Hey guys! I hope you’re doing well and staying safe. I’m sorry it’s been a little while since my last posts! It’s currently exam season so it’s a bit busy.

Anyway, today’s post is about Love. (As you probably have guessed from the title.

I’ve always loved the scripture Galatians 5:22-23, it almost became a checklist on how my character should be, in the same way that 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is almost a template on how to show love.

Galatians 5: 22 NKJV
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ^23 [g]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

It’s a wonderful scripture and I’ve wrote a few blog posts around the fruit of the Spirit. However recently, as I’ve grown more into studying the word, I’ve been wondering ‘Why does it say the FRUIT of the Spirit, rather than the FRUITS of the Spirit?’, since there’s such a long list. I started studying and looking around at different bible scholars and their theories on why it’s FRUIT not fruits (I’ll link some articles here, so you can have a read: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3). Now you may think “Tadi, that’s really quite nerdy, does it really matter whether its fruit or fruits?” Perhaps not, however the inquisitive and student in me wants to know why!

So, when I came across The passion Translation of this verse, it confirmed my own interpretation of the verse. I will say now, that please research for yourself, and pray that the Holy Spirit may give you a revelation on what this scripture means. I’m sharing my understanding of it!

Reading through, I came to my conclusion that the fruit of the Spirit is one thing, LOVE. It’s one fruit. However, it has many forms/ many things that come from it. (In the same way you can have an apple and make apple juice, or apple pie, apple crumble, toffee apples… you get the point!). It’s one fruit, with different expressions.
The passion translation reads:

Galatians 5:22-23
^22–23 But the fruit^[m] produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:^[n]
joy that overflows,^[o]
peace that subdues,
patience^[p] that endures,
kindness^[q] in action,
a life full of virtue,^[r]
faith that prevails,
gentleness of heart, and
strength of spirit.^[s]

Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.^[t]

There’s a quote by Donald G Barnhouse “Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Patience is love enduring. Kindness is love’s truth. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness. Self-control is being the reins”. This further explains how love can be one thing but have so many different expressions.

So yes! In everything, LOVE is the answer. Everything revolves around love. Last post we spoke about how the commandments are simplified and summarised into 2 things “loving God, and loving your neighbour as yourself.” It’s very easy to complicate what it means to be a believer. However, God gives us a simple answer: Love. Because when we love God, we will think twice about sinning, and we run right back to Him when we do. If we learn about loving God, and understand how much He loves you, worship because a whole lot easier too! It just pours out. Prayer and communication doesn’t feel such a chore when it’s with someone you deeply love. The same principle goes with loving your neighbour. When you love others, you will be more patient with them, you will be more kind and gentle.

If there’s one thing to take from the verse today it’s that all of this only comes when we have the Holy Spirit moving within us. Doing it out of our own strength is difficult. But when the Holy Spirit is guiding you, that’s when we start to see the fruit – LOVE, show in its many different forms.

It’s all about love.

So! I hope this post has helped you, and encouraged you to intentionally show love every single day.

Have an amazing day! God bless you

– peace, joy & love x

Tk.