The Four LovesBook Report
Book: The Four Loves
Written By: C.S. Lewis
In the book by C.S. Lewis entitled “The Four Loves”, C.S. Lewis attempts to dive into the nature of love from the perspective of the Christian believer. There are four Greek words that translate into the English language the word love. They are: Storge (which stands for affection), Philia (which stands for friendship), Eros (which stands for erotic or romantic love), and Agape (which stands for selfless or unconditional love). In the beginning of the book in the introduction he introduced a quote by St. John “God is Love” and unpacked it by defining what need love is, such as the love I share for my parents. As well as breaking into another category called gift love, which is an example of how God has love for his creation called humanity. The first love he attempts to unpack is the love of affection. He says that affectionate love is the humblest love. He states that it is the most natural love and that it is a modest love. He describes this type of love as since it’s the most natural people expect it. The Second Love that C.S. Lewis describes is called Phileo, which stands for a friendship love. He describes the love of friendship as the least of loves. Stating that: “…There is nothing throaty about it; nothing that quickens the pulse or turns you red and pale. It is essentially between individuals; the moment two men are friends they have in some degree drawn apart together from the herd…Without Affection none of us would have been reared; but we can live and breed without Friendship” (Page 88). He says that people share interest can be friends. He throughout the section of the book says that his meaning of defining the love of Friendship is more narrow than the love of companionship. Also in this section of the book on friendship: He states that, “Christ who said to the disciples ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,’ can truly say to every group of Christian friends ‘You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.’ The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. IT is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all others” (Page 126). In the next section of the book he defines the love called Ero’s, which he says is the state of “beings in love; or, if you prefer, that kind of love which lovers are ‘in’”. (Page 131). He says that this love is not the same as sexual love. Sexual love he refers to as Venus. He says on page 132, that “Sexuality may operate without Eros or as part of Ero’s”. In other words, the sexual love is the sexual desirable love involved in the relationship. Ero’s he describes however as being the longing of emotional connection in the relationship. On Page 163, he beings to introduce the most important love called Agape in the Greek translated into English being charity by stating, “William Morris wrote a poem called ‘Love is Enough’ and someone is said to have reviewed it briefly in the words ‘It isn’t’ Such has been the burden of this book. The natural loves are not sufficient…this is not to belittle the natural loves but to indicate where the real glory lies”.
He starts this love of this way because it is an unconditional love. All the loves listed before this one has all been conditional. He says that this love will care for the person regardless of what the situations are. This is the love that causes Christians to imitate Jesus, by forgiving them when they have sinned against one another. This section focuses on the fact that all the loves previously mentioned are lesser than the love of God. He again states on page 175, that, “God is love. Again, ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us’ (1 John IV, 10). We must not begin with mysticism, with the creature’s love for God, or with the wonderful foretastes of the fruition of God vouchsafed to some in their earthly life. WE begin at the real beginning, with love as the Divine energy. This primal love is Gift-love. In God there is no hunger than needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give. The doctrine that God was under no necessity to create is not a piece of dry scholastic speculation. It is essential”.
This unpacking of 1 John 4:10 really helped me to see exactly how impactful the unconditional Agape love is. God didn’t need to bring into being those whom he can’t covenant. However because of his great love he Jesus to die so that this could happen. He didn’t need to carry on a relationship with humans, he could have after the fall just wiped us all out with a big boom of mass destruction and be done with that. But no because of his love we exist. He created the world as an expression of his love. He has unconditional love for us by sending us Jesus to die for us as sinners who without this truth would all be destined for hell. Which if you didn’t know is NOT a very loving place. This book to me made the Gospel and just the whole truth throughout the scriptures so much more impactful in my life because I have a deeper appreciation from reading it on God’s love, and earthly love as well. The Gospel is that much sweeter to know that God did not need us, yet we needed him. However because of his love we are allowed to be in a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. Overall I believe that the book by C.S. Lewis was a good book expounding the truth about love, which is a feeling that is very common to one extent, but to another is a profound experience as well. The natural loves are a feeling that can be corrupted if not kept in check by the most important of all loves which is, Unconditional or Agape love. All loves that are lesser to agape love can become an area of grace in our lives from God to an unlovable race of human beings.
Until Next Time,
- Adam Bryant
1 John 4:10-11
