During my sermon on Galatians 5:16-26, we didn’t have time to dive into each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit individually, so I thought it would be helpful to do that here. We will go through Paul’s list one by one which means we are starting with love.
Most commentators agree that love is placed because it is first in importance and it is also the one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit that all the others fall under. For example, you cannot truly have Christlike love without being filled with joy, patience, kindness, etc. Paul himself said just a few verses earlier, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Some commentators have even gone so far as to suggest that Paul lists love as the fruit of the Spirit, and then all the others are simply ways in which Christlike love is displayed.
In any case, it’s important to see what love is as defined by Scripture and I can’t think of many better places to go than 1 John 4:7-12 (emphasis mine):
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
What it seems John is pointing out is that we cannot know how to love others if we do not first understand how God has loved us. Furthermore, we are not capable of giving Christlike love, if we have not received Christlike love. Almost everyone you talk to in the world today would say that the world could use more love, but most people would also disagree on what that love is supposed to look like. As Christians, our love for others cannot be defined by culture, emotions, or the wisdom of this age - it must be defined by Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures.
As I shared in my sermon, not only are we called to display Christlike love, we are empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit living in us. So you can love even the most unlovable people because Christ loved you when you were unlovable. You can be willing to lay down your life for even your enemies because Christ did that for you (Romans 5:8). The determining factor in loving those around us has nothing to do with the surrounding circumstances, our feelings about that person, our desire to love, etc. The determining factor is that you have been loved first by Jesus Christ - therefore, you are called and empowered to love those around you.
Just in case you need reminding of a biblical definition of love, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Ask yourself if you have been displaying that kind of love to those around you. Where do you need the work of the Holy Spirit to help you produce the fruit of love?