fruit of the spirit

If you want to start at the beginning of the Fruit of the Spirit series, click here!

We are going to dive right in to the first characteristic of the Fruit of the Spirit, which is love.

Ahhhh, love.

Songs are sung.

Poems are recited.

Art is created.

Rings are given.

Birds sing.

All in the name of love.

It’s a crazy thing, this love.

And more often than not, we misuse the term “Love.” Don’t you think? We use that word when we talk about coffee (ahem), movies, books, clothes, a new car, our favorite restaurant. I think you get the idea.

But what is love?

There are 4 different types of love and the Bible talks about 3 of them.

agape
phileo
storge
eros

Agape love is the love of God; it is His very nature. It is also a type of love we are to have as Christians for other people. This love isn’t the word we loosely use to express our affection for something or someone. This type of love is action – not emotion. It’s a commitment we make to do the right thing – a choice we make. It’s not a feeling.

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Let’s look at the Greek words:

Beloved, let us love (agapaō) one another; for love (agapē) is of God; and everyone that loveth (agapaō) is born of God and knoweth (ginōskō) God.

Phileo love is actually not love at all. We use the term love in the Bible, but the actual definition of phileo is having affection for something or someone or considering someone a friend. This is the term we use when we say we love things (like I mentioned above). Phileo is found in a very famous passage of Scripture – John 21:15-17. Simon Peter and Jesus are having a conversation about their relationship and Jesus asks him three times if Simon loves Him. Simon, who is very frustrated and obviously still down about his denying Jesus during the Crucifixion, completely changes what Jesus is asking him.

Jesus: Simon…do you love (agape) me …
Peter: Yes, Lord; you know that I love (phileo) you
Jesus: Simon…do you…love (agape) me
Peter: Yes, Lord, you know that I love (phileo) you
Jesus: Simon…do you love (phileo) me
Peter: Lord…you know that I love (phileo) you

We obviously lose this in translation, but it’s very key because we see that Jesus, having just been resurrected, is basically asking Peter, “Are you willing to love like I love?” And Peter, still dazed, confused, and shamed from his earlier denial just wants to know that Jesus still calls him friend.

Phileo is important because we are to have affection for one another; be friendly; live in community.

Storge is the 3rd type of love in the Bible.

1) the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands

2) loving affection, prone to love, loving tenderly

3) chiefly of the reciprocal tenderness of parents and children

Romans 12:10 (NKJV) is a great example of storge love
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

So as you can see, we as Christians, and having the fruit of the spirit, should be demonstrating all three types of love we discussed here today. We love with His love (which is a committed, action-type love), have affection and demonstrate friendship (as in the phileo love) and of course, tenderly love one another with same type of love a parent has for a child.

And that’s just the first characteristic of the fruit of the spirit!

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What do you think about the different types of love?
Is it hard for you to demonstrate one over another?