The Four Loves: Agape (Part 4/4) by C.S. Lewis 

“… God who has loved us into existence…” Superlative grasp of the human condition from a devout, learned Christian soul that we (of ALL denominations) are privileged to listen to as he basks in the Grace and Spirit that he exudes. God Bless all Christians who understand - even in glimpses - the direction of the Holy path on which he is blessed to stand. Thanks for the support CSL (… and JRT!)… and mostly to our Lord God Almighty through Jesus Christ.

So good to hear his voice. One of my lecturers studied under Prof Lewis and said he would begin his lectures in the corridor as he approached the lecture theater and did not permit his students to take notes so they paid attention.

I have listened to the all the videos in this series multiple times. Each time I am able to grasp something that I had not gotten previously. I am in complete awe at this marvelous understanding that this Don had! Can't wait to get to heaven. Can you imagine what it will be like to be not only in Gods presence, but to worship Him with all the Saints of the ages?!?

I think agape-love is a natural love. It's naturally good to the natural condition of man which God created. God graced man to have the ability to give and receive agape-love. In a sense the other loves will turn into agape-love. But then again, the other loves can still exist within agape-love, at least here on earth anyway. Apape-love can complete the other loves, but it doesn't necessarily do away with the other loves. Jesus came to and did fulfill the Law and Prophets, not abolish them. So too the agape-love that Jesus demonstrated can fulfill the other loves without abolishing them here on earth anyway. I see apape-love as empathy, sympathetic understanding, compassionate bonding, or regarding the other as oneself, as if what happens to the other, the one considers it happening to himself. Jesus demonstrated empathetic love at the wedding at Cana (eros-love). Eros-love didn't change water into wine. Jesus' agape-love did. Paul told husbands to love (agape) their wives as themselves, not just loving them with eros-love. At his last Passover, Jesus told his disciples he regarded them no longer as servants but as his friends (philia-love). The first Passover freed the Israelites from slavery. Jesus freed his disciples at his last Passover. Prior to this Jesus demonstrated agape-love love to them, and to strangers, and even to those at enmity against him. One disciple was called the disciple Jesus loved. The word for love used here is agape, not philia. Yet Jesus and John were surely best friends, sharing philia-love besides agape-love. Jesus implied both the words agape and philia when he asked Peter whether he loved him. Lastly, Jesus gave his mother (familial-love) to the disciple he loved (agape). Of course Jesus had agape-love for his mother besides familial-love. In short, Jesus' agape-love completed, not abolished, the other loves. That being said, it does seem the other loves we have for each other do get absorbed into God's agape-love in heaven, perhaps like when our salty tears drop into the vast ocean. Jesus mentioned that souls in heaven are like the angels neither male nor female, neither given to one another in marriage. There goes eros love between souls in heaven. Can the same be said of our earthly familial relationships and friendships in heaven? Faith, hope, and agape-love abide, but will familial-love and philia-love abide between souls in heaven? They are particular loves not universal loves like agape. Yet, besides agape-love, will there be philia love in heaven between the faithful souls and Christ? Besides agape-love, will there be eros-love between hopeful souls and the Holy Spirit? Besides agape-love, will there be familial-love between loving childlike souls and the Father? Will God, who is love (agape), abolish these loves between the faithful soul and the Trinity, or will He preserve them by fulfilling them with His agape-love? Perhaps our tears of love will not dissipate like natural tears falling into the ocean.