LOVE:  A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a friend, for a parent or child, and so forth; warm fondness or liking for another; also, the benevolent affection of God for his creatures or the reverent affection due from them to God; also, the kindly affection properly expressed by God’s creatures toward one another; that strong or passionate affection for a person of the opposite sex that constitutes the emotional incentive to conjugal union. One of the synonyms for love is "devotion."

Aside from those meanings, the Scriptures speak also of love guided by principle, as love of righteousness or even love for one’s enemies, for whom a person may not have affection. This facet or expression of love is an unselfish devotion to righteousness and a sincere concern for the lasting welfare of others, along with an active expression of this for their good.

The verb ’a·hev´ or ’a·hav´ ("love") and the noun ’a·havah´ ("love") are the words primarily used in Hebrew to denote love in the foregoing senses, the context determining the sense and degree meant.

The Christian Greek Scriptures mainly employ forms of the words a·ga´pe, phi·li´a, and two words drawn from stor·ge´ (e´ros, love between the sexes, not being used). A·ga´pe appears more frequently than the other terms.

Of the noun a·ga´pe and the verb a·ga·pa´o, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says: "Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son, I John 4:9, 10.

A·ga´pe, therefore, carries the meaning of love guided, or governed, by principle. It may or may not include affection and fondness. That a·ga´pe may include affection and warmth is evident in many passages. So, although distinguished by respect for principle, a·ga´pe is not unfeeling; otherwise it would not differ from cold justice. But it is not ruled by feeling or sentiment; it never ignores principle. Christians rightly show a·ga´pe toward others for whom they may feel no affection or fondness, doing so for the welfare of those persons. (Ga 6:10) Yet, though not feeling affection, they do feel compassion and sincere concern for such fellow humans, to the limits and in the way that righteous principles allow and direct.

However, while a·ga´pe refers to love governed by principle, there are good and bad principles. A wrong kind of a·ga´pe could be expressed, guided by bad principles. For example, Jesus said: "If you love [a·ga·pa´te] those loving you, of what credit is it to you? For even the sinners love those loving them. And if you do good to those doing good to you, really of what credit is it to you? Even the sinners do the same. Also, if you lend without interest to those from whom you hope to receive, of what credit is it to you? Even sinners lend without interest to sinners that they may get back as much." (Lu 6:32-34) The principle upon which such ones operate is: ‘Do good to me and I will do good to you.’

Jesus commanded: "Love [a·ga·pa´te] your enemies." (Mt 5:44)  Loving our enemies, therefore, should be governed by the principle established by God and should be exercised in obedience to his commandments, whether or not such love is accompanied by any warmth or affection.

Agape to all readers,

Marie

The Person Identified by the Name. Jehovah is the Creator of all things, the great First Cause; hence he is uncreated, without beginning. (Re 4:11) "In number his years are beyond searching." (Job 36:26) It is impossible to place an age upon him, for there is no starting point from which to measure. Though ageless, he is properly called "the Ancient of Days" since his existence stretches endlessly into the past. (Da 7:9, 13) He is also without future end (Re 10:6), being incorruptible, undying. He is therefore called "the King of eternity" (1Ti 1:17), to whom a thousand years are but as a night watch of a few hours.—Ps 90:2, 4; Jer 10:10; Hab 1:12; Re 15:3.

Despite his timelessness, Jehovah is preeminently a historical God, identifying himself with specific times, places, persons, and events. In his dealings with mankind he has acted according to an exact timetable. (Ge 15:13, 16; 17:21; Ex 12:6-12; Ga 4:4) Because his eternal existence is undeniable and the most fundamental fact in the universe, he has sworn by it in oaths, saying, "As I am alive," thereby guaranteeing the absolute certainty of his promises and prophecies. (Jer 22:24; Zep 2:9; Nu 14:21, 28; Isa 49:18) Men, too, took oaths, swearing by the fact of Jehovah’s existence. (Jg 8:19; Ru 3:13) Only senseless ones say: "There is no Jehovah."—Ps 14:1; 10:4.

Descriptions of his presence. Since he is a Spirit beyond the power of humans to see (Joh 4:24), any description of his appearance in human terms can only approximate his incomparable glory. (Isa 40:25, 26) While not actually seeing their Creator (Joh 1:18), certain of his servants were given inspired visions of his heavenly courts. Their description of his presence portrays not only great dignity and awesome majesty but also serenity, order, beauty, and pleasantness.—Ex 24:9-11; Isa 6:1; Eze 1:26-28; Da 7:9; Re 4:1-3; see also Ps 96:4-6.

As can be noted, these descriptions employ metaphors and similes, likening Jehovah’s appearance to things known to humans—jewels, fire, rainbow. He is even described as though he had certain human features. While some scholars make a considerable issue out of what they call the anthropomorphological expressions found in the Bible—as references to God’s "eyes," "ears," "face" (1Pe 3:12), "arm" (Eze 20:33), "right hand" (Ex 15:6), and so forth—it is obvious that such expressions are necessary for the description to be humanly comprehensible. For Jehovah God to set down for us a description of himself in spirit terms would be like supplying advanced algebraic equations to persons having only the most elementary knowledge of mathematics, or trying to explain colors to a person born blind.—Job 37:23, 24.

