The Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."This is one of the most beloved passages in the BibleBut the “Fruit of the Holy Spirit” has also been misinterpreted by many as characteristics that believers should somehow manufacture in their lives. But the key to understanding these qualities is in the name.
“Fruit” is the natural result of growth. And “of the Spirit” explains exactly Who causes that growth-it's not our striving or straining, but the power of the Holy Spirit.No amount of human toil or determination can produce spiritual fruit, I's the Spirit's influence in a yielded heart that can work miracles.
thefirst characteristic listed is love
1. Love?”
The fruit of “love” may be the best example. We cannot produce the type of love God desires without the leading and strength of the Holy Spirit.The English word love has very broad meaning, but the Greek language is very precise. The love which the Holy Spirit manifests in believers is agape.
This love is not a feeling, but a choice. We have a choice to be kind, to sacrifice, and to consider another’s needs greater than one’s own
Philippians 2:33 don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.Agape is used in all of the "hard" love verses in the New Testament:John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's Friends.1 John 3:11“For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another”.Luke 6:35"35 "Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked." 1 John 5:3“3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. “.It is because of love that God carried out His plan to save the world: John 3:16
16 "For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
It is only by love that we can keep the greatest commandments:Mark 12:30-31"Love the Lord your God" and "love your neighbor as yourself" We are commanded to love, everything that we do or say or think must be done with love
How does Worldly Love compare to Biblical Love
Worldly Love lived outside the Christian Faith have many "ifs." "If you meet my needs then I'll meet yours. Conditional love is selfish love. Selfish love is self centered, self indulgent and for instant gratification.Selfish love will tell you to pull your own strings, Manipulate others through intimidation, do anything to get your own way
Worldly selfish love is hateful, troublesome, cruel and blessed by the Devil. Selfish love has one person in mine – self. Biblical Love on the other hand is Unconditional Love.There are many things that Biblical loves expects a person not to do.Biblical love sets boundaries. The boundaries are for our own good.The Biblical boundaries of love are safeguards to marriage relationships, it builds life-long trust.It's helpful to look at love from the standpoint of how the world views love and compare worldly love to Biblical love.God knows all about our life. He knows our situation and all our challenges. God loves us and wants to give us His love to help us.When you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior you begin to practice Biblical love.
Worldly love is conditional while Biblical love is unconditional love.Biblical love loves others as Jesus loves them."
Biblical love is Christ-like.
Biblical love is based upon the Word of God.
Biblical love is described as selfless commitment.
It is the quality of love at work in the hearts of people who have invited Jesus to be Savior and Lord of their lives.Biblical love when lived is mutually shared, its unselfish love. The Apostle Paul describes Biblical love as part of the fruit of the Spirit when living a life of compassionThe ancient Greek language had four words to describe love:
eros, phileo, storge and agape
The first word is eros, from which we get the English word ÔÇÿerotic.' Erosis the word used to express sexual love or the feelings of arousal that are shared between people who are physically attracted to one another. By New Testament times, this word had become so dishonored by the culture that it is not used even once in the entire New Testament.The second Greek word for love is phileo, which forms part of the words ÔÇÿphilosophy' (love of wisdom) or philanthropy (love of fellow man). This word speaks more of the warm affection shared between family and friends.
Whereas eros is more closely associated with the libido, phileo can be more associated with the emotions, or the heart.We feel love for our friends and family, obviously not in the erossense, but a love that motivates us to want to treat them kindly and help them succeed.
We can feel phileo love toward friends and family, but not toward people whom we dislike or hate.The third Greek word for love is storge, which relates to natural, familial love such as the love between a parent and child.
In the New Testament, the negative form of storgeis used twice. Astorgosmeans "without natural or instinctive affection, without affection to relatives."Different from these three is the forth Greek word for love, agapao, typically defined as "self-sacrificing love." It is the love that moves people into action and looks out for the well-being of others, no matter the personal cost.
It is not a love because of, it is a love in spite of
Biblically speaking, agapao is the love God showed us in sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.
It is the love that focuses on the will, not the emotions or libido. This is the love that Jesus commands His disciples to show toward their enemies Unlike our English word "love," agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic ,brotherly or friendship love.
Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character.Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The apostle John affirms this in
1 John 4:8
8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
One of the best descriptions of love is found in I Cor. 13: 1-13The Way of Love (The Message) If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.Love cares more for others than for self.Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.Love doesn't prance or frolic,Doesn't have a swelled head,Doesn't force itself on others,Isn't always "me first,"Doesn't fly off the handle,Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,Doesn't revel when others grovel,Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,Puts up with anything,Trusts God always,Always looks for the best,Never looks back,But keeps going to the end.8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be cancelled.11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Let's read I Corinthians 13:4-7 with a slight revision. Where the word "love" appears I am going to replace it with I.I am patient and kind.
I am not jealous or boastful
I am not proud or rude.
I do not demand my own way.I am not irritable, I keep no record of when I have been wrongedI am never glad about injustice I rejoices whenever the truth wins out. I never give up, I never lose faith, I'm always hopeful,
I always endure through every circumstance." (NLT)Think about what kind of impact that level of love would have in our homes, our lives, the people around us.Biblical love is the work of God transforming the human heart to become more and more like Jesus.
The Apostle Paul taught the Christians in Corinth that when people become Christ followers they stop living for themselves but they start living to glorify God.
They allow the love of Christ to control them. To no longer live to please themselves, but live to please Jesus who died for them.2 Corinthians 5:1717 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
There is transforming power in the love of Jesus.
Love is the greatest gift God can give. First Corinthians 13 says that agape is patient. Agape is kind. Agapenever fails. God desires to show His perfect, selfless love to a world that is routinely confused about what true love is. God's children are the conduits of His love, as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Literally, the “fruit of the spirit" is what happens when the Holy Spirit indwells a believer. The “fruit” is the product of the Holy Spirit’s cultivation of character in a heart.
Gal 5:22-23
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.describes what that fruit looks like
thesecond characteristic listed is joy.