The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

When Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, love comes first — and for good reason. It's the foundation the other fruit grows from, and the clearest mark of a life shaped by God. Here's a closer look at love as the fruit of the Spirit.

Love that gives

Biblical love isn't mainly a warm feeling; it's self-giving action for the good of others. It's the kind of love God showed us — patient, kind, and costly. 'Charity suffereth long, and is kind,' Paul wrote elsewhere, describing a love that keeps showing up, seeks others' good, and endures.

We love because he first loved us

This love isn't something we manufacture; it's a response. 'We love him, because he first loved us.' Having been loved so generously and undeservedly by God, we have love to give away. The more deeply we grasp God's love for us, the more love flows out of us toward others.

The mark of a disciple

Jesus said that love would be the identifying badge of his followers: 'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' Not our knowledge, our success, or our religious activity, but our love. It's the fruit the world can see and feel.

Grown by the Spirit

Because true love is beyond our natural ability — especially toward the difficult and the undeserving — it must be grown in us by God's Spirit. As we stay close to God, his love fills us and overflows. We can't force it, but we can cultivate the connection that produces it.

Love is the first and foundational fruit of the Spirit — self-giving, patient, and kind, flowing from the love God first showed us. It's the mark of a true disciple and the soil all the other fruit grows from. As the Spirit fills us with God's love, we're freed to love others as we've been loved.