The so-called anthropomorphisms, therefore, are never to be taken literally, any more than other metaphoric references to God as a "sun," "shield," or "Rock." (Ps 84:11; De 32:4, 31) Jehovah’s sight (Ge 16:13), unlike that of humans, does not depend on light rays, and deeds done in utter darkness can be seen by him. (Ps 139:1, 7-12; Heb 4:13) His vision can encompass all the earth (Pr 15:3), and he needs no special equipment to see the growing embryo within the human womb. (Ps 139:15, 16) Nor does his hearing depend on sound waves in an atmosphere, for he can "hear" expressions though uttered voicelessly in the heart. (Ps 19:14) Man cannot successfully measure even the vast physical universe; yet the physical heavens do not embrace or enclose the place of God’s residence, and much less does some earthly house or temple. (1Ki 8:27; Ps 148:13) Through Moses, Jehovah specifically warned the nation of Israel not to make an image of Him in the form of a male or of any kind of created thing. (De 4:15-18) So, whereas Luke’s account records Jesus’ reference to expelling demons "by means of God’s finger," Matthew’s account shows that Jesus thereby referred to "God’s spirit," or active force.—Lu 11:20; Mt 12:28; compare Jer 27:5 and Ge 1:2.

Personal qualities revealed in creation. Certain facets of Jehovah’s personality are revealed by his creative works even prior to his creation of man. (Ro 1:20) The very act of creation reveals his love. This is because Jehovah is self-contained, lacking nothing. Hence, although he created hundreds of millions of spirit sons, not one could add anything to his knowledge or contribute some desirable quality of emotion or personality that He did not already possess in superior degree.—Da 7:9, 10; Heb 12:22; Isa 40:13, 14; Ro 11:33, 34.

This, of course, does not mean that Jehovah does not find pleasure in his creatures. Since man was made "in God’s image" (Ge 1:27), it follows that the joy a human father finds in his child, particularly one who shows filial love and acts with wisdom, reflects the joy that Jehovah finds in his intelligent creatures who love and wisely serve Him. (Pr 27:11; Mt 3:17; 12:18) This pleasure comes, not from any material or physical gain, but from seeing his creatures willingly hold to his righteous standards and show unselfishness and generosity. (1Ch 29:14-17; Ps 50:7-15; 147:10, 11; Heb 13:16) Contrariwise, those who take a wrong course and show contempt for Jehovah’s love, who bring reproach on his name and cruel suffering to others, cause Jehovah to ‘feel hurt at his heart.’—Ge 6:5-8; Ps 78:36-41; Heb 10:38.

Jehovah also finds pleasure in the exercise of his powers, whether in creation or otherwise, his works always having a real purpose and a good motive. (Ps 135:3-6; Isa 46:10, 11; 55:10, 11) As the Generous Giver of "every good gift and every perfect present," he takes delight in rewarding his faithful sons and daughters with blessings. (Jas 1:5, 17; Ps 35:27; 84:11, 12; 149:4) Yet, though he is a God of warmth and feeling, his happiness is clearly not dependent upon his creatures, nor does he sacrifice righteous principles for sentimentality.

Jehovah also showed love in granting his first-created spirit Son the privilege of sharing with him in all further works of creation, both spirit and material, generously causing this fact to be made known with resultant honor to his Son. (Ge 1:26; Col 1:15-17) He thus did not weakly fear the possibility of competition but, rather, displayed complete confidence in his own rightful Sovereignty (Ex 15:11) as well as in his Son’s loyalty and devotion. He allows his spirit sons relative freedom in the discharge of their duties, on occasion even permitting them to offer their views on how they might carry out particular assignments.—1Ki 22:19-22.

As the apostle Paul pointed out, Jehovah’s invisible qualities are also revealed in his material creation. (Ro 1:19, 20) His vast power is staggering to the imagination, huge galaxies of billions of stars being but ‘the work of his fingers’ (Ps 8:1, 3, 4; 19:1), and the richness of his wisdom displayed is such that, even after thousands of years of research and study, the understanding that men have of the physical creation is but "a whisper" compared with mighty thunder. (Job 26:14; Ps 92:5; Ec 3:11) Jehovah’s creative activity toward the planet Earth was marked by logical orderliness, following a definite program (Ge 1:2-31), making the earth—as astronauts in our 20th century have called it—a jewel in space.

As revealed to man in Eden. As what kind of person did Jehovah reveal himself to his first human children? Certainly Adam in his perfection would have had to concur with the later words of the psalmist: "I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, as my soul is very well aware." (Ps 139:14) From his own body—outstandingly versatile among earthly creatures—on outward to the things he found around him, the man had every reason to feel awesome respect for his Creator. Each new bird, animal, and fish; each different plant, flower, and tree; and every field, forest, hill, valley, and stream that the man saw would impress upon him the depth and breadth of his Father’s wisdom and the colorfulness of Jehovah’s personality as reflected in the grand variety of his creative works. (Ge 2:7-9; compare Ps 104:8-24.) All of man’s senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—would communicate to his receptive mind the evidence of a most generous and thoughtful Creator.

