The Four Loves - STORGE
The Four Loves
Storge
God’s grace be to you this week as we continue to move in and through the Summer. The weather is ever changing but today we celebrate that God is unchangeable and His love for us in constant.
This week and for the next few weeks we are going to seek to understand the true meaning of love. In our world today, and it has always been true for humanity, love is an important aspect of our lives. As with everything in our lives, there are different types of love we witness and experience throughout our lives. The word “love” is multifaceted. Not all love is the same!
In the Greek world of Jesus’ day there were identified four different types of love. Each was real but different. Each was powerful but not all were lasting. The first work we can identify is the word “Storge.” Storge is a very real love, and it is a powerful love. But it is not the powerful love which God enables us to possess in our hearts.
Storge in its basic form is not used in the New Testament. There are some derivatives of this word which do appear. We will examine them in a moment. While there are four different types of love identified in Greek literature, the word “Storge” has a very specific definition.
Storge is defined as an instinctive love which the one giving birth has for the one who is born. The example given in ancient Greek is the love of a wolf for her pups. She gives birth to them, feeds them, protects them, teaches them, and then when they are grown, she kicks them out of the den. The mother wolf loves and does what is best for her pups, but the time comes when momma wolf has done her job.
When the word “Storge” is used in reference to humanity is it usually referencing the love of a mother for her child. While most mothers truly love their children and there is a desire to provide, protect, and teach a child, the day will come when the child must leave the nest. A mother prepares the child for life and then lets them go.
Let me stress, “Storge” is a very real love, but it does have limits. Because it is a love which is natural and part of the created order of the world, it is also a love which has been perverted by the fall into sin.
Not every mother loves their children. Not every parent will sacrifice for their child. How many times have see encountered “bad” parents? How many children have been conceived, only to have their tiny little bodies torn from the womb and discarded like a simple piece of trash.
There are far too many children who grow up abandoned and alone in the world. Then there are the children who suffer from abuse because the adults in their lives have no true love for them. “Storge” is a real love but as I said, it is a love easily perverted by sin.
In the New Testament we do not find “Storge” as a word standing on its own. We do find Paul using a form of this word in a negative sense. When writing to the Christians in Rome he states they have failed in their love. He states they are “without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful;” Romans 1:31.
To be “unfeeling” is to be without love. Some translations of the New Testament even translate the word as unloving. Listen to this passage in full context.
Romans 1:28-32
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, 29 people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
For those who turn from God and run headlong into sin, one of the consequences of such a choice is that they lose the ability to truly love even in the most basic ways. The consequences of sin have had far reaching effects on all of creation.
There will always be “Storge” in this world and in our personal lives. It is a true love but as with anything which originates within us, even this fraternal love of a parent for a child breaks down and fails due to sin.
It is only when we are impacted by the unique love which God has for us that the other three types of love, which includes “Storge,” can become all which God originally created them to be. It is only in Christ that even a parent is impowered to love purely and selflessly.
As we move through these four types of love, I pray we each grow in our knowledge but even more importantly, that we grow in our love for God and are enabled to truly love each other.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
Storge
God’s grace be to you this week as we continue to move in and through the Summer. The weather is ever changing but today we celebrate that God is unchangeable and His love for us in constant.
This week and for the next few weeks we are going to seek to understand the true meaning of love. In our world today, and it has always been true for humanity, love is an important aspect of our lives. As with everything in our lives, there are different types of love we witness and experience throughout our lives. The word “love” is multifaceted. Not all love is the same!
In the Greek world of Jesus’ day there were identified four different types of love. Each was real but different. Each was powerful but not all were lasting. The first work we can identify is the word “Storge.” Storge is a very real love, and it is a powerful love. But it is not the powerful love which God enables us to possess in our hearts.
Storge in its basic form is not used in the New Testament. There are some derivatives of this word which do appear. We will examine them in a moment. While there are four different types of love identified in Greek literature, the word “Storge” has a very specific definition.
Storge is defined as an instinctive love which the one giving birth has for the one who is born. The example given in ancient Greek is the love of a wolf for her pups. She gives birth to them, feeds them, protects them, teaches them, and then when they are grown, she kicks them out of the den. The mother wolf loves and does what is best for her pups, but the time comes when momma wolf has done her job.
When the word “Storge” is used in reference to humanity is it usually referencing the love of a mother for her child. While most mothers truly love their children and there is a desire to provide, protect, and teach a child, the day will come when the child must leave the nest. A mother prepares the child for life and then lets them go.
Let me stress, “Storge” is a very real love, but it does have limits. Because it is a love which is natural and part of the created order of the world, it is also a love which has been perverted by the fall into sin.
Not every mother loves their children. Not every parent will sacrifice for their child. How many times have see encountered “bad” parents? How many children have been conceived, only to have their tiny little bodies torn from the womb and discarded like a simple piece of trash.
There are far too many children who grow up abandoned and alone in the world. Then there are the children who suffer from abuse because the adults in their lives have no true love for them. “Storge” is a real love but as I said, it is a love easily perverted by sin.
In the New Testament we do not find “Storge” as a word standing on its own. We do find Paul using a form of this word in a negative sense. When writing to the Christians in Rome he states they have failed in their love. He states they are “without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful;” Romans 1:31.
To be “unfeeling” is to be without love. Some translations of the New Testament even translate the word as unloving. Listen to this passage in full context.
Romans 1:28-32
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, 29 people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
For those who turn from God and run headlong into sin, one of the consequences of such a choice is that they lose the ability to truly love even in the most basic ways. The consequences of sin have had far reaching effects on all of creation.
There will always be “Storge” in this world and in our personal lives. It is a true love but as with anything which originates within us, even this fraternal love of a parent for a child breaks down and fails due to sin.
It is only when we are impacted by the unique love which God has for us that the other three types of love, which includes “Storge,” can become all which God originally created them to be. It is only in Christ that even a parent is impowered to love purely and selflessly.
As we move through these four types of love, I pray we each grow in our knowledge but even more importantly, that we grow in our love for God and are enabled to truly love each other.
In Christ,
Pastor Russ
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