agape = love

[agape] : love, affection, charity, good will

It is hard to express this Love that the Father has for us and this same love that we are to have for Him and for all others. When we have the Spirit of God working in us and through us Agape-Love is the first fruit that begins to show. It is not only first but it permeates every other virtue. Without love the rest is worthless. It deserves a powerful treatment and much reflection. I would like to focus on agape-love being the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in you and through you. Many times this word has been translated as charity. What does this word agape (love) really mean in the bible?

Hereis a link to all of the verses usingthis word agape in the New Testament.

Wow! That is a lot of verses! If you didn't have time to read them all then here is my analysis. I notice that none of these verses are about we like to call "puppy love" or "head over heels in love" or infatuated or intoxicated or out of control in love. The word for those types of love in the Greek language is the word "eros" and it is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The word agape, in contrast, is a deliberate love, a choice to love without anything in return, to love the unlovely, to see others with a love that is totally unselfish. There are a lot of people that are looking for the next spiritual high... the next intoxicating moment with God to show them that God is dwelling in them and working through them. However, the truth of the fruit of the Spirit is that the deliberate act of kindness/charity with nothing in return, as it says in 1st John:

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his agape is perfected in us. - 1 Jo 4:12

This is the real experience with God that we should be looking for.

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