φίλος - Phileo

A few years ago, a friend of mine started signing his emails with Phileo. Phileo (verb) is used 25 times in New Testament, and is one of the Greek words for love. It comes from the root word "Philos" which is the word translated “friend.” Phileo love is the brotherly affection of friendship. I love this word. I want it to define my life. I believe it perfectly captures what the Bible intends for friendship. Paul tells the church in Rome to be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honoring one another above themselves. That is phileo love - selfless and pure. Paul also admonishes Timothy, that young men and women should treat each other as brothers and sisters with absolute purity. I have made this my goal. I want to be above reproach. I want to love from a pure heart with the kind of love that is appropriate for the situation. In English, we do not have the vocabulary to fully describe and understand appropriate types of love for the differing relationships we have on our lives. But that is not the case in Greek. In Greek, we have agape, phileo, eros, and storge. There are passionate loves, friendship loves and unconditional loves, each for a specific time and purpose. Well, as an unmarried young woman, I desire that phileo love would define the relationships of this stage in my life. The kind of love that makes every other young woman my sister, not my rival. And every young man my brother, not a potential. I believe and hope that if Christians started treating each other this way, it would revolutionize the church.

Now, this is not something that I have mastered by any means, but Jesus is faithful. Just the other day I made a new friend - a young guy from the states who was visiting Israel for the summer. As I try to do with new friendships, I asked Jesus to show me how I could love this new friend with phileo, like my brother. Well, a few days later, we were having lunch with some new acquaintances and one of them looked at us and asked, "Are you two brother and sister?" It's important to note here that we are not even the same race! My friend is Hispanic and anyone who knows me, knows that I am the definition of what we'll politely call "fair skinned." And yet, we were mistaken for being siblings. In my heart, I thanked Jesus and gave Him the glory. It may sound small and silly, but it showed me something very important. When we ask Jesus for righteousness, He is faithful to come. It could have been so easy for the person to mistake us as a couple, which would have been mildly embarrassing and far less inspiring to blog about. But no, we gave the pure appearance of family. Thank you Holy Spirit. I want to live a life of absolute purity. I want to live a life of phileo.