G5384 φίλος (phílos)

Friend (5384) (philos) means loved (loved one), dear, befriended, friendly, kind. Philos can mean kindly disposed or devoted (Acts 19:31). Philos describes one having special interest in someone else. One who is on intimate terms or in close association with someone else Philos can describe a love which is emotional and conditional. Philos refers to one who has a liking for, is fond of something or someone. There is an interesting derivative of philos used by Paul describing the last days as those in which men will be "lovers of pleasure (philedonos from philos + hedone = pleasure) rather than lovers of God." (2Ti 3:4-note) Aristotle defined a "friend" as "one soul inhabiting two." (cp use in Lxx of Dt 13:7) Ropes writes that... To be friend of the world is to be on good terms with the persons and forces and things that are at least indifferent toward God, if not openly hostile to him. (Ropes, J. H. A Critical and Exegetical commentary on the Epistle of St. James. 1916) NIDNTT writes that... philos is also in the NT a friend to whom one is under a basic obligation (cf. Lk. 7:6; 11:5f.; 14:10, 12; 15:6, 9, 29; 23:12; Jn. 11:11; Acts 10:24; 19:31; 27:3). Relatives (syngeneis) and friends are often mentioned alongside each other. But neither in Gk. nor in Jewish tradition can any firm distinction be upheld; (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan) Jesus gives some of the most complete teaching on the Biblical meaning of philos in John 15, noting first that the greatest manifestation of a friend was to give up one's life for his friend. To be a friend of Jesus is not just a matter of saying but of obeying. Those who have believed in Jesus are now called His friends. Walter Clippinger writes that in Jn 15:13, 14, 15 "Jesus and His disciples illustrate the growth of friendship from that of teacher and disciple, lord and servant, to that of friend and friend" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) My Savior, My Almighty Friend When I begin Thy praise, Where will the growing numbers end, The numbers of Thy grace? --Isaac Watts In light of the infinite grace of such a dear Friend, why are we so prone to wander and seek the leeks and garlic of this fallen world? As noted earlier friend or philos is a covenant term with a much deeper import in Scripture than in our modern culture - See Covenant The Oneness of Covenant - The Meaning of Friend or click here for additional notes on friend). A friend is one who comes in when the world goes out. A real friend warms you up by his presence, trusts you with his secrets, and remembers you in his prayers. Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief. There are not many things in life so beautiful as true friendship, and there are not many things more uncommon. He whose hand is clasped in friendship cannot throw mud. A faithful friend is an image of God. A faithful friend is one of life’s greatest assets. A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you’ve been, accepts who you’ve become and still, gently invites you to grow. A friend will joyfully sing with you when you are on the mountaintop, and silently walk beside you through the valley. A friend is one who makes me do my best. - Oswald Chambers The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared with Jesus Christ. - Oswald Chambers Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life; many spirits might have failed beneath the bitterness of trial if they had not found a friend. - C H Spurgeon Keep a fair-sized cemetery in your back yard, in which to bury the faults of your friends. - Henry Ward Beecher A friend is: a push when you’ve stopped a word when you’re lonely a guide when you’re searching a smile when you’re sad a song when you’re glad. Philos - 29x in 27verses - Matthew 11:19 "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." Friend of Sinners, Lord of Glory Lowly, mighty, Brother, King! Musing o’er Thy wondrous story, Grateful we Thy praises sing: Friend to help us, cheer us, save us, In Whom pow’r and pity blend— Praise we must the grace which gave us Jesus Christ, the sinners’ Friend. Luke 7:6 Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; Luke 7:34 "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!' Luke 11:5And He said to them, "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; Luke 11:6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; Luke 11:8 "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. Luke 12:4"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. Luke 14:10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. Luke 14:12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. Luke 15:6 "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' Luke 15:9 "And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' Luke 15:29 "But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; Luke 16:9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. Luke 21:16 "But you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, Luke 23:12 Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been at enmity with each other. John 3:29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full. John 11:11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep." John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends, if you do what I command you. 15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. Christ a Redeemer and Friend Poor, weak and worthless though I am I have a rich almighty Friend; Jesus, the Savior, is His Name; He freely loves, and without end. John 19:12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." Acts 10:24 And on the following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. Acts 19:31 And also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. Acts 27:3 And the next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. James 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 3 John 1:14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. Philos - 68 verses in the non-apocryphal Septuagint - Ex 33:11; Deut 13:6; Jdg 14:20; 15:2, 6; 1Chr 27:33; Esther 1:3, 13; 2:18; 3:1; 5:10, 14; 6:9, 13; 8:12; 9:22; Job 2:11; 6:27; 19:13, 21; 32:1, 3; 35:4; 36:33; 42:7, 10, 17; Ps 38:11; 88:18; 139:17; Pr 3:29; 6:1, 3; 12:26; 14:20; 15:28; 16:28f; 17:9, 17f; 18:1; 19:4; 22:24; 25:1, 8, 10, 17f; 26:19; 27:6, 10, 14; 29:5; Jer 9:4f; 20:4, 6, 10; 30:14; Dan 2:13, 17f; 3:24, 27; 5:23; 6:13; Mic 7:5; Ex 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend (Lxx = philos). When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. As Dwight L Moody once said... If I walk with the world, I can't walk with God. C H Spurgeon has an interesting insight commenting that... In one sense, Christians are the greatest friends of the world, for they desire the good of all men, and seek their salvation. But, in another sense, viewing the world as a great conglomerate of evil, we are no friends of the world. There is a certain form of theology, popular nowadays (see note below on the "Downgrade Controversy"), which teaches us that we ought to remove the line of demarcation between the Church and the world. This kind of teaching may be called theology, but it cometh not of God; it is a gross falsehood which we ought to abhor in the very depth of our spirit. Comment on the Downgrade Controversy: A controversy among the Baptists flared in 1887 with Spurgeon's first "Down-grade" article, published in The Sword & the Trowel. In the ensuing "Downgrade Controversy" The Metropolitan Tabernacle became disaffiliated from the Baptist Union, effectuating Spurgeon's congregation as the world's largest self-standing church and thus a precursor of megachurches of the 20th century. Contextually the Downgrade Controversy was British Baptists' equivalent of hermeneutic tensions which were starting to sunder Protestant fellowships in general. The Controversy took its name from Spurgeon's use of the term "Downgrade" to describe certain other Baptists' outlook toward the Bible (i.e., they had "downgraded" the Bible and the principle of sola scriptura). (Ref)