‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness,’ (Galatians 5 v 22).
Paul famously defines love in I Corinthians 13. He is not talking about sentiment. He is not talking about romantic or poetic notions of love, nor about merely ‘wishing people well’, nor about making expressions of affection of the kind that we see in Valentine’s Day cards, or in marriage ceremonies, or showing superficial cursory displays of affection. Instead, he is talking about practical speech, attitudes and behaviours in day-by-day Christian life.
The practical love that he is describing is distinctive in that it is -
Primarily directed toward fellow Christians, and
Arises from enlightened perception and knowledge that is unveiled by the Breath of God
As John explains in his first letter, ‘outsiders’ or unbelievers do not love the Messiah, nor do they love those who are persuaded of him to the point of obedience. The Messiah and the Gospel are absurd foolishness to unbelievers. They reject and separate themselves away from the spiritual base – the enlightened perception and persuasion of unseen realities – that underpins and provides the exemplars for the practical love that Paul is talking about. Instead, ‘unbelievers’ prefer darkness to light such that their affections are centred on fleshly impulses and sensations. Possession of the love that Paul is talking about – a practical beneficial love that imitates the love of the Messiah and is directed toward fellow Christians – is therefore a distinctive mark of Christian assurance. This is because such love is beyond the ability of unbelievers. It is a primary Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah. This practical love ‘identifies with and rejoices in truth’.
‘Benevolent, practical love is forbearing, usefully kind and gentle’, (I Corinthians 13 v 4a).
In I Corinthians 12 v 31 Paul says ‘I show you a way superlatively beyond measure in excellence’. This way of excellence is the way of love, and without it, Paul says that Christians are nothing but a distracting noise. The Greek word that he uses is ‘agape’, which means ‘love’, ‘benevolence’ or ‘good will’. It also contains the aspect of having a preference for these qualities. These are very practical qualities in the Christian’s day-to-day life, so I translate the word as ‘practical beneficial love’. Its fullest meaning is ‘having a preference for practical beneficial love’.
But the word ‘love’ is still somewhat vague, so Paul defines what he means in more detail. In both Galatians and I Corinthians he presents two over-arching qualities of love – forbearance and useful gentle kindness.
The ‘love’ that Paul is talking about serves as a distinctive mark that reveals that an individual is selected by God, it is also mark of Christian assurance, because possession and use of this love is beyond the ability of ‘outsiders’. We probably all know of ‘outsiders’ who are forbearing, usefully kind and gentle. It may well be that we know of some ‘outsiders’ who possess forbearance and useful gentle kindness to a greater degree than we do as Christians. So in what way do these qualities constitute a distinctive Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah?
In I Corinthians, Paul’s teaching about ‘love’ is an aspect of the principle of ‘diversity within union in the Messiah’. Christians are diverse members of the one body of the Messiah, and the primary instruction is that Christians show practical beneficial love to one another as members of this body. By contrast, unbelievers reject enlightened persuasion of the unseen realities that underpin and provide exemplars for the practical love that Paul is talking about, preferring darkness to light such that their affections, goals and ambitions lie elsewhere. So the love that Paul is talking about is distinctively Christian. It is beyond the ability of unbelievers in this respect – it is love expressed towards fellow Christians. The qualities of forbearance and useful gentle kindness shown towards Christians constitute distinctive aspects of the Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah coming to completion by being displayed toward fellow Christians. ‘If anyone is saying, ‘I love God’ but is hating and detesting his brother, he is a deceiver, because the one not loving his brother whom he sees is not able to love God whom he has not seen. 21 This is the end result of the instruction that we have away from Him - that the one loving God should also be loving his brother. Everyone believing that Jesus is the Messiah of God has been brought forth; and everyone loving the One who brings forth also loves him who is brought forth from out of Him’, (I John 4 v 20, 21; 5 v 1).
