Despite our impossibility to comprehensively eliminate the problem of human penury, we have to discuss this tragic feature that is accompanying the mankind during the course of history. Nevertheless, we have to solve this problem and get some concrete consequences from an approved solution. It is a mandate and primary obligation for the whole Christian church as well as for all people who are confessing and exercising the principles of humanity.

In this regard, I want to focus on one particular aspect which enables us to approach this question dynamically – in other words, it brings something new and positive into the life of the mankind. It involves exercising a criterion agape in a struggle for rescue of human beings. This aspect as it is presented in a message of the Bible embraces all the parts of the Good News. Everything what we can know from the Bible about God’s acting in history has its very goal in the rescue of human beings. It sets people free from power of destruction and undoing. This goal is being realized by means of God’s love - agape. Agape is the very criterion which is able to evaluate any deed of man and to classify it into a set of good or evil. The right understanding of this criterion means to reach the mentioned goal. In this connection, we have to analyze a situation of man and his existence in this world in which he is living. Afterwards, we can pay attention to the criterion agape itself and its exercising in a daily life of the mankind.^[1]
 

1. Man in being

Paul Tillich characterizes a human being as “finite freedom”. “All the potentialities which constitute his freedom are limited by the opposite pole, his destiny which has the character of necessity”.^[2] It means that man is limited in everything what he is doing by means of biological, psychological and sociological powers which all participate on the life.^[3] The entire world becomes a participant in every step of the man’s freedom. The existence of man is the life in which an essential and existential being are bound together. In other words, in human life good and evil which are bound together are always present. None human action is unambiguously good or evil. Tillich calls it the ambiguity of life. The human being is the state of existence. “The state of existence is the state of estrangement. Man is estranged from the ground of his being, from other beings, and from himself”.^[4]

The transition from essence to existence is expressed by a symbol of “the fall”. In the Christian tradition, it is known from the Bible story about Adam. Man feels his affiliation to God but simultaneously he feels anxiety which arises from his estrangement from God and which causes his awareness of finitude and potential nonexistence. He desires to overcome anxiety and to achieve redemption. He has to look for and define correctly the goal of the world history – telos. The final goal for Christians is the Kingdom of God - basileia tou Theou. This goal embraces all desires and efforts of people during the course of history. It always focuses on good as well as on profit for both a human being and the world. Primarily, the Kingdom of God must be interpreted as a dynamic and creative power on the earth which is struggling with the demonic forces in all societal and political structures in the world.^[5]

However, the point is the Kingdom of God, and therefore, it is taken away the utopian nature. God is the only One who can fulfill this goal. It can be fulfilled neither by man nor by the universe itself. Nevertheless, the Kingdom of God embraces the social element which still indicates that holiness cannot exist without unconditional moral imperative of righteousness. The awareness of this fact gives people strength and ability to change an actual reality of the life in the world and to bring the new things to the existence in accordance with God’s will.
 

2. Exercising the criterion agape

In this part, the very center of this point will be discussed in order to understand the importance of exercising a criterion agape in the life of mankind. We could deal with this issue in terms of the need to form finality in accordance with an image of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, we have to ask what the criterion represents. The Christian church approaches this question from the aspect of central manifestation of the Kingdom of God in history. This manifestation is called “the midpoint of history”. Christianity considers this midpoint as the revelation of God in a person of Jesus as Christ. Jesus as Christ is a bearer of the new being. The midpoint of history is not only the matter of the past. It reveals in each time and in every place, in which it is received as the midpoint. In biblical and theological language, this idea is expressed in a symbol of timeless presence of Christ in each stage of history, since only in this event are answered all questions which are implied in historical time and in the ambiguity of life.^[6] In Jesus as Christ, the history has its own meaning and goal. It is natural that with this claim arises the question how can Christianity accounts for the fact that this very event is the midpoint of history. Paul Tillich believes that it is always and chiefly a question of “risky courage of faith”. However, there is a theological argument as well. All questions embraced in ambiguity of existence can be answered only in this very event.^[7] We cannot deny that also other religions and cultures mention events which express the saving power for people. However, the life of Jesus as Christ is the only event in which the saving power is expressed in a way that represents the criterion of all other expressional forms. These forms are not refused but they all stand under the criterion agape – love which is represented by self-giving of divine to human.^[8]
 

2.1 Content of the idea of agape

Christian fellowship with God is distinguished from other religious fellowships by its exclusive and total dependence on God’s love.^[9] Talking about God’s love agape, all questions of direct proportion of God’s love to good or evil qualities of a beloved object are excluded and worthless in advance. The only right answer to a question of God’s love sounds: to love is the very nature of God. God is the love.