Nor were Adam’s intellectual needs, his need for conversation and companionship, forgotten, as his Father provided him with an intelligent feminine counterpart. (Ge 2:18-23) They both could well have sung to Jehovah, as did the psalmist: "Rejoicing to satisfaction is with your face; there is pleasantness at your right hand forever." (Ps 16:8, 11) Having been the object of so much love, Adam and Eve should certainly have known that "God is love," the source and supreme example of love.—1Jo 4:16, 19.

Most important, Jehovah God supplied man’s spiritual needs. Adam’s Father revealed himself to his human son, communicating with him, giving him divine assignments of service, the obedient performance of which would constitute a major part of man’s worship.—Ge 1:27-30; 2:15-17; compare Am 4:13.

A God of moral standards. Man early came to know Jehovah not merely as a wise and bountiful Provider but also as a God of morals, one holding to definite standards as to what is right and what is wrong in conduct and practice. If, as indicated, Adam knew the account of creation, then he also knew Jehovah had divine standards, for the account says of his creative works that Jehovah saw that "it was very good," hence meeting his perfect standard.—Ge 1:3, 4, 12, 25, 31; compare De 32:3, 4.

Without standards there could be no means for determining or judging good and bad or for measuring and recognizing degrees of accuracy and excellence. In this regard, the following observations from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1959, Vol. 21, pp. 306, 307) are enlightening:

"Man’s accomplishments [in establishing standards] . . . pale into insignificance when compared with standards in nature. The constellations, the orbits of the planets, the changeless normal properties of conductivity, ductility, elasticity, hardness, permeability, refractivity, strength, or viscosity in the materials of nature, . . . or the structure of cells, are a few examples of the astounding standardization in nature."

Showing the importance of such standardization in the material creation, the same work says: "Only through the standardization found in nature is it possible to recognize and classify . . . the many kinds of plants, fishes, birds or animals. Within these kinds, individuals resemble each other in minutest detail of structure, function and habits peculiar to each. [Compare Ge 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25.] If it were not for such standardization in the human body, physicians would not know whether an individual possessed certain organs, where to look for them . . . In fact, without nature’s standards there could be no organized society, no education and no physicians; each depends upon underlying, comparable similarities."

Adam saw much stability in Jehovah’s creative works, the regular cycle of day and night, the steady downward course of the water in Eden’s river in response to the force of gravity, and countless other things that gave proof that Earth’s Creator is not a God of confusion but of order. (Ge 1:16-18; 2:10; Ec 1:5-7; Jer 31:35, 36; 1Co 14:33) Man surely found this helpful in carrying out his assigned work and activities (Ge 1:28; 2:15), being able to plan and work with confidence, free from anxious uncertainty.

In view of all of this, it should not have seemed strange to intelligent man that Jehovah should set standards governing man’s conduct and his relations with his Creator. Jehovah’s own splendid workmanship set the example for Adam in his cultivating and caring for Eden. (Ge 2:15; 1:31) Adam also learned God’s standard for marriage, that of monogamy, and of family relationship. (Ge 2:24) Especially stressed as essential for life itself was the standard of obedience to God’s instructions. Since Adam was humanly perfect, perfect obedience was the standard Jehovah set for him. Jehovah gave his earthly son the opportunity to demonstrate love and devotion by obedience to His command to abstain from eating of one of the many fruit trees in Eden. (Ge 2:16, 17) It was a simple thing. But Adam’s circumstances then were simple, free from the complexities and confusion that have since developed. Jehovah’s wisdom in this simple test was emphasized by the words of Jesus Christ some 4,000 years later: "The person faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and the person unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much."—Lu 16:10.

This orderliness and the standards set would not detract from man’s enjoyment of life but would contribute to it. As the encyclopedia article on standards, mentioned earlier, observes regarding the material creation: "Yet with this overwhelming evidence of standards none charges nature with monotony. Although a narrow band of spectral wave lengths forms the foundation, the available variations and combinations of colour to delight the eye of the observer are virtually without limit. Similarly, all of the artistry of music comes to the ear through another small group of frequencies." (Vol. 21, p. 307) Likewise, God’s requirements for the human pair allowed them all the freedom that a righteous heart could desire. There was no need to hem them in with a multitude of laws and regulations. The loving example set for them by their Creator and their respect and love for him would protect them from exceeding the proper bounds of their freedom.—Compare 1Ti 1:9, 10; Ro 6:15-18; 13:8-10; 2Co 3:17.

Jehovah God, therefore, by his very Person, his ways, and his words, was and is the Supreme Standard for all the universe, the definition and the sum of all goodness. For that reason his Son when on earth could say to a man: "Why do you call me good? Nobody is good, except one, God."—Mr 10:17, 18; also Mt 19:17; 5:48.