The Love Fruit
This week I am resuming “The One Lesson That Changed My Marriage” series and proceeding to where I last left off, the topic of love.
Even after many years of being married, I have often wondered to myself why I am not exactly the most loving of spouses. 1 Corinthians 13 says that love is patient, love is kind; it does not envy, boast and is not rude, et cetera—and yet, I keep finding myself unable to measure up. What is even more frustrating is that I am supposed to be a Christian, and a pastor at that.
Not A Fruit But “the” Fruit
It was not until I got a revelation from the Bible that my views changed and my self-frustration lessened. Before this revelation, there was no telling how many times I have read the verse in Galatians 5 about love being the fruit of the Spirit. But on that day, the word “the” stood out and the verse took on a new meaning.
According to the apostle Paul, love is not just a fruit of the Spirit but it is “the” fruit of the Spirit. This is clarified by an earlier verse that lists down what the acts of the sinful nature are.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;…” Galatians 5:22-23
Now, Paul wanted his readers to notice. You can tell by the way he used several interesting word choices here. We know that Paul lists down the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit. But why did he write the “fruit of the Spirit is” in parallel to the phrase “the acts of the sinful nature are”? Grammatically speaking, it did not make sense. The only sensible way to understand this is that Paul wanted to point out something here that lay hidden beneath the words.
The Fruit’s Qualities
Paul’s word choice was direct, deliberate and significant. His point was to say that there are many acts of the sinful nature but only one fruit of the Spirit. So if there is only one fruit of the Spirit, why list down other things such as joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Galatians 5: 22-23)
I am convinced that each item on this list is a characteristic of love. This truth was born two books earlier in 1 Corinthians 13, the most popular chapter on love. Let’s look at the parallel:
Connected to the Vine
The revelation of love being the” fruit of the Spirit comes full circle as it was Jesus Himself who was already hinting on this in John 15: 5 when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…”
Simply put, if we remain in a relationship with the Lord then we will bear much fruit. So what were we to remain in that would produce this fruit? Jesus specifies this for us four verses later when he said:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:9)
Love is a fruit. It takes time to grow. Like an orange connected to a branch, it progressively gains more color, grows more flavorful, tastes more refreshing and produces quality seeds that can be later reproduced.
Next week, I will discuss how this revelation applies to our marriages.
Read related articles:
The One Lesson That Changed my Christmas
Why We Keep Watching Love Stories
Love and a Warm Heart
Love is not a Verb
How to trust in Troubled Waters
The Truth about Bad Breath
The True North of Trust
The One Lesson That Changed My Marriage
How to Turn the One Lesson Into Reality
The Risk and Responsibility of Trust
The History of Trust
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