THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT Part 2 The Fruit “LOVE” The Greek has three words for LOVE, eros, phile, and agape. The word used here in Gal. 5:22 is agape. Eros love is an animal love, a selfish love, and a lustful love, a love never mentioned in the New Testament. Phile love is a human love, an affectionate love, a liking love, a limited love (liking only its own kind), and a New Testament commended and commanded love. Agape love is a divine love, an intellectual love, and a totally unselfish love. AGAPE LOVE 1. 2.

It is a divine love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16) 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

It is the love that God is authentic endless love. It is not a feeling but a state of being; it is where you are, not how you feel. God is three things: (1) God is spirit, Jn. 4:24; (2) God is light, 1 Jn. 1:5; and (3) God is love, 1 Jn. 4:8.

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It is a God-given love

God is love. He commands us to have love, and then He gives us the love that He commands us to have. So God gives Christians the Holy Spirit, 1 Jn. 4:13, (13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.) who is love, and the Holy Spirit gives us the love that we need to love our brothers and to thereby love God. Under the New Covenant, God furnishes that which He commands; His commandments are His enablings. 3.

It is a Spirit-produced love

Agape love is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22, and not of the believer. On your own ability you CANNOT love the way God wants you to love. It takes the Power of God to love like Him. The Spirit, possessed by all believers, Rom. 8:9, produces the virtue of love in the believer when the believer is yielded to Him. A sinner does not possess the Holy Spirit and so does not possess agape love. A carnal Christian does possess the Holy Spirit but is not yielded to Him and so does not possess agape love. A spiritual Christian does possess the Holy Spirit and is yielded to Him and so does possess agape love.

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It is an intellectual love

It is a love motivated by the intellect, activated by the will, and rewarded by feeling. Motivated by our knowledge of what Christ has done for us, we for Christ’s sake purpose to treat and do treat our fellowman as Christ has commanded, without waiting for a feeling of affection for him or a liking of him and then God rewards us by giving us a feeling of affection for him and a liking of him. We are to love persons not because we like them but until we do like them. YOU CANNOT “DISLIKE” ME BUT LOVE ME. THE LOVE OF GOD WILL OVERRIDE ANY DISLIKE. IF YOU CAN DISLIKE SOMEONE YOU ARE SHOWING PROOF THAT YOU HAVE NOT THE LOVE OF GOD IN YOU. (SOMEBODY PRAY, LORD I NEED YOUR HELP!) 5.

It is both a benevolent and a beneficent love

It not only wishes well but it also does well, 1 Jn. 3:16– 18. Love is not dormant but is active. Love is an action word. 6.

It is a great love

The greatness of God’s love is revealed in God’s giving of His Son to die for us, Rom. 5:6–8, and in God’s adoption of us to be His sons, 1 Jn. 3:1, 2. In our King James Version, the word agape is, in First Corinthians, chapter 13, translated “charity.” This translation of agape is an unfortunate translation for agape love is far greater than charity.

4 7. It is the-greatest-of-the-three-permanent-virtues love Faith, hope, and charity (agape love) are the three permanent virtues and the greatest of these is charity (agape love), 1 Cor. 13:13. Why? Because faith and hope receive while love gives. “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” Acts 20:35. C.

THE STANDARD (THE PATTERN) FOR AGAPE LOVE

We are to love one another as Jesus loved His disciples (“as I have loved you,” Jn. 15:12): 1. Jesus loved them initiatively (Jn. 15:16)—He took the initiative, in establishing the love relationship between Himself and His disciples. He loved them while they were yet “weak,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” and “enemies,” Rom. 5:6–10. We, like Jesus, should take the initiative in loving others, loving them until they love us in return. 2. Jesus loved them intimately (Jn. 15:15)—He called them “friends” and not “servants.” He commanded them and gave them reasons for the commands. This thing masters do not do to their servants. We as Christians should share the precious things of God with each other. 3. Jesus loved them sacrificially (Jn. 15:13)—Jesus sacrificed Himself for them. We should be willing to sacrifice our time, our talents, our resources and even our lives to edify and mature our brothers, 1 Jn. 3:16– 18.

5 4. Jesus loved them enduringly (Jn. 13:1)—“Having loved His own, He loved them unto the end.” 5. Jesus loved them unselfishly (Jn. 13:1–5)—Facing the sufferings just ahead and death on the morrow, Jesus forgot Himself and spent the evening instructing His disciples and praying for His disciples. THE VALUE OF AGAPE LOVE 1.

It fulfils law (Rom. 13:8–10 - 8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.)

When we love, we fulfil the two great comprehensive commandments of the law, the commandments to love God and our neighbor, Matt. 22:34–40. 2. It proves Christian discipleship (Jn. 13:35)—Love expressed to other Christians is our “badge of discipleship.” 3. It lightens Christian service— it makes doing for and working with people easy. 4. It prompts love in return—When we love others, they in return love us.

6 5. It wins sinners to Christ—Nothing wins sinners to accept Christ more rapidly and surely than does the living of a life of agape love before them. 6. It receives an eternal reward—Living a life of love is living a life of unselfish service and all unselfish service will be rewarded in the life to come. F.

THE PROOFS OF AGAPE LOVE

If we can honestly say “yes” to these questions, we have proof that we possess and exercise agape love: 1. Do we suffer a long time at the hands of evil persons and yet remain kind? 2. Do we refuse to be envious of the possessions, the accomplishments, and the praise (given to) others? 3. Do we refuse to boast, brag, and parade ourselves to gain the approval and the applause of others? 4. Do we practice humility (by obeying superiors, serving inferiors, admitting mistakes, seeking forgiveness, taking good advice, etc.)? 5. Do we practice consideration and tact in our dealings with others? 6. Do we seek the well-being of others as well as our own well-being? 7. Do we suffer on and on without becoming provoked and losing our temper? 8. Do we refuse to keep a ledger of wrongs suffered so as to seek revenge later?

7 9. Do we refuse to rejoice when others go wrong, fall into sin? 10. Do we rejoice when others do right, practice the truth? 11. Do we bear up under and patiently endure persecutions and ill-treatment from perverse persons? 12. Are we quick to believe a good report and slow to believe an evil report concerning others? 13. Do we never give up hope for the improvement of our fellowmen, expecting grace to someday win them to Christ (or to a better life if they are already Christians)? 14. Do we endure all things (pain, poverty, privation, etc.) and stay under the load although all things seem to be adverse? G.

THE RECIPE FOR AGAPE LOVE

1. Become born again—Only Christians can have agape love. 2. Become a consecrated Christian—Only consecrated Christians possess agape love. 3. Desire agape love—If we hunger and thirst for divine things, we will be filled, Matt. 5:6. 4. Pray for agabe love—“Ye have not, because ye ask not,” James 4:2. 5.

Trust God to supply agape love—He is faithful.