‘If I do not have love’, Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, ‘I am nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13.2). He did not view its acquisition as an optional activity but the bedrock foundation of the Christian life — an absolute necessity. Not surprisingly, when he is describing what the transforming power of the Holy Spirit will look like in practice, he lists a string of qualities which each depend on and flow out of the greatest characteristic of godliness — love.
Chief manifestation
Take a moment to think about this pen-portrait of the growing Christian, from Galatians 5.22-23. ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ At first, this might look like a string of pearls, or a collection of different qualities needing to be added separately to our character. But the best way to understand the verse is perhaps to recognise ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love’ — and the way that love will manifest itself is in the joy, peace, patience and so on, which are its expression in our daily lives and relationships, first with God, then with one another in God’s family and with the watching world.
Fruit is produced from the life within. You don’t have to buy it in a shop and then tie it on to the tree in your garden. Fruit is the proof of the nature and state of the tree. ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers’, Jesus said (Luke 6.43-44). So, where the Holy Spirit is bringing the life of God into our human personalities, his characteristics will be produced in our attitudes and behaviour. And God is love, so that the chief manifestation of our new life in Christ is that we make progress in our love of God, with all our faculties, and our love for our neighbour as for ourselves. Without this love, whatever gifts or experiences we may have, or even the sacrifices we might make, will count as one big zero, in God’s eyes (1Corinthians 13.1-3). It is that important!
