OK…so it’s been a while (and by “while” I mean “year”)…  Sorry about that…

In my efforts at reform, I thought that in addition to trying to offer installments of the perhaps-one-day-a-book, I’d post some of my answers to theological questions people send.

The other day I received the following:

Why is it in the Old Testament, the commandment reads:  ”You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5, NRSV), but the New Testament quotes Jesus using “heart, soul, strength, and mind” (Luke 10:27, cf., Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30).  I understand that one was written in Hebrew and the other in Greek.  Does that account for the whole difference?  ”Might” would seem to indicate “whole-hearted effort,” while mind seems to indicate a more philosophical response.  Is there more to the story?

I think this is a great question, particularly because – as you know – I think love stands at the heart of Christian discipleship.  If we wish to grow to maturity, it will come by means of loving God as scripture describes.

If you want to hear some sermons I preached on the subject, click here and look for the sermons dates (Aug. 22-Sept. 12, 2010).  But here is how I replied to the e-mail:

The short answer is that what the OT is trying to say (and Jesus is agreeing with) is that we should love God with the fullness of ourselves.

Unlike the Greeks (and many today), the ancient Hebrews did not think of humans as a collection of parts (bodies, minds, souls…) but as persons – as integrated wholes.  It was the Greek philosophers who first began to carve people up into pieces. For them the metaphysics of what distinguished one thing from another was key to Continue reading

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

– Matt. 5:43f (NRSV)

…and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’   This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’   On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

– Matt. 22:35-40  (NRSV)

To embrace the idea that love stands at the center of the Christian life is to dive headfirst into paradox.  For love – of God, self, neighbor and enemy – is commanded as the principle duty of a disciple.  And yet if love is as we have described it – not merely a moral choice (to act “as if” we loved, regardless of our feelings), but a condition of the heart (agape in all its complexity, complete with affection, passion, devotion…) – then it transcends the powers of human volition.  We cannot, by willful effort, no matter how sincere or devout, force ourselves to love what we do not.

How many of us have tried – with the best of intent – to love things like vegetables or exercise or Grey’s Anatomy (long story…), only to find that our efforts amount to naught?  Try as we might, it turns out that our affections are simply beyond our control.  And resolutions to “do better next time” serve only Continue reading

It occurs to me that, having placed love at the center of the Christian life, I owe you some sense of how I define the term.  A technical discussion, yes.  But one I hope will be helpful.  (If you are truly allergic to technical discussions, feel free to skip to the last paragraph.)

In seeking to understand the biblical vision of love, we are both aided and hindered by the fact that the Bible is not written in English.  It is always difficult to conceptualize ideas conveyed in another language, and thus there is always a sense that whatever we are thinking when we say “love” in English, we are not quite grasping what the original writers were thinking when they penned their words in Hebrew and Greek (and a little bit of Aramaic).  Yet, the mere fact that the scriptures were authored in three languages (and translated back and forth between them) allows us to have several glances at in idea that – in any language – is beyond complete articulation.

As you may know, there are four words in ancient Greek that we properly translate into English as “love” – eros, philia, storge, and agape – and much ink has been spilled in recent decades trying to nail down the distinctions.  The general trend, which I think has proven unhelpful, has been to define each of these terms in contrast to the others, placing each one Continue reading