Finally, and perhaps above all, while friendship is properly used only of a relationship between equals, agapē links persons of different conditions: with rulers, benefactors, and fathers; it is a disinterested and generous love, full of thoughtfulness and concern. It is in this sense that God is agapē and loves the world.29 With those who are indebted, for inferiors, for subjects, this agapē, which is first of all consent, welcome, acceptance,30 is expressed in gratitude:31 it is the love inspired in turn by generous love—which is the meaning in 1 John 4:10—and it is translated into acclaim, applause, tokens of respect, congratulations, praises,32 and even veneration,33 so that Christian agapē is expressed in liturgy and worship: “To the one who loves us … to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever” (Tō agapōnti hēmas … autō hē doxa kai to kratos eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn, Rev 1:5–6).
Ceslas Spicq and James D. Ernest, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 13–14.
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