It is remarkable how we most often use the word “love” to describe an emotional feeling. When we use the expressions like “falling in love,” “falling out of love” or “I don’t love him anymore,” we are limiting the meaning of love to the emotions which are stirred within us. The Greek language had many words to describe the many facets of love. Our failure to understand one of these words, the Greek word agape, keeps us from properly dealing with others and robs us of one the great blessings of Christianity.
As a child, I always thought of love as an emotion, so when I read Jesus’ words about loving your enemies, I struggled to obey him. My emotional attitude toward my enemy was so far removed from any concept I had of love. (By the way, this struggle is also found in many marriages where a husband or wife is always mistreating their mate). What emotions does one have when people around him are mocking, verbally abusing or insulting him? It is to emotionally respond with anger and the desire to respond in kind to what they are doing—to hurt them like they are hurting us. How can you “love” those who wrong you? Does God really expect me to “love” them?
The answer is found in realizing that when Jesus talked about love (agape) he was not talking about the emotional response we had toward them, but about how we treated them. Agape love has far more to do we how we treat others than how we emotionally respond to them.
Paul discusses this in the closing verses of Romans chapter twelve. Christians were soon to be the objects of scorn, and Nero was about to blame the Christians for burning Rome. In addition to this persecution from the pagans, the Christians had been and were the focus of abuse and persecution from the Jews. What reaction did God expect from the citizens of His kingdom?
It was not a reaction of retaliation. The clearest direction can be summed up in Paul’s words. “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” The gravest danger we face is that when others treat us in ungodly ways, we feel we have a right to respond and repay them. Someone once said, “It is never right to do wrong,” and these words capture the apostle’s thought. Enemies are under the eternal judgment of God. Why should we ever join them in doing wrong!
Our response? What does agape love demand of us? Not an emotional response, but simply to treat them with kindness—to respond as Jesus did toward His enemies. But how do I deal with the anger? I turn it over to God. Paul reminded them that vengeance is God’s, and He will always repay. We win when we overcome evil with good!