It could seem that the concept of love agape is purely a Christian matter. However, it is not so. It is present in many places of the Old Testament, too. Suffice it to mention the message of prophets (Hos 6:6) or the double commandment of love (Mt 22:34-40; Mc 12:28-34; L 10:25-28). However, each of them is placed separately (Dt 6:4-5; Lv 19:18).^[10] Nevertheless, it is Christianity which has placed the double commandment of love to the top as a summary of all commandments of Torah. In this connection, it is necessary to point out to its new meaning which makes a specific feature of implications in the Christian church. The commandment of love has the universal meaning in the life of the Christian Church. The love agape removes all barriers among people and overcomes all differences on national, ethnic, racial, and even religious base (see esp. G 3:28). However, this is possible only in the case of the real agape. On the other hand, it is the most difficult thing man – the Christian can do and must do. However, Jesus’s words which oblige Christians to exercise the commandment of love are unconditionally and permanently valid (J 13:34; 15:12,13,17). Agape is not a love in general. Before the biblical era, the ancient Greek expressed the state of loving in three different ways – eran, filein, agapan.^[11] Eran is passionate love which desires the other for itself.^[12] What the man seeks in erós is intoxication. Consequently, this intoxication is to him religion.^[13] The original form of the erotic religion is sensual intoxication and the supreme form of ecstasy. Filein signifies inclination and solicitous love of gods for men, or of friends for friends.^[14] For the Ancient Greeks agapan was nothing more than “to be satisfied with something”.^[15] However, Christianity transforms the meaning of this term. It becomes a love which gives itself for others. The life of Jesus Christ is the best example of this kind of love. Agape is the mark by which Christians can be recognized. It is a characteristic attribute of Christians (J 13:35).

Gospels are helpful in understanding the real meaning of agape. The Sermon on the Mount (Mt chapters 5:7) and Jesus’ parables are particularly important. However, it is necessary to mention specific attitudes of agape before dealing with the parables. First of all, agape represents an absolutely new kind of relationship of men with God. Jesus does not teach a new conception of God and does not offer anything new about Him. Conversely, He talks about a new kind of fellowship with God. This fellowship is opened for all without exception – for the righteous as well as the unrighteous. Jesus calls especially the last ones as those who are in the state of material or spiritual lack (Mc 2:17). Everybody is embraced in God’s love. It touches the righteous as well as unrighteous because even the sun is shining and rain is falling on the both the righteous and unrighteous (Mt 5:45; L 6:35). God loves man because of him since the love is the very nature of God. There is no other way besides the self-giving love agape to remove poverty and misery of all kinds. It is the only possible way for people to rescue from misery, in which they find themselves. Simultaneously, it is necessary to add that agape embraces neither sentiment nor blind manifestation of love as they are typical for people and their blind expressions of irresponsible access to each other.
 

2.2 Attributes of the love agape and its examples in the context of the New Testament^[16]

If agape is realized in daily life of man, the main features  – the so called attributes of God’s love –  can be clearly seen. These can be summarized into four points:^[17]

1) Agapé is spontaneously doing all things without the effort to apply the principle of worthiness and meritoriousness.
This is the most unusual attribute of love as it is represented by Jesus and his whole life. God’s love does not act causally but teleologically. It does not act according to the principle of cause and effect. God does not look for man because of his character. He looks for him because of the very nature of God as it arises from his creational and redemptive intention. Clearly, it is something absolutely new. It is confirmed Jesus’s words as they are written in the Gospel according to Matthew: Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.  (9:17).

2) Agape is indifferent to evaluation of man.
This aspect differs from the former. God’s love does not follow any human value system. Everyone who wants to manifest his own love towards a neighbor has to first of all have courage to cut him off his own value system or any other which was made and established by society. It does not include the change of values as such. Equally, it does not mean that an object of God’s love is someone who from our point of view has only bad qualities or than he consciously sins. Conversely, it means that God gives his own love to others in an absolute and perfect way without consideration of any value system which would be used before the very act of love. God does not love man for his qualities but because he is man – he as a part of the rest of the world becomes an object of God’s love.

