The Fruitful Life: Love

Have you ever learned something all over again? The something may not be unfamiliar, but in studying it again you do gain some insight and understanding that wasn’t there before. The fruit of the Spirit is like that. The list in Galatians 5:22–23 is full of familiar words—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.—but God intends to broaden and even challenge our understanding of these words, both in light of His example in Christ and in our calling to be His witnesses in this world.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22–23 

To begin with, the fruit of the Spirit is not a shopping list for us as Spirit-filled followers of Christ to pick up or accumulate. Instead it is a willingness to allow the Spirit to work in us and through this gift of love. The term for fruit is karpos in the Greek. And here it is in the singular: fruit of the Spirit, not fruits. And that fruit is love, played out through the many forms (for example: joy, peace, patience, etc.). It’s played out in how we discipline our children out of love, how we stand up for the weak out of love, and how we stay true to a promise. All because of love . . . God’s love. 

This will help us better understand this love to which God introduces us. In the Greek there are three words for love: phileo (brotherly love Philadelphia); eros (erotic, romantic love); and agape (God’s self-sacrificing, unconditional love). This agape love is what is named here in Galatians 5:22 as being the fruit of the Spirit. 

“So we have come to know and to believe the love (agape) that God has for us. God is love (agape), and whoever abides in love (agape) abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16 

This love does not find its origin in us. We do not acquire it by falling into it or getting bit by some insect carrying it; nor do we celebrate it with sequined hearts or cupids sporting a quiver of arrows. This is God’s love, and the only way we get a taste of it is through the faith given to us by God through His Spirit and His exercising through us as believers.  

“Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  Romans 5:5

This is why the “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13—when understood in light of agape love—is much more challenging to accept and endorse, as we are claiming to strive to love like God loves. God’s love is active. It is outward. It took the form of flesh to save us. The 1 Corinthians 13 agape love is a verb, not a noun. It is active, focused outward to another, and it should always seek to reflect and honor its Source, Jesus Christ.  

This should be a source of comfort within the bounds of family, marriage, and the Body of Christ (the Church) because this love does not come from us; it is from the Holy Spirit dwelling and working within us. This is why I assure couples looking to get married that if they commit to both keeping God in the center of their marriage, their marriage cannot fail! By keeping the Source of that agape love involved in your marriage, there’s a regular supply and refocusing of God’s desire for us to impact this world beginning in our own families. (Refer to 1 Corinthians 13 for the reasons why).

This fruit of God-originating love also helps us better understand the quandary of why there is evil in the world. Since God is the Source of love, and the Executer of said agape love, then everything He does has a singular purpose. And here it is: He wants all people to be in heaven one day. 

“[God our Savior] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4 

When we ask whether a good God would allow atrocities in this world, we are questioning a circumstance where we would be in charge, where our understanding would dictate the answer—which might naturally be that a good God would not allow evil. But we live in the here and now and are quite focused on only that. God sees the eternal picture. It’s why God came in the flesh, took our sin, our death, and our hell so that we might find eternal life with Him. And so, in love, agape love, our loving heavenly Father is willing to forge, form, and mold us through the brokenness that we ushered into this world. This is how God parents, and how, through His Spirit, we should as well. This again is why the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is agape love. That is truly agape love! 

“For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.” Hebrews 12:6 

These expressions of agape love—joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—all describe the motives, attitudes, and lifestyle of Jesus Christ. In His ministry on earth, He demonstrated patience with His disciples. He asked for mercy for those crucifying Him on the cross. He showed kindness to those He healed of human frailties, and He cleared the Temple of the human trappings that detract from worship—all out of agape love. With the Holy Spirit given full access to our hearts and minds, we, too, will demonstrate more closely God’s love to the world around us.