Eros: God’s Gift of Love

The Greek word “eros” describes the third type of love we will look at. Eros is a romantic, physical, and passionate love. Interestingly, the New Testament writers do not actually use the word eros, most likely on purpose, due to its association with the Greek God of Love, also called Eros. While Eros is not explicitly named in the New Testament, the Bible speaks often about it and richly describes God’s design for romantic and physical love within the context of the marriage covenant. And yes, just to be clear, we are talking about sex and physical intimacy.

It's okay; you don't have to blush. Eros love is not something dirty or shameful. Sex and passion are a gift from God, designed by God to be expressed with joy within the covenant of marriage. Think about that again…God created sex, and he created it on purpose and for a purpose. He created it to be pure and right and holy and amazing…and not something to be mistreated. It's an amazing thought, and something so opposite from the common view of sex in our world today. Sex has been described as a fire. In the fireplace, it provides warmth, heat, light and is beneficial. But in the wrong place, that same fire becomes a destroyer. So it is with sex. In the context of marriage, it is a gift, a blessing, and a source of great joy. But outside of these bounds, it can destroy lives, as we have witnessed so often in modern society as well as throughout human history.

It is an unfortunate reality that, along with many other aspects of God’s design, our culture has distorted and twisted eros into something self-serving. Eros has become all about seeking pleasure and acting on desires and appetites that are not honoring to God…which in reality is no longer eros love, but just sin and sexual immorality cloaked as something natural. God's vision and plan from the beginning are vastly different: eros love, when rooted in covenant, is a reflection of delight, intimacy, and mutual self-giving. It is selfless instead of selfish. It is about two people becoming one flesh through an act that is reflective of the heart of God Himself.

Just as a reminder—God created sex. God created romance. And God created it on purpose and for a purpose. Romantic love is meant to draw us into deeper connection, not only with another person, but with the heart of a God who is Himself the author of beauty, desire, and intimacy.

One particular place in Scripture we can go to and see eros love on display is The Song of Songs. The Old Testament book, through poetic and symbolic pictures, celebrates desire, longing, and beauty in romantic love. Song of Songs describes eros in such vivid and sensual language that Jewish boys needed to be thirty years of age or older in order to read it. The book is often described as an allegory both of marriage and the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Others look forward and describe the book as foreshadowing the relationship between Jesus and his bride, which is the local church. In a sense, these could be true, and express the same heart of God, not only in his love for us, but in how he created us to express that same type of love to someone that we have entered into the covenant of marriage with.

This idea of covenant is something we will dive deeper into tomorrow. For now, the main takeaway from today's devotional is simply to know that God created eros love as a gift and a blessing to you, but only when it is used according to his instructions.