And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The above quote is from the Bible. Those familiar with the Scriptures will surely know that this is a verse from The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13.
I have heard this verse several times recently. The message it contains has also made sense to me. That is why I decided to write about the topic of charity. Let’s see what faces charity has!
What is charity?
I got into this definitional issue when I started thinking about what the English title of this post should be, since I don’t know the word love in English. Love didn’t seem appropriate.
Google Translate doesn’t know the exact phrase either, it just gave the answer “What is Love?” Which will surely remind some members of my age group of Haddaway’s song “What Is Love” from 1993. I’m already pointing out that from a definitional point of view, this is not an acceptable answer!
We have to go back to the Greeks again. I once heard that you can start any topic with the phrase “even the ancient Greeks…”. There is a lot of truth in this. So! Even the ancient Greeks defined love.
The ancient Greek language used several different words for this:
1. Agape (ἀγάπη) – selfless, unconditional love
- This is spiritual or neighborly love.
- It means God’s love for man, and man’s love for others, without interest.
- This is the most frequently used word in the New Testament of the Bible.
2. Philia (φιλία) – friendly love
- This is the love that is based on shared values, trust, and respect.
- Think of it as a friendly bond or brotherly love.
- The name of the city of Philadelphia also comes from this: “the city of brotherly love”.
3. Eros (ἔρως) – romantic, passionate love
- This is love, physical and emotional attraction.
The word is also related to the modern term erotic, but originally it was not used only in a physical sense, but rather meant intense, longing love.
4. Storge (στοργή) – familial, natural love
- The kind of love that a parent feels for their child or vice versa.
A spontaneous, natural, deep attachment that does not need to be earned.
Since I write in English, I wanted to see the faces in English as well.
A „szeretet” szó rokon értelmű és árnyalatilag közeli kifejezései
Love – a general term for all deep feelings:
- I love you.
- Love is all we need.
Affection – tender, friendly love, attachment:
- She showed great affection for her family.
Fondness – fondness, loving affection:
- He has a fondness for animals.
Care / Caring – caring love:
- He cares deeply about his friends.
Compassion – human love:
- Compassion for others is essential.
Charity – in a Christian context, as “love of neighbor”:
- Faith, hope, and charity (love).
Which faces do I recognize?
Such conceptual exploration always brings up extremely exciting things for me. Suddenly, a lot of people appear. Or – to stay on topic – a lot of faces. Not only other people’s faces, but also my many different faces.
I suggest you play around a bit with these words and groups above. It is worth thinking a little about who appears before our mental eyes in connection with each word. On the other hand, it is also worth paying attention to how I am included in these words. For example, who is selfless to me? And with whom am I selfless? Who is in a spiritual connection with me?
If someone is selfless to me, does that automatically mean that I am also selfless to them? Or is it a one-sided thing? Am I also kind to those who are not kind to me?
It is also worth thinking about the connections!
Christianity says: if someone throws a stone at you, throw bread in return.
Buddhism, in different words, teaches the same thing: do good, expect nothing in return.
Both point to the same thing: love is not a question of reciprocity.
It is not an answer, but a source.
It flows not because someone deserves it, but because it is within us.
When you do good and get nothing in return, it is still love. In fact, perhaps that is when it becomes real!
The true test of love is not in how much we get in return, but in whether we can remain good even when nothing encourages us to do so…
Somewhere I see the meaning of my life when I can spend more time immersed in love than outside of it. I have no desire for constancy in any area of life, so my goal in the idea of love is not to always feel this way.
I am very tempted to think that I cannot strive for this constancy because I think that would bring me very close to enlightenment. And all I know about setting enlightenment as a goal is that if I set it as a goal, I will never achieve it. So I simply do not want to achieve enlightenment or to always love everyone.
But I can set myself a goal to love more than not. I think it is okay if sometimes I get carried away by the passion and feel that I am not in a state of love. Maybe this is natural. But I can strive to spend as much time as possible where it is good for me.
In recent months, I have felt more and more often that love has taken on a greater role in my life.
I also try to give more, although I feel that I did not have problems with this before. But walking this path along gratitude, the word giving also has a different flavor. For some time now, I have been announcing my discovery that I think with gratitude that I can give. Because if I can give, it means that I have something. And having something should not be natural. This way, I can easily understand and feel the feeling of gratitude.
I try not to react with anger or emotions to things that are – let’s say – not loving to me. A greater emphasis on acceptance in my life helps a lot in this. Or the realization that the more unpleasant things done to me are not necessarily directed against me, but for something that I own.
Let’s say for my money. If someone wants to cut me off, I hope that they don’t want to do it in the least to make me feel bad. They simply – let’s say – need my money. I try to think about this in such a way that if they could take my money without hurting me, they would definitely do it.
The same applies – in my opinion – to energies. There are people who need the energy they get from others more than other people. There are those who can give more. We can start using the words that came up in the previous part of the article. There are those who can give more selflessly, caringly, kindly, empathetically, kindly, etc.
In my thinking, it became clear to me how wrong I had been all my life when I tried to interpret the phrase “if someone throws a stone at you, throw bread in return” to today’s world. Now I think that this is almost impossible to apply in reality, as long as I approach the question from the perspective of “what do I get in return.” Because “expecting” starts from the assumption that there is a return. If I accept that I don’t expect anything in return, I get closer to the (perceived) truth.
When you do good and don’t get anything in return, it is still love. In fact, maybe that’s when it becomes real!
How many people’s lives can be guided by this thought? I don’t know, but I strive to be one of them!
What does the hymn of love tell us?
The meaning of the poem is perhaps as follows:
- Without love, all knowledge, all faith, and all good works are worthless.
- Love is patient and kind, it does not envy, does not boast, is not arrogant.
- It does not seek its own interests, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs.
- It does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
- Love endures all things, hopes all things, believes all things.
- Love endures all things, while everything else—knowledge, tongues, prophecies—will eventually pass away.
- Faith and hope are great values, but the greatest of all is love.
In addition to the interpretation, I would like the poem itself to be included here.
1 Corinthians 13 (KJV)
- Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
- And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
- And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
- Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
- Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
- Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
- Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
- Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
- But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
- When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
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