Amor Ágape

“This is the secret of life: the self lives only by dying, finds its identity (and its happiness) only by self-forgetfulness, self-giving, self-sacrifice, and agape love.” – Peter Kreeft

The word ‘love’ has been interpreted over and over so many times that it has almost lost its original meaning.

A verdade é que, para cada um de nós, representa algo diferente.

Pode amar a sua cara-metade, os seus familiares, o seu animal de estimação. Pode amar uma canção, um livro inspirador, as estrelas brilhantes, uma flor, o céu azul brilhante.

Agora, como explicar o amor when it’s more than just a feeling? Are poemas de amor romântico ou canções suficientes para retratar a complexidade das nossas emoções?

Explicamos (e expressamos) o amor através das nossas palavras e acções para com os outros, a natureza e o mundo inteiro.

Há tantos diferentes tipos de amor e cada um deles é único e especial.

E sabem qual é a mais poderosa de todas? É o amor ágape.

If you’re familiar with the Bible, you’ve probably stumbled upon this conceito de amor.

For those who aren’t, the easiest way to explain this kind of love is by saying that it is universal and unconditional!

4 tipos de amor na Bíblia

Eros Amor

Este é o tipo de amor mais familiar para todos nós. Eros significa amor romântico.

Esta palavra para amor não é usada no Novo Testamento, mas sobretudo na literatura grega.

As you may have noticed, the English word ‘erotic’ is derived from the Greek word eros.

Eros está sobretudo associado ao amor físico e romântico entre diferentes tipos de amantes. É frequentemente descrita como uma forte atração física, desejo e luxúria por outro ser humano.

If you’ve ever been in a relationship or if you’re married, you’ve probably experienced this kind of love.

Even though the word eros doesn’t appear in the Bible, it still plays an important role in many Old Testament problems.

Amor de Storge

Este tipo de amor representa o amor familiar. Representa a ligação especial que se desenvolve naturalmente entre pais e filhos, bem como entre irmãos.

Baseia-se no facto de cada pessoa amar e respeitar a sua família, independentemente da sua personalidade geral e de outros traços.

There are multiple depictions of storge love found in scripture, such as Jacob’s love for his sons, Noah and his family and so on.

Also, this kind of love represents the idea that Christians are members of God’s family and connected by the Spirit.

The Bible says that we’re all children of God and therefore, we should love and respect each other.

Philia Love

Philia love means friendship love. Philia comes from the Greek word ‘philos’, meaning ‘dear, beloved, a trusted friend’.

The Bible also mentions the word ‘phileo’ which stands for brotherly love and friendship.

Aqueles que experimentam este tipo de amor são atraídos uns pelos outros. Ele representa uma verdadeira amizade entre dois indivíduos.

Ao contrário do amor eros, em que os amantes se preocupam sobretudo um com o outro, os amigos criam uma forte ligação emocional ao gostarem das mesmas coisas e ao partilharem interesses semelhantes.

It’s when you’re feeling deeply connected to another human being, they understand you better than anyone and you feel free to share your deepest thoughts, fears and dreams with them.

Existem muitos níveis de amizade e o amor philia é o pináculo de todos eles.

Ver também: 150 maneiras diferentes de dizer "amo-te" de uma forma profundamente romântica

O que significa o amor ágape?

Não, este não é o tipo de amor que se vê nas redes sociais, mas acontece na vida real.

O amor ágape (forma verbal: agapao) enquadra-se na definição de amor verdadeiro, mas não apenas em relação ao seu parceiro, mas ao mundo inteiro.

É um amor universal e incondicional. O conceito de amor ágape é frequentemente utilizado para descrever o amor que uma pessoa tem por Deus, mas vai para além disso.

É o amor pela natureza, por Deus, pela humanidade e por todos os outros aspectos da vossa vida.

Here’s my favorite agape love definition:

O amor ágape é a forma mais elevada de amor no universo.

Basicamente, representa a mentalidade que se tem em relação ao mundo em geral. Coloca as seguintes questões:

Tem empatia para com as outras pessoas? Esforça-se por tornar o mundo um lugar melhor, fazendo diariamente todas aquelas pequenas mas significativas coisas?

O amor ágape é altruísta. Centra-se em dar, ajudar e dedicar-se aos outros sem esperar nada em troca.

O seu conceito responde à questão: O que significa o amor?

C. S. Lewis utilizou o termo ágape em Os quatro amores a fim de retratar a forma mais elevada de amor que é conhecida pelos seres humanos.

O que é o amor ágape na Bíblia?

O amor ágape é o amor mais poderoso da Bíblia. Ele é definido como God’s limitless and unique love da humanidade.

O amor ágape designa o amor cristão ou o próprio Deus. É incondicional, puro e sagrado.