3) Agape is creative.
The basic attributes of love agape, as they were mentioned, prove that the agape is really a unique kind of love. As a result of its previously mentioned attributes, agape is a creative love. God’s love is creative. Therefore, creative activity of God is the expression of agape (J 3:16). It depicts the very nature of God’s acting in history. God is acting dynamically in history. It means that he is still creating new things. Therefore, this attribute of love is simultaneously a touchstone of its genuineness. A love can be called agape only if it is expressed in a particular act of man. It can be viewed as agape only if it looks for man, and tries to help and rescue him only because he is man – the child of God. Agape is a principle which creates the very values and gives them the right meaning.

4) Agape is the initiator of a fellowship with God.
Agape is a God’s way to man. Subsequently, God’s love serves as the way of man towards God. God himself initiates the process of looking for him. He himself shows the way towards him. To choose this way means to live according to agape. It should be exercised in the life of man and should be demonstrated to his neighbors. Jesus himself has demonstrated it in a very clear way in everything he was doing during his earthly life. He teaches us that everyone who needs help is our neighbor. However, after a careful consideration, we find out that all of us need help. We need God and his love in order to find our own ability to love others because of them and because of our love towards God.

Some Jesus’ parables from the New Testament are the best example of what agape really means. Furthermore, they depict its implementation in the life of man. “The Parable about the Laborers in the Vineyard” (Mt 20:1-16) and “the Parable of the Prodigal Son” (L 15:11-32) can be mentioned. However, it is necessary to remark that if we really want to find a criterion of love agape and its direct implications in the life of mankind, we must not interpret them allegorically. The parables of Jesus are not allegories but talked stories which give evidence about specific values of the kingdom of God in a way of daily life examples. However, these values should be also exercised in the world.^[18] Parables are stories which very graphically give evidence about Jesus’ teaching and acting as well as authority by which he did it. Their starting point is not in ordinary life of man but in his religious life and relationship of God towards man. However, they are not evidential tools that could be applied in the religious life of man.^[19] Therefore, it can be said that the real starting point of all parables of the New Testament is God alone because he himself comes us and reveals a part of his nature. People are able to come to God only after his first step. Therefore, Jesus’ parables do not depict generally valid ethical and moral standards but they are tools of revelation of God. Parables are not based on a rational base – “it must be thus” but on God’s authoritative base – “but I tell you that” (cf. Mt 7:29).^[20]

Although we do not have a place for a detail exegetical analysis of all parables, we will shortly outline main ideas of the two mentioned parables. In their background, we can observe in a clear way what have been talked till now. The parable about the Laborers in the Vineyard in the context of the Gospel according to Matthew expresses both greatness and paradox of God’s love. Both God and the owner of vineyard do not act in accordance with rules that are commonly exercised in particular society. It does not mean that principles of reward system in daily life of people are denied in this way. However, the situation is diametrically different from God’s point of view. God loves the world and people due to themselves because it is his nature and creational purpose. He does so because he is the sovereign one. Therefore, we have to accept this fact and do in accordance with it. God acts in history for the benefit of man in order to save him and his creation. Consequently, the final reward is the same for anybody. The kingdom of God is not a place in which more powerful and efficient are divided from less powerful and efficient.

Besides paradox of God’s love agape, the parable expresses a tragic attitude of man. People are not able to accept the nature of God’s love and to implement it in a concrete way. They rebel against such an approach of God to this matter and want to share according to their own rules and productivity. However, this approach is the wrong one because it cannot help to eliminate poverty. Conversely, it deepens the gap among people. The last words of the owner of vineyard confirm this fact: qe,lw de. tou,tw| tw/| evsca,tw| dou/nai w`j kai. soi,\ Ξh'Π ouvk e;xesti,n moi o] qe,lw poih/sai evn toi/j evmoi/jΘ h' o` ovfqalmo,j sou ponhro,j evstin o[ti evgw. avgaqo,j eivmi (Mt 20:14-15).^[21] God’s Invitation to the final reward is aimed at everybody. He who accepts it will get the same reward. However, he has to act in accordance whit it.

