LOVE — the noun this literature is built on. Greek had several words for love and AGAPE was the least loaded of them: not EROS (desire), not PHILIA (the warm bond of friends and kin), but a comparatively colourless word that the Septuagint and then the New Testament filled up with content. ⚠️ It is often said that AGAPE means specifically divine or selfless love while PHILEO means mere affection; that is an overstatement — John uses the two almost interchangeably (compare 21:15-17, where the verbs alternate with no evident shift). What is true is that this literature DEFINES the word rather than assuming it: 2 John 6 says flatly, 'this is love: that we walk according to his commandments' — love as a road walked, not a feeling described. → first discussed at 2 John 1:6