‘Love feast’ is another term in the Bible that represents agape. It stands for a common meal in the early church, with an accent on powerful Christian brotherhood.

Jesus Cristo demonstrou genuinamente este tipo de amor ao seu Pai e à raça humana na forma como viveu e morreu desinteressadamente.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8

The above Bible verse states that ‘God is love’ (agapos) which means that God is the source of agape love.

Amar os outros com amor ágape significa entregar-se desinteressadamente aos outros e para um bem maior.

Este tipo de amor exprime-se através das nossas acções. A morte de Jesus Cristo pelos nossos pecados é o exemplo mais poderoso de um amor ágape verdadeiro e desinteressado.

O Novo Testamento faz referência ao amor ágape mais de duzentas vezes. O seu verdadeiro poder e beleza são melhor retratados na seguinte passagem:

Se eu falar as línguas dos homens e dos anjos, mas não tiver amor, não passarei de um gongo retumbante ou de um címbalo que retine. Se eu tiver o dom da profecia e puder compreender todos os mistérios e toda a ciência, e se tiver uma fé capaz de mover montanhas, mas não tiver amor, não sou nada. Se eu der tudo o que possuo aos pobres e entregar o meu corpo às chamas, mas não tiver amor, não ganho nada. O amor é paciente, o amor é bondoso. Não inveja, não se vangloria, não se orgulha. Não é rude, não é egoísta, não se irrita facilmente, não guarda registo de erros. O amor não se compraz no mal, mas alegra-se com a verdade. Protege sempre, confia sempre, espera sempre, persevera sempre. (1 Coríntios 13:1-7)

O amor ágape no casamento

Muitos casais pensam que o amor eros é o aspeto principal do casamento.

Embora o amor eros seja uma parte importante de qualquer casamento, é o amor agape que o mantém unido.

Representa um amor altruísta e incondicional para com o nosso parceiro que inspira perdão, respeito e apreço.

Eis os traços mais importantes do amor ágape no casamento:

• Respecting your partner no matter what

• Selflessly taking care of your partner and family

• Forgiving your partner when they make a mistake and knowing that tomorrow it may be you seeking forgiveness from them

• Putting your partner’s needs before your own

Todos os casamentos saudáveis e felizes funcionam com base no princípio de dar e receber.

Quando ambos os parceiros se concentram nos aspectos acima referidos, criam harmonia no seu casamento e motivam-se mutuamente para continuarem a dar o seu melhor.

Enquanto intimidade física no casamento é essencial, a intimidade emocional é também a chave para estabelecer um equilíbrio no seu casamento.

And in case you’re not married, remember the importance of God’s timing in relationships.

Ver também: Tenha fé que Deus lhe enviará a pessoa certa no momento certo

Exemplos de amor ágape

Apart from the most powerful example of God’s agape love for us, there are also many other examples around us.

Este tipo de amor pode ser encontrado em pessoas que se dedicaram a ajudar os outros e a melhorar a vida dos seres humanos.

Profissões como a enfermagem e o ensino são exemplos dignos do amor ágape.

Também se encontra em pessoas que participam em doações para caridade e que fazem coisas para outras pessoas (desde coisas menores a coisas maiores).

Não se trata apenas de fazer coisas para as pessoas que nos são próximas. O amor ágape abrange tudo, desde os animais aos seres humanos.

You can express agape love by petting a random cat on the street because by doing so, you’re showing affection and appreciation for it.

Além disso, ajudar um estranho é o derradeiro ato de amor altruísta.

O amor ágape é um estilo de vida. É uma forma de despertar espiritual e não é algo que se faça uma ou duas vezes.

É um processo em que nos esforçamos constantemente por melhorar as coisas à nossa volta, ajudar os outros e tornar o mundo um lugar melhor.

It is the feeling that you get when you see an older person having difficulty crossing the street and you decide to help them, regardless of whether it means that you’ll be a few minutes late or not.

É a decisão de consolar uma pessoa qualquer que se vê a chorar.

É ajudar um amigo com uma tarefa difícil na faculdade, encorajar outros a libertar todo o seu potencialadmirar o céu, ter consideração pela Mãe Natureza, cumprimentar as outras pessoas com um sorriso, etc.

You do all that not because you secretly wish to be rewarded for it but because it is the right thing to do and you don’t expect anything in return for it.

Agape love is an expression of love for the sake of love. You don’t do it just because someone else ordered or told you to do it.

You do it because you want to, that wish comes from the heart and you don’t expect reward or praise for it.

24 Citações inspiradoras sobre o amor ágape

1. “We do not measure the value of a person by their outward appearance, rank, or creed, rather by the sum of the agápe in their heart. Your value in the cosmos is greater than precious metals or jewels, humans have… potential to take us all into a period of great enlightenment, or to our ruin. The choice is yours.” – Guy T. Simpson, Jr.

