Agape Love

Paul begins his produce list in Galatians 5 with the Fruit of Love. In our modern world, it is unfortunate that this word, love, has been so widely applied to a myriad of things. A husband may love his wife. Teenagers may love their cars. A mother may love her children. An executive may love the profit made on a business deal. But this is not the love that Paul is speaking of in his letters.

Paul is precise in his writings by using the Greek word agape when he speaks of Christian love. Agape is unconditional love extended to another person without merit. The Greek language uses three additional words for the English word, love. These are: eros - passionate, sensual desire from which we have the word erotic; philia - dispassionate, virtuous, friendly (or brotherly) affection from which Philadelphia is derived, the city of brotherly love; and storge - natural affiliation or affection such as the love of parents for their offspring.

Paul's use of agape in his writings points us to a love that is pure and not self serving. And it is this love that provides the basis for the other eight fruit of the Spirit. Without agape love, it would be impossible to exhibit these other traits. But to say that agape love is unconditional is not to say that it is without boundaries. True love affirms justice and rejects injustice. In both cases, love is expressed so that the welfare of the one loved is at the heart of its motivation. To further examine the subtleties of agape love, we'll consider the source of love, and the affirming and intolerant aspects of agape.

Discovering the source of love is as simple as reading 1 John 4.7-8. Paraphrased, it says that love is from God because God is love, and that everyone who knows God will love others. Without God, there could be no love. It is no wonder then that the greatest commandment is to love God. The Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6.5 and repeated by Christ in the Gospels, commands "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22.37, Mark 12.30, Luke 10.27). Love for other people naturally stems from one's love of God. If this command to love is fully kept, one would truly be able to keep all the commandments for all of them stem from love (Matt. 22.38-40; Rom. 13.8-10).

Just as love encapsulates the commandments, it likewise encompasses the Fruit of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul outlines the attributes of agape love. True agape love affirms patience, kindness, justice, confidence, and hope, all while enduring whatever comes along. This love is at the same time intolerant of jealousy, boasting, arrogance, rudeness, insisting on one's own way, irritability, resentfulness, and injustice. Paul asserts that agape love will never end. And how could it since God is the source of this love?

One way to appreciate the extensive impact of love on spiritual fruit is to compare love to the soil of a vineyard. The type of soil in which a grapevine is planted directly affects the quality and character of the fruit produced by the vine. Michael Broadbent notes in his Complete Guide to Wine Tasting and Wine Cellars that "the best wines are made from vines grown in uncompromising terrain" which he goes on to describe as soil consisting of either rock, gravel, slate, or large pebbles. In these soils, the vine must struggle to extend its roots deep enough to tap into the moisture necessary for growth. This struggle results in a smaller crop than vines planted in loose, moist soil. But what the crop lacks in quantity, it greatly makes up for in quality. (See also On Wine by Gerald Asher.)

It is tempting to draw a comparison between the terrain of these quality producing vineyards and Christ's parable of the sower in Matthew 13. But didn't Christ say that the rocky soil produced shallow roots that grew quickly and then withered just as fast? Yes, He did. But this isn't the type of rocky soil vineyards are grown upon. The rocky soil of the parable is impenetrable with minimal top soil. The good soil of the vineyard is rocky, yet rich in minerals and top soil; rocky, yet porous enough to drain and retain water; rocky, yet malleable enough to allow roots to go deep and drink in the goodness of the earth. Metaphorically, agape love is like this rich and rocky terrain. The soil of agape is yielding enough to produce growth, uncompromising enough to demand depth, and rich enough to evoke quality in all that stems from it.

Without the rich, rocky soil of agape love the other Fruit of the Spirit could not be produced. As the fruit grow from this rugged terrain, they evoke the essence of their source. Love is seen in each of the fruit, producing a lasting bouquet that never ends (1 Cor. 13.8). We would do well then to cultivate agape rich soil in our spiritual lives.

In order to nurture the vine or to nurture the Fruit of the Spirit, certain conditions must not be tolerated just as vehemently as good soil is cultivated. If a vineyard is afflicted with phylloxera, mold, or any number of destructive organisms every effort is made to destroy the threat. Similarly, there are behaviors that are a threat to agape love and therefore to all Fruit of the Spirit. Behaving selfishly, being arrogant or boastful, acting rudely or behaving jealously are all counterproductive to spiritual fruit. However, in modern society, these traits are often touted as the very qualities that enable a person to get ahead in life. But as followers of Jesus Christ, how can we defend these? How can we reason that such behavior benefits those around us? How can we claim that we are preferring one another and not putting ourselves first? In truth, we cannot defend such caustic behavior.

A few years back, WWJD? was a popular slogan. What would Jesus do? Well, what would He do? How would He love those we consider unlovable? Or even those we consider deserving of our love? Unfortunately, WWJD? was a passing fad for far too many. That should not be the case for those of us who follow Christ. If we as His disciples wish to exhibit the Fruit of His Spirit, we must first ground ourselves in the soil of agape love. We must love our enemies and pray for them, love our neighbors as ourselves, and love God above all else (Matt. 5.44, 22.39 & 37). If we fail to make agape love our source, we will fail to produce any of the Fruit of the Spirit. To conclude, I rely on Paul to sum up the nature and necessity of the Fruit of Love:

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12.9-10, 21)