The word of the week is going to be beloved, which is the Greek word “agapētos (ag-ap-ay-tos'). It is found 62x in the KJV, and the gloss definition is beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love. Yet as with many key words found in scripture is there more we can come to learn of this word?
There is a phrase we can see used throughout the New Testament, “Dearly beloved”. Here are a few examples.
Romans 12:19 (KJV)
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 10:14 (KJV)
“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 (KJV)
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
In all of the verses above, who could Paul be referring to as “dearly beloved”? It is the children of God! Friend, if you are born again you are dearly beloved of the Lord! God uses this phrase to describe the believer in Christ and, by extension, the Church. What He is saying is, “Those who are cherished, those worthy of love”. Why would God call us “beloved”? It comes from the Lord Jesus Himself.
Jesus is the Son of God, God in the flesh. While Jesus was on this earth the Father often spoke from Heaven, saying “This is my beloved (agapētos) Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). Jesus Christ is the “beloved (agapētos)” Son of God. When one comes to Jesus Christ in faith, repentance, and confession, God applies the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus to their lives. Now being justified, God’s righteousness is imputed or placed upon our lives by our act of faith in Jesus’ finished work on the Cross.
After we enter into this covenant with Jesus as Lord and Savior, since He is Beloved of God, we are now also Beloved of God. We are beloved for Jesus’ sake, with a love that will never diminish or die. We are beloved because we are “in Christ” by faith.
Ephesians 1:3-6 (KJV)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
Everyone who is adopted into God’s family through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is beloved by the Father.
John 1:12 (KJV)
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
Romans 8:14-17 (KJV)
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
It is a wonderful, lavish love:
1 John 3:1 (KJV)
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
In fully knowing of God’s love for His children let us rightly declare the words of Solomon in Song of Songs 6:3 “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine”
Do you really know God’s love for you? We see His love not just on the Cross, where the nails tore through His skin, pressing through nerve and bone, the crown of thorns upon His head, as He hung there bleeding and suffering. But even before, when he was taunted, mocked, ridiculed, spit on, slapped, and scourged, and yet He endured it willingly with each of us in mind. The words of Jesus regarding His life found in John 10 ring loudly, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”
Jesus was beaten, bled and died on that rugged cross for you and I and anyone who will come to Him in faith and repentance, to bring us peace with God. He died for our sins, to free us from the penalty and power of sin, and one day sins presence.
We are Beloved because we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.