The third word for “love” that need to be investigated is phileo, which means “to have a special interest to someone or something, often with a focus on closer cooperation; have affection for, like looking at someone as a friend.” It might help if phileo never been translated as “love” in the New Testament, because this word points to a strong feeling of love or friendship is strong. Of course, we see how phileo is translated as “love,” because in modern culture we say we “love” the things we really enjoy doing: “I like (love) ice cream,” “I like (love) my car , “” I like (love) your hair, “and so on. The word phileo implies strong emotional ties, and therefore used as a “loving,” or infriendship, between friends. You can agape your enemies, but you can not phileo them.
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