2. “The only way love can last a lifetime is if it’s unconditional. The truth is this: love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love.” – Stephen Kendrick

3. “Agape is a sobering love to receive, for it says, ‘If I cannot love you for who you are, then I will do so despite who you are…’ It is unique in that it is able to love those whom it cannot like.” – James Michael Castleton

4. “Everywhere you find yourself a great opportunity for you to manifest agape love and give. This must be your lifestyle everyday.” – Paul Silway

5. “Shine your soul with the same
humildade sem ego como o arco-íris
e não importa para onde vás
neste mundo ou no outro,
love will find you, attend you, and bless you.” – Aberjhani

6. “Agape love is strengthened by the person who expresses it – not by the person who receives it. In fact, the person who receives agape love does not have to show any appreciation at all.” – Brian Apollo

7. “‘Agape’ is loving a person for exactly who they are – not who we hope they’ll become with enough fixing. It’s this idea that every person has their layers, so you can never confine a person to only what you know about them from the first glance. It’s stacked on the premise that to love anyone is to hope in them always.” – Hannah Brencher

8. “Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love. Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.” – Rob Bell

9. “Agape makes ‘neighbors’ out of those who would otherwise be our enemies.” – James Michael Castleton

10. “…agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

11. “Agape is the catalyst that makes value appear in anything.” – Peter Kreeft

12. “Agape love is… profound concern for the well-being of another, without any desire to control that other, to be thanked by that other, or to enjoy the process.” – Madeleine L’Engle

13. “Immature love seeks to change the beloved for its own benefit. Mature love seeks to see the beloved change for their benefit. Sacrificial love recognizes that there may be wounds so deep that their beloved may not be able to change. It is content to care, sometimes without the contentment which is to be found in being cared for.” – James Michael Castleton

Ver também: Citações de amor incondicional: As frases mais puras para os seus entes queridos

14. “… agape means recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all men are brothers. To the degree that I harm my brother, no matter what he is doing to me, to that extent I am harming myself.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

15. “Agape means love for another self not because of any lovable qualities which he or she may possess, but purely and entirely because it is a self capable of experiencing happiness and misery and endowed with the power to choose between good and evil. The love of humans is thus more than a feeling, it is a state of the will.” – Obert C. Tanner

16. “Fasting and feasting are universal human responses, and any meal, shared with love, can be an agape.” – Elise M. Boulding

17. “Divine love, agape, is self-sacrificing love, which sounds difficult, as it is, and not very attractive. If the best image we have of love is of a man who’s been tortured and hung upon a cross to die an excruciating death, this is something that human beings find very, very hard to understand as love. But it is the highest Christian image of love.” – Unknown

18. “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” – Unknown

19. “There’s another term, agape, you hear used a lot with charismatic religious groups, that it’s this more pure love of caring, of sharing of concern and understanding.” – Phil Jackson

20. “I am very happy

Porque me conquistei a mim próprio

E não o mundo.

Estou muito contente

Porque eu amei o mundo

And not myself.” – Sri Chinmoy

21. “When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world – no matter how imperfect – becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love.” – Søren Kierkegaard

22. “I live by the maxim, love people when they least expect it and least deserve it.” – Mark Batterson & Parker Batterson

23. “Agape is total love. It is the love that consumes the person who experiences it. Whoever knows and experiences agape learns that nothing else in the world is important – just love.” – Paolo Coelho

24. “Agape is the concrete commitment to the flourishing of someone or something outside of oneself. Even and perhaps especially when that flourishing, hence the joy, is threatened.” – Bas Heijne

27 versículos bíblicos sobre o amor

1. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” – Ephesians 5:1-2

2. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13

3. “…and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us.” – Revelation 1:5

4. “God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.” – 1 John 4:8-10

5. “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” – Romans 15:30

6. “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” – Luke 10:27

7. “And I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” – John 17:26

8. “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Ephesians 6:23

9. “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:5

10. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” – John 15:10

11. “I made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them.” – John 17:26

12. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

13. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13

14. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” – 1 John 4:7

Ver também: Citações de Deus: Frases edificantes para o inspirar e capacitar

15. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” – 1 John 3:16

16. “But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that the Messiah died for us while we were still sinners. Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him!” – Romans 5:8-9

17. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” – 1 John 4:9

18. “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this é the first commandment.” – Mark 12:30

19. “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” – 2 John 1:3

20. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” – Jude 1:21

21. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:35

22. “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” – Romans 5:5

23. “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” – John 16:27

24. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” – Galatians 5:22

25. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us..” – Ephesians 2:4

26. “… nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:39

27. “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…” – Deuteronomy 7:9

Ver também: Como deixar ir e confiar em Deus para ser o seu guia na vida

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