The three types of love; eros, philia, agape: definition, meaning and difference
The passage in the scripture in the Gospel of John 21:15-16, teach us the nature of love, there are different modes of loving:
"Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon, son of John, do you agape more than these? Yes, Lord, you know that I philia you"
The Greek language in the time of Jesus did not have a specific word for the genre "Love", each form of love was designated by its own name: eros, philia, agape.
Jesus ask with Agape, Peter responds with Philia. Agape is the love projected to all the work of God, to the whole creation of God. Agape is a perfection, a gift of God. Instead Philia is the love of the soul, the love that comes from the pleasure to see ourselves projected in the others. There is a difference betwen the soul and the spirit. Eros, instead, is the love of the lovers.
The soul tells us Aristotle, in his book "About the Soul" has it´s own faculties as locomotion, nutricion, reproduction.The soul is defined as the first motor mobile, the perfection of the body. Note that this last definition shows us that the soul is a spiritual gift, a gift of God.
Aristotle tells us that the soul is the source of the virtues, since the end of virtue is happiness and this is the desire of the soul.
Why? Because happiness is balance or harmony of the faculties of the soul. We say that the virtuous life is the life of the soul and it´s corresponding form of love is Philia, in contrast to the blessed life which is the life of the spirit.
Jesus ask with Agape because Agape is the form of love proper of those "full of the spirit", of the "full of wisdom", afters Peter´s response, Jesus promise to the Apostle the "holy spirit" in Pentecost (John 14:15).
Agape is the adult love, in which we reach the conformity to God. Agape implies eternal life and with it a special help from the spirit to face difficult situations.
In philosophy the passage from Philia to Agape is called Gnosis, in the christian fate "receive the Holy Spirit". This step is represented in the sacrament of Confirmation.