The Fruit of the Spirit: Love—Part 2

The Fruit of the Spirit:  Love—Part 2

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Last week I wrote, “The first attribute mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit is love.  Many times in Scripture, the first mentioned in a list is foundational to the rest of the list.  We can see that in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.  Love is foundational to all the others.”  The Greek word translated as love in Galatians 5 is agape.  “Agape has been defined as “selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.  This is the love that Christ has for His bride, the Church.  It is also the love that we are to show toward one another.”

The ancient Greeks used four words that have been translated into English as “love”.  Besides agape, the Greeks used eros, phila, and storge.  

Eros is named for the Greek god of love of the same name.  It refers to sexual relationships.  Although the word eros, is not used in the Bible, the Word of God does outline and set the boundaries for eros.  The Song of Solomon is a beautiful description of the erotic relationship in marriage.  In the Song, we see the deep, growing and abiding relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite that comes when eros is founded in agape, founded in and restricted to the covenant of marriage.

  

Paul writes, “But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:8-9 NKJV) Paul is writing to Christians indwelt by the agape of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, this passage as well describes eros as founded in agape. 

 

Philia means “brotherly affection.’’  Philia is the relationship between close friends.  As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we find more and more that our deepest relationships are with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Paul’s salutation in most of his epistles is “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The spiritual depth of such a greeting can be comprehended only by those of like mind and spirit.  It is philia founded in agape.  

“Philadelphia”, in Greek, means the “city of brotherly love.”  We know that as it pertains to the city in Pennsylvania.  How often do we see that in the letter to the church at Philadelphia in Asia Minor?  "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”( Revelation 3:7-8 NKJV).

Because they kept the word of God, the word based on agape, God placed a spiritual opened door of blessing before the Christians in Philadelphia.  

The fourth word translated as love is storge.  Storge describes the natural love between parents and their children.  Storge, not founded in agape, many times becomes distorted.  A scripture often misunderstood is, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12 NKJV).  Some have taken this scripture to mean that children must do whatever their parents tell them even if it goes against the other commandments.  That behavior is not storge founded in agape. 

A description of storge founded in agape appears in Ephesians:  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4 NKJV)  

1 Corthinians 14:1 advises us to “pursue love (agape.)  Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 NKJV).  The world will know we are Christians by our love relationships, each one founded in agape.