Agape in the Bible- Emily McGovern

The Bible, in the original text uses many different words which are translated into English as love. In our class lecture on Valentine’s Day, we discussed the different types of Love and the religious themes each one holds. One that stuck out to me was Agape. Agape is a sacrificial or charity love. The word agape is ἀγάπη in Greek. According to the Strong’s concordance, Agape is used 117. It is translated into five different words or phrases. It is translated as “love” eighty six times, “charity” twenty-eight, and as “dear”, “charitably”, and “feasts of charity” each one time. The translation that caught my attention most was “feasts of charity.” Jude 1:12 says “These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;” The reason I found this interesting was because, a feast of charity is how Bebett shows her love in the movie Bebett’s Feast. I did not that charitable feasts were something practiced by the earlier church. Before making this connection I struggled to understand the religious aspect of the movies we watched on Valentine’s Day but now it is more clear. 1. “G26 - Agapē - Strong's Greek Lexicon (ESV),” Blue Letter Bible, accessed March 21, 2023, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g26/esv/tr/0-1/.