“Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13).
What does it mean to “increase and abound in love to one another” as we read in the passage quoted above? We can begin with a closer look at the word “love” as it appears here in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. In the original language of this passage, this word (agape) incorporates the idea of affection, good will, and benevolence (1) as well as generosity, kindly concern, and devotedness. (2)
In a larger sense, we can say that this type of love is not rooted in a transient feeling or emotion. Instead, agape love is characterized by a willful desire to love. As one commentary observes…
“Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all, Rom_15:2, and works no ill to any, Rom_13:8-10; love seeks opportunity to do good to ‘all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith,’ Gal_6:10.” (3)
In addition, many sources associate this word with the “love feasts” that were a feature of many first-century church services. One source explains further…
“The ancient world was in many ways a much more social world than ours. It was the regular custom for groups of people to meet together for common meals. There was, in particular, a certain kind of feast called an eranos in Greek language, to which each participant brought his own share of the food, and in which all the contributions were pooled to make a common feast.
The early church had such a custom; they had a feast called the Agape or Love Feast. To it all the Christians came, bringing what they could, and when the resources of all were pooled, they sat down to a common meal… It was a way of producing and nourishing real Christian fellowship (Gr. koinonia, sharing, participating). It offered the well-to-do a regular opportunity to share their material blessings with the poor.” (4)
We’ll continue our consideration of this important topic next.
(1) G26 agape https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g26
(2) G26 agape https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/agape
(3) W.E Vine, Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words Volume 2, Rev Terry Kulakowski, Editor [pg. 79]
(4) Paul T. Butler, Bible Study Textbook Series, Studies In First Corinthians College Press Publishing Company, Joplin, Missouri [pg.210] https://archive.org/stream/FirstCorinthians/131Corinthians-Butler_djvu.txt