Love: The Root of All the Rest

Oboedire

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When we read Galatians 5:22-23, we encounter an unusual grammatical construction. Paul writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is…”—a singular verb, and then he describes that fruit in nine words. Why didn’t he write, “The fruits of the Spirit are…?”

The most likely answer is that he saw one fruit, with eight additional descriptions—one reality with eight additional manifestations. Today we refer to this as an example of unity in diversity. John Wesley looked at Paul’s words and concluded that love is the singular fruit, “the root of all the rest.” (‘Explanatory Notes on the New Testament,’Gal 5:22). In taking this view, he was drawing on the words of Jesus, that to abide in him is to abide in love (John 15:10), and that as we abide in him, we bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16).

The fruit is love. In fact, Jesus said that all the law (613 regulations in his day) and the entire message of the prophets are summed up in the word love, as it manifests itself in relation to God, others, and ourselves. Unfortunately, love has been painted over by a never-ending legalism and dogmatism in which rules and regulations suppress the Lover-Beloved relationship we are meant to have with God. We are in dire need of the recovery love in society and in the Church.

Thomas Oord has become so gripped by the singularity and supremacy of love that he has coined a new word for it: amipotence. ("The Death of Omnipitence and Birth of Amipotence"). For him, it is the word which describes God better than the one we often use: omnipotence. Amipotence tells us what kind of “potency” is universal—the power of love. Love is God’s nature, present and active in everyone and everything, working in Christ to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in the new creation (Ephesians 1:9-10).

While this book is not technically about a theology of love, it is inseparably connected with that theology. And the connection is in the fruit of the Spirit—the fruit of love—the root of all the rest.

Unpainted Love in Jesus

Jesus is unpainted love. As the Word made flesh, the nature of God which is love (1 John 4:8, 16) became incarnate in him. God confirmed it when Jesus was baptized, saying of him, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him” (Matthew 3:17)

As God’s beloved, through whom everyone and everything is made (John 1:3), he lived and led by love. The story of Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler is a good example. Mark notes that Jesus “looked at him carefully and loved him” (Mark 10:21). That’s how he saw and responded to everyone. It is not an exaggeration to say that everything he said and did was an expression of love. The word compassion sums it up.

On the night of his betrayal, he gathered with his disciples, showing his love for them as he washed their feet (John 13: 1-15). And then he put it into words which set all he had said and done into perspective, “As the Father has loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love” (John 15:9). It’s the flow of love: from the Father, to the Son, through the Spirit, into us.

But more, Jesus demonstrated his love for us by atoning for our sins on the cross, becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He had earlier said, “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). And then, the next day, he did it.

So much more could be said, but here is evidence enough to confirm that love is the fruit of the Spirit—the root of all the rest. Universal love. Unconditional love. Unending love. Jesus unpainted is love.

Unpainted Love in Us

Unpainted love was in Martin Luther King Jr. As the fruit of the Spirit, it is the presence of the indwelling Christ giving us what he called “strength to love.” This was King’s way of saying that apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5), what John later said, “We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Indeed, this was the strength of the civil rights movement—of every movement inspired by God.

The primary instruction Jesus gave to those who followed him was this, “Remain in me” (John 15:4) like a branch does in a vine. He called it remaining in his love (John 15:9), from which we bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16).

Love is the root of all the rest in us, just as it was in Jesus. Inwardly, it forms the character of Christ in us; outwardly it expresses the conduct of Christ through us. This is what John Wesley called holiness of heart and life. He declared it to be the aim of every Christian—the ongoing pursuit of “perfect love.” Unpainted love, as seen in Jesus.

With respect to the fruit of the Spirit, God gives us the will and the means to love—to fulfill the two great commandments of loving God and loving others. The love of God, shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5) becomes the fire of love that gives light and life to the world.

“Love each other” became the marching orders for the Christian community (1 John 3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:11-12). Loving “the brothers and sisters” is another way John put it (1 John 3:14, 4:21), not meant to include only fellow Christians, but also all our siblings in the human family. It is universal love coming into us and moving through us by Jesus unpainted.

In the Christian tradition, this is referred to as a union of love between our spirit and the Holy Spirit. Richard Rohr rightly notes, “Once we have one sincere moment of divine union, we will want to spend all our time on the one thing necessary, which is to