Chapter 15 of the Gospel according to Luke depicts three parables about the so-called “lost values”. The parable about prodigal son as well as the whole chapter 15 constitutes the theological midpoint of the Gospel. Especially the last one is the parable that expresses clearly and unambiguously the tragedy of human beings on one side and the greatness and perfection of God’s love on the other side. In the background of the parable, we can observe the final goal – telos – of God’s acting and love. This goal embraces the relationship between God and man. Everything what God is doing in history is focused on the final goal. This fact is confirmed very accurately by the final words of the parable: euvfranqh/nai de. kai. carh/nai e;dei( o[ti o` avdelfo,j sou ou-toj nekro.j h=n kai. e;zhsen( kai. avpolwlw.j kai. eu`re,qh (L 15:32).^[22]

The story includes another tragic feature of human life as well. This feature which accompanies man during his whole life is egoism, self-love and lack of mercy. This aspect is visible in acting of the older brother who failed to understand and accept the perfection of God’s love agape. People make this mistake repeatedly. Consequently, they get into in the state of emergency. However, they often do not realize this fact for their lack of humility as well as unwillingness to voluntary give themselves into God’s will and to love neighbors as God loves them. In such a way, people exclude themselves from God’s mercy. In other words, people refuse salvation offered by God. Therefore, legacy of theological and biblical message is obligatory and valid forever. We cannot avoid it. The whole life of man stands under the criterion of agape and this criterion is imperative for him. However, this imperative has its base in God’s mercy. We received it from God as the first among all regardless of our own merits (see R 3:21-31).
 

Conclusion

If we want to discuss possibilities which could help us to find new ways to remove distress from this world, we have to walk through the way of agape. Necessarily, we have to think about what the good news of Jesus Christ announces us. It invites us to follow this way. From the beginning, human history is the history of a struggle for rescue of man. All of us are invited to be involved in this struggle. We are called to look for man in distress and misery regardless of the fact who he is and where he is from. Each of us is obliged to give himself to him in a very concrete way and thus exercise the criterion agape. The Spirit of God acts dynamically in the whole history and is realized in particular acts of love in which the struggle for rescue of man is involved. He leads man throughout the world to such places in which his help and especially his self-giving love are needed. This is the very point that specifies Christianity in contrast with other religions. A German Lutherans bishop Margott Kässmann expressed this fact in one of her live broadcasts. She criticized trends that make Christianity only a kind of “chill-out spirituality”. She said: “Christianity is a difficult way of life in which we build the fellowship with risen Jesus Christ. And he is not natural deity we can meet as we walk in the forest. Christian belief finds its manifestation mainly in the relationship with those who are living in close proximity to us”.^[23] To achieve the goal means to have deep humility, firm belief as well as courage to follow this way.
 

 

Bibliography

Nestle – Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, ed.27, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1995.

Jean-Noel – Gieniusz, Andrzej. BibleWorks Greek New Testament Morphology. Norfolk: 1991-2001, BibleWorks LLC (Greek morphological databases used in program BibleWorks 5).

Kittel Gerhard. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Volume I. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, Von Erster bis Vierter Band, herausgegeben von Gerhard Kittel, published by W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1964 – 1977.

Albricht W. F. and Mann C. S. Matthew. Introduction, Translation and Notes. The Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971.

Filson Floyd Vivian A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1960.

Schweizer Eduard. The Good News according to Luke. Translated by David E. Green. Atlanta, John Knox Press, 1984.

Conzelmann Hans. The Theology of St Luke. Originally published by J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck) Tübingen, in 1953 (Second edition 1957) under the title DIE MITTE DER ZEIT. Translated by Geoffrey Buswell. New York: Hagerstown: San Francisco: London: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1960.

Dodd Charles Harold. The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1963.

Morris Leon. The Gospel according to John. The English Text with Introduction, Exposition and Notes. Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, 1971, Reprinted 1989.
 

