Words of Love – Storge (Affection)

Theme for this week: Words of Love

February 1, 2022 (Tuesday)

Our theme this week is “Words of Love,” meaning Greek words for “love” in the New Testament. Today’s word is “storge” and means “affection.” It would be the word used for family relationships, for example, but would be used in other relationships as well. The Bible speaks of a “friend closer than a brother,” and “storge” would be the word to describe that relationship.

Storge (pronounced stor-JAY) is a Greek word that is used in Christianity to mean family love, the bond among mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers. Storge is explored by C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) as one of “four loves” in his book, The Four Loves (1958).

The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon defines storge love as “cherishing one’s kindred, especially parents or children; the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands; loving affection; prone to love; loving tenderly; chiefly of the tender love between parents and children.”

The word “storge” does not appear in the Bible, but the Greeks put “a” (meaning “without”) at the beginning of a word, which changes the meaning of “love” to “without love.” The Greek adjective, “astorgos,” does appear in the Bible and is translated as “heartless.” Of course, the opposite of “heartless” is “loving.”

The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) reveals the nature of Christ and His followers. We are to be the very antithesis of “heartless.” Christ’s commandment is “Love one another.” The fruit of the Spirit includes “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” None of these words describes a “heartless” person. In fact, they all describe a person who loves God and cares about the welfare of others.

Affection for family members is a normal way of life. When love is absent from the home, something is radically wrong. Yet we see it today as some parents neglect children and some children disrespect parents.

Let us all rededicate our homes to the Lord; may affection abound in our families. Let us reach out in love to all people. We never know what is happening in the lives of many people who long for love.