Bible Study- Greatest of These Is Love Lesson 2

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ST. MARK BAPTIST CHURCH BIBLE STUDY: FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT LESSON 2: THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE (Galatians 5:22-23) I. Introduction A. What is the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit is – 1. The supernatural outcome of being filled with the Spirit, and 2. The living proof that the Spirit of God dwells in us. B. The word “fruit” of the Spirit is singular. 1. Galatians 5:22-23 speaks of one kind of fruit with nine different qualities. 2. The qualities or characteristics of this fruit include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. C. Jesus is the best example of this fruit in a person’s life. II. Another Kind of Love A. God has divinely inspired the first quality of the fruit of the Spirit to be LOVE. The question is what kind of love? So let’s look at the options. B. Eros – This type of love means a longing and desire. 1. Eros is associated with sexual love. 2. Eros is a selfish love; it asks “what can I get for myself?’ 3. Unless sexual love is dealt with by the power of God it becomes possessive, controlling and destructive. a. God created physical attraction between a man and woman. But He did not intend for selfish eros to be a part of sexual love. b. God has restricted the gift of sexual love to marriage. C. Philos – It is a general term used to describe the love one has for a friend or companion. 1. When someone has philo love for another, he/she places that ...

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• Publié par: Mothug
• Nombre de lectures: 32
• Langue: English

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ST. MARK BAPTIST CHURCH

BIBLE STUDY: FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

LESSON 2: THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

(Galatians 5:22-23)

I.

Introduction

A. What is the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit is –

1. The supernatural outcome of being filled with the Spirit,

and

2. The living proof that the Spirit of God dwells in us.

B. The word “fruit” of the Spirit is singular.

1. Galatians 5:22-23 speaks of one kind of fruit with nine

different qualities.

2. The qualities or characteristics of this fruit include love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

C. Jesus is the best example of this fruit in a person’s life.

II.

Another Kind of Love

A. God has divinely inspired the first quality of the fruit of the Spirit to

be LOVE. The question is what kind of love? So let’s look at the

options.

B.

Eros –

This type of love means a longing and desire.

1. Eros is associated with sexual love.

2. Eros is a selfish love; it asks “what can I get for myself?’

3. Unless sexual love is dealt with by the power of God it

becomes possessive, controlling and destructive.

a. God created physical attraction between a man and

woman. But He did not intend for selfish eros to be a

part of sexual love.

b. God has restricted the gift of sexual love to marriage.

C.

Philos –

It is a general term used to describe the love one has for a

friend or companion.

1. When someone has philo love for another, he/she places

that friend in a high personal position. (Luke 14:10)

2. Philo is also characterized by shared experience, as the

joy of one becomes the joy of all. (Luke 15:9)

3. Another very important characteristic of philos is the

adoption of like interest. In other words a common pursuit

can make friends. (James 2:23)

4. Unfortunately, a friend can be capable of betrayal.

However, the fear of betrayal should never stop us from

cultivating friends. (Luke 21:16)

D. The Greek word for love in Galatians 5:22 is

agape.

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III.

Agape Kind of Love

A. Agape is divine love that seeks the highest interest of others.

Agape always seeks what is right and best.

1. It is not a feeling like eros or a relationship based on

common interests like philos but is in a class all its own.

2. Agape’s only origin is the heart of God. It is the love of

God expressed through us to others.

B. To fully understand agape we need only to look at 1 Corinthians 13.

1. Agape is PATIENT – In the Greek it basically means, “a

person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from

doing so.”

2. Agape is KIND – In the Greek it generally means, “to show

oneself useful”. Agape volunteers to help.

3. Agape does NOT ENVY – In the Greek it means, “to be

zealous” and connotes a passionate sense of jealousy.

Left to reap, envy always ends in some form of action such

as competition, fighting, slavery, or murder.

4. Agape does NOT BOAST – Comes from the root word,

meaning braggart.

5. Agape is NOT PROUD – Scriptures are filled with negative

consequences concerning pride. (2 Chronicles 26:16,

Psalm 10:4, Proverbs 11:2, and Daniel 5:20)

6. Agape is NOT RUDE - Means to behave in an ugly,

indecent, unseemly or unbecoming manner.

7. Agape is NOT SELF-SEEKING – Self-seeking is the polar

opposite of agape. Agape seeks the highest and best for

another.

8. Agape is NOT EASILY ANGERED – The fact that agape is

not self-seeking has great impact on its ability to be slow to

anger. Much of what angers us is a result of how we

perceive we are personally affected by a situation.

9. Agape keeps NO RECORD OF WRONGS – Humans

enjoy recording the failures of others. Yet, God does not

keep a record of our wrongs.

10. Agape does NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL BUT REJOICES

WITH THE TRUTH - The truth may be painful but freedom

and gladness soon follows it.

11. Agape always PROTECTS – In the Greek it means, “to

cover with silence”. In other words, love does not expose

the faults of others.

12. Agape always TRUSTS – The word basically involves

having faith in someone. This is the opposite of our sin

nature, which leans us toward skepticism.

13. Agape always HOPES – This means, “to expect with

desire”. In other words, to expect the best from another

person.

14. Agape always PERSEVERS – Which means that agape

“hangs in there”.

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15. Agape NEVER FAILS – The Greek word for fails is

ekpipto,

and it means, “to be without effect, to be in vain”.

This is the greatest characteristic about agape. Agape is

never without effect. Agape is never in vain.

IV.

Agape In Action

A. Jesus commands us to agape each other. (John 13:34-35)

B. This can only be done when we realize the following:

1. Agape is a divine capacity to love.

2. Agape is fueled by the needs of others rather than the

desires of self.

3. Agape is expressed when we surrender to the

empowerment of the Holy Spirit.