not do anything wrong, does not seek his own, does not get irritated, does not hold a grudge;
6 he does not enjoy injustice, but he enjoys the truth.
7 He suffers everything, he believes everything, he expects everything, he endures everything.
8 Love never stops being; but the prophecies will end, and the tongues will cease, and the science will end.
9 For partly we know, and in part we prophesy;
10 But when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be finished.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I judged as a child; but when I was a man, I gave up what I was as a child.
12 Now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part; but then I will know how I was known.
13 And now faith, hope and love remain, these three; But the greatest of these is love.