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Notes

[1] In this case, thoughts of two important theologians and thinkers of 20^th century – Paul Tillich and Anders Nygren – are very interesting and inspiring. In this connection, two works of these authors are especially contributive:
1) TILLICH P. Systematic Theology, Three volumes in one. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967.
2) NYGREN A. Agape and Eros. Part I. A Study of the Christian Idea of Love. Part II. The History of the Christian Idea of Love. Authorized Translation by Philip S. Watson. London: S. P. C. K., 1953.

[2] TILLICH P. Systematic Theology, Three volumes in one. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967, Volume II, p. 32. (hereafter TILLICH P. Systematic Theology).

[3] TILLICH P. Impressionen und Reflexionen. Ein Lebensbild in Aufsätzen, Reden und Stellungnahmen (Ges. Werke, Bd. XIII., Evang. Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1972; TILLICH P. Biblické náboženství a ontologie. Praha: Kalich, 1990, pp. 198-199.

[4] TILLICH P. Systematic Theology, Volume II, p. 44.

[5] TILLICH P. Systematic Theology, Volume III, p. 356.

[6] TILLICH P. Systematic Theology. Volume III, pp. 367-368.

[7] Ibid.

[8] TILLICH P. Impressionen und Reflexionen. Ein Lebensbild in Aufsätzen, Reden und Stellungnahmen (Ges. Werke, Bd. XIII., Evang. Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1972; TILLICH P. Biblické náboženství a ontologie. Praha: Kalich, 1990, p. 200.

[9] NYGREN A. Agape and Eros. Part I. A Study of the Christian Idea of Love. Part II. The History of the Christian Idea of Love. Authorized Translation by Philip S. Watson. London: S. P. C. K., 1953, p. 75 (hereafter NYGREN A. Agape and Eros.).

[10] Abbreviations for the Old and New Testament writings are taken from: Nestle – Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, ed.27, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1995. Gn (Genesis), Ex (Exodus), Lv (Leviticus), Nu (Numbers), Dt (Deuteronomy), Hos (Hosea) Mt (Matthew), Mc (Mark), L (Luke), J (John), Act (Acts of the Apostles), R (Romans), 1K, 2K (1/2 Corinthians), G (Galatians), E (Ephesians), Ph (Philippians), Kol (Colossians), 1 Th, 2 Th (1/2 Thessalonians), 1T, 2T (1/2 Timothy), Tt (Titus), Phm (Philemon), H (Hebrews), Jc (James), 1P, 2P (1/2 Peter), 1J, 2J, 3J (1-3 John), Jd (Jude), Ap (revelation).

[11] In this section, the interpretation of these three terms will be followed according to E. Stauffer. STAUFFER E. in Kittel G. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids 1965-1976, Volume I, II, III, IV. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, Von Erster bis Vierter Band, herausgegeben von Gerhard Kittel, published by W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1964 – 1977, volume I, pp. 35-55. (hereafter TDNT).

[12] STAUFFER E. in TDNT, volume I, p. 35.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid. p. 36.

[15] Ibid.

[16] The Greek text of the New Testament is taken from: Nestle – Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, ed.27, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1995 (From: Bushell, Michael – Aletti, Jean-Noel – Gieniusz, Andrzej. BibleWorks Greek New Testament Morphology. Norfolk: 1991-2001, BibleWorks LLC. [Greek morphological databases used in program BibleWorks 5]). The biblical text in English is quoted from “The New International Version” (From BNM database, see: Bushell, 1991-2001 in “Bibliography“).

[17] In this section, the interpretation of Anders Nygren as it is presented in NYGREN A. Agape and Eros, pp. 75-81 will be followed.

[18] A. Jülicher points to this fact in his well-known work Gleichnisreden Jesu. See in NYGREN A. Agape and Eros, p. 81.

[19] Nygren points out that it is necessary to distinguish between diametrically opposite kinds of religion: the demonstrative religion and the revelatory religion. See in ibid. p. 84.

[20] Ibid. p. 85.

[21] English version: I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? (The use of BNM database, see: Bushell, 1991-2001 in “Bibliography“).

[22] English version: But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. (the use of BNM database, see: Bushell, 1991-2001 in “Bibliography“).

[23] Quoted according to: EKUMÉNA VO SVETE 15/2006. „Kresťanstvo nie je oddychovou spiritualitou“ – Margot Kässmannová. (Frankfurt nad Mohanom, 7. apríl 2006 – EPD).

 

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