Today in one of my religion classes we looked at something called, "Friendship in the Modern World," which we would now call "Friendship in the Ancient World," because it was written in the year 64, haha. But it had sort of like a laundry list of what a friendship consists of, which I don't really think has changed much:
1. Two friends are of the same mind in two bodies.
2. Two friends have eaten a barrel of salt together.
3. Two friends stand on the same feet and look in the same direction.
4. Two friends are of the same virtues.
5. Two friends hold all things in common.
6. Two friends share enemies.
There were multiple paragraphs of description for each point, but that's boring and Greek. I just feel like these haven't changed much. When I think of my best friend, I think that we are definitely the same mind in two bodies. And, yeah, he and I have eaten a lot of meals together and consumed roughly one barrel of salt together, hahaha. Since we are one mind in two bodies, we have the same point of view on a lot of things, which sort of holds 3 and 4 and sort of 5. I like that this author thought to distinguish between having things in common and having the same enemies. Liking similar things and disliking similar things are totally different facets of friendship.
This paper was written during the height of early Christianity. The apostle Paul was all over Asia Minor and Europe preaching the gospel. This author is in support of all early Christians being friends in what the author refers to as "Christian love." In Greek, there are four words for love: eros, argos, philos, and agape. This Christian love is agape, or "divine love." Love like Christ's. That's like, a lot of love. So the author wants Christians to understand their responsibility to love if they are going to call themselves followers of the Christ.
The sixth point of friendship really held true for these early Christians. They had a lot of enemies. The Jews and the Gentiles had a lot of problems. Everyone wanted everyone else to follow their laws, but very few people were willing to switch. And then those people were looked down upon by their old group, and it was just divisive all over the place. Divisiveness between people of faith? That doesn't sound all that ancient or foreign. This is something we are struggling with 1,944 years later. And since then, it's spread to more than just Jews and non-Jews. I wonder where that agape has gone. Because we as Christians are still called to love like Christ loved. This brings it all back to my favorite bumper sticker of all time, I think:
"When Jesus said love your enemies, I'm pretty sure He meant don't kill them."
1. Two friends are of the same mind in two bodies.
2. Two friends have eaten a barrel of salt together.
3. Two friends stand on the same feet and look in the same direction.
4. Two friends are of the same virtues.
5. Two friends hold all things in common.
6. Two friends share enemies.
There were multiple paragraphs of description for each point, but that's boring and Greek. I just feel like these haven't changed much. When I think of my best friend, I think that we are definitely the same mind in two bodies. And, yeah, he and I have eaten a lot of meals together and consumed roughly one barrel of salt together, hahaha. Since we are one mind in two bodies, we have the same point of view on a lot of things, which sort of holds 3 and 4 and sort of 5. I like that this author thought to distinguish between having things in common and having the same enemies. Liking similar things and disliking similar things are totally different facets of friendship.
This paper was written during the height of early Christianity. The apostle Paul was all over Asia Minor and Europe preaching the gospel. This author is in support of all early Christians being friends in what the author refers to as "Christian love." In Greek, there are four words for love: eros, argos, philos, and agape. This Christian love is agape, or "divine love." Love like Christ's. That's like, a lot of love. So the author wants Christians to understand their responsibility to love if they are going to call themselves followers of the Christ.
The sixth point of friendship really held true for these early Christians. They had a lot of enemies. The Jews and the Gentiles had a lot of problems. Everyone wanted everyone else to follow their laws, but very few people were willing to switch. And then those people were looked down upon by their old group, and it was just divisive all over the place. Divisiveness between people of faith? That doesn't sound all that ancient or foreign. This is something we are struggling with 1,944 years later. And since then, it's spread to more than just Jews and non-Jews. I wonder where that agape has gone. Because we as Christians are still called to love like Christ loved. This brings it all back to my favorite bumper sticker of all time, I think:
"When Jesus said love your enemies, I'm pretty sure He meant don't kill them."