Phileo love and agapao love within the body of Christ. John 13:34; 1Jo 2:1-6

Christ is claiming victory and not abandoning the disciples when He leaves earth to sit at the right hand of God.

 

Just because He left physically did not mean He would stop the flow of love and comfort.

 

He would do so through the agency of God the Holy Spirit and the mystery doctrine of the Church, which combined in the positive believer, produces the love of Christ to his fellow believer as Christ did to the disciples.

 

/Again, it is your personal growth combined with reciprocal love towards God that enables your love towards the brethren and that clinches the tactical victory.  \

 

I’m convinced that we have no idea as of yet the importance of our love toward one another in the body that produces unity and peace.

 

The disciples have no idea of it yet.

 

The word of God comforts and reveals to us the love of God and the Spirit provides teaching and power. By this process the very love that was the presence of Christ during the incarnation has now been delegated to every believer.  

 

 

 

The disciples will now become the target of the enemy of God in the AC they will remain on earth to glorify God under the new power of the mystery. That means they need the love of Christ more than ever.

 

That is why the commandment is new. The heat of the war called the AC will be turned up, becoming the intensified stage, which is more deception, more distraction, and more lies and falsehood.

 

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

 

/“A new commandment.” The adjective kainoj[kainos] means new in contrast to old. This adjective means also new in species and that is exactly what this commandment is. It is new in contrast to anything ever given before. \

 

Kainoj[kainos] immediately tells us that this is not the same commandment as found, for example, in the Mosaic law—sometimes called the eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” It has nothing to do with that because this is new [kainoj], new in contrast to any old commandment in this area.

 

There is another word, neoj,[neos] which also means new, but it means new in time, it has a temporal connotation.

 

But to be new in species or new in contrast to old is the adjective we have here. So we have a new commandment for a new species.

 

The double connotation of the adjective—new in contrast to the old, and new in species—gives us a perfect picture of what we can anticipate in the rest of this sentence.

 

The new species is the born-again believer.

 

/At the moment of salvation every person becomes a new creature in Christ. He is a new species. \

 

This is not a revamped or remodelled person, but a brand new spiritual species that is formed at the moment of salvation through the baptism of God the Holy Spirit.

 

Being a new creature, being in union with Jesus Christ, demands a new set of instructions/commandments.

 

/2 Cor 5:17

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things [new plan/instructions/commands] have come. \

 

The same Greek word kainos is used here referring to something brand new that never existed before.

 

/The newness of the command in terms of being new in contrast to the old and new in species is going to be summarised under two key words. One is Christ’s love [new command] and the other is discipleship [new spiritual species]. \

 

The new commandment is based on the fact that Christ is glorified, He is absent from the earth, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting operation footstool, and therefore we have entered into the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

           

The new commandment is obviously based upon some new provisions that did not exist before this dispensation and are imputed to every new species. For example, the baptism of the Holy Spirit whereby every believer at the point of salvation is entered into union with Jesus Christ.

 

/This means that he has the life of Christ—eternal life, the righteousness of Christ—perfect righteousness, the sonship of Christ, the heirship of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, the election of Christ, the destiny of Christ, and eventually he will reign with Jesus Christ. \

 

This new commandment cannot be followed without a real understanding of the mystery doctrine.

 

 

 

 

The indwelling of Christ is also another factor. For the first time in all of history every believer is indwelt by God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For the first time in history every believer is a priest, is an ambassador and therefore the personal representative of Jesus Christ.

 

/Ambassadorship could not exist until after the incarnation, until Christ was absent from the earth, and therefore every believer is now in fulltime Christian service.\

 

The new commandment in this verse is designed to meet the exigencies of the intensified angelic conflict. The heat is turned up so we better tap into the ultimate power in the universe, which was graciously given to us, the love of Christ.

           

/“I give unto you” - present active indicative of didomi.[didomi] God in His grace is providing for us this wonderful thing.\

 

What is this wonderful thing, a command.

 

“Unto you” is the intensive dative which relates the subject to the individual and it becomes a dative of advantage as well.

 

/Some believers look upon the commands of God as a burden. However, we see here that this commandment is a grace gift.\

 

God in His grace is giving us something wonderful and not a burden. Instead of saying to yourself, “Awe man, I have to love this person like Christ would,” say, “Wow, I can love this person as Christ would, and that never, ever fails me.”

 

Obviously, if we are commanded to love with the love of Christ, then we must be given the power and provisions to fulfil the command. The advantages from our union with Christ, unique to the CA, are the grace gifts that are those provisions.

 

/“that” - i(na[hina] plus the subjunctive introduces a purpose clause. The purpose clause is the present active subjunctive of a)gapaw[agapao] which is strictly a mental attitude love.\

 

There are several Greek words that can be translated “love” but only two of them are found in the Bible.

 

/a)gapaw[agapao]  is a restricted love, a mental love; filew[phileo] is the greatest love in the Greek language, but it is a soul love based on deep attraction for the object.\

 

Phileo is not only human but it is also divine. God phileo’s the believer and the believer may phileo God when he has gained the capacity through spiritual growth.

 

 

/Phileo is also divine in the love of right man right woman and the love of friendship, however, phileo, personal soul love, is not sustainable by any member of the human race and so it is never commanded. \

 

Your spouse can in a moment lose their attractiveness to you and you are not out of fellowship. You would never be able to phileo the entire human race, for how could they all be attractive to you?

 

/Agapao is a command, as it is here, and it is always available to the believer in fellowship with God. Its magnitude is directly proportional to how much wisdom of God’s word is in the heart of the believer.\

 

The agapao love of Christ is a mental attitude love that only the new creature can function in and only when he is filled with the Spirit.

 

/Christ’s love is a lack of mental attitude sins and it is also a loss of the arrogant skills of self-absorption, self-deception, and self-promotion, all of which produces sacrificial action. \

 

Again, I warn you not to put the cart before the horse. If you are trying to produce sacrificially without having this love from years of doctrine, you are operating in human energy.

 

That is arrogance, to throw aside God’s power and attempt God’s commands through your flesh.

 

/In any form of arrogance you are weak and sinking fast in the quicksand of mental attitude sins. However, in the love of Christ there is power and strength and a loss of the self absorbed soul to an occupation with Christ soul.\

 

The lack of MAS’s opens the heart [right lobe] of the new creature to lay down his life for the brethren. This love is sacrificial, it gives, it comforts, it provides, it separates, it forgives, it unifies, it is the #1 power in the universe and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.

 

/The command is in the present tense, which means there is not time when a believer is justified to not have this love. \

 

/At the point of salvation every believer passes the point of propitiation, [God is satisfied with him], which places him under maximum divine love, 1 John 2:2. \

 

1 John 2:1 My little children [teknion - those under training and discipline], I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

 

1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

 

1 John 2:3And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

 

1 John 2:4The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

 

/If you come to know Him you will love Him and therefore the love of God will be matured in you. \

 

1 John 2:5but whoever keeps His word [because he has come to know Him], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [matured]. By this we know that we are in Him:

 

1 John 2:6the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

 

Notice the sequence; it is very much like Heb 10, Heb 4, and Eph 4.

 

/ 1. Your sins are forever forgiven.

2. Come to know Him (enter the Holy of Holies and behold Him through doctrine.

3. Come to love Him.

4. Keep His word/commands.

5. Walk in His manner (apply His word).\

 

This order is very important. It prevents believers from getting on a works program by reversing the entire order.