The Fruit of the Spirit: Love Part 1
by Daniel Burton
At the outset of Paul’s discussion of the Fruit of the Spirit, the foundation is laid down mentioning love as the first fruit. While all the elements listed in Galatians are all equal parts of the Fruit of the Spirit, Paul significantly lists “love” as the first fruit and expression of a spirit filled life. For the people of Paul’s time, love could be viewed from a few different perspectives. One aspect is the idea of brotherly or familial love, personified by the word “phileo” (which we get the word Philadelphia from as the city of brotherly love). Another popular perspective depicted, specifically within Greek literature, described love as primary a romantic and sexual interaction, employing the word “eros.” Neither of these words did the description of love justice. Love of this nature could only be described as “agape” which implies a deeper connection that either “eros” or “phileo” would be able to offer. This love, rather than being between two people, originates in the personhood of God and expresses a deep connection. It is not friendly or familial but rather from a direct and profound connection from the God’s heart to ours.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The Being of God Expressed Through Love
In the original Greek language, agape demonstrated a deep and profound connection between two parties. Agape surpassed the brotherly relationship of phileo and the sensual desires of eros. This love, however, is incapable of being expressed on our own. Even for those waiting to experience the fullness of a relationship with God are only able to understand love because of the calling of God to the world. God’s desire to see everyone saved and no one perish demonstrates a general sense of love given for all. When the Holy Spirit enters and transforms a person, the 
outpouring is love for all people just as God loved us enough to send Jesus Christ to die for us.
This sense of love includes all persons. It is a deep connection that surpasses just people we agree with. There are many people we will not agree with their politics, their actions, and their inclinations. Yet, the bond of love goes beyond those we agree with. Agape is not limited to those who agree with but is based in our mutual source of our image. God may be an invisible God, but people, being made in the image of God, provides an opportunity to express the Spirit of God within us.
A Willingness to Lay Down Our Lives
We must never forget that the origin of love came from Christ’s incarnation. From a legal and holiness perspective, God would have been in His right to simply wipe mankind off of the face of the planet as a punishment for their sins. Yet, God’s nature being love and not simply a quality 
that God has, provide a path not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but a path to our redemption. All of this through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross demonstrated His love for mankind. All the pain endured and the agony of bearing the weight and consequences of sin from a spiritual and physical perspective is based in the love of Christ.
Therefore, in our expression of love for the world, we must also be willing to display that same type of love. The idea that we cannot love others due to minor inconvenience or disagreement does not hold water when viewed through the lens of the Gospel. We too, must have the same willingness to do whatever it takes to love others as an expression of the Spirit within us. We love the most unloveable of people and reach out to the lost and lonely, whatever their disposition, because at one point, we too were the rebels standing against God. Loving difficult people is difficult when we attempt to leave God out of the relationship. To truly express the Fruit of Love in our lives, God must come first. We love God with all we are and in turn, love those who have been made in God’s image.
For more in this series, check out The Fruit of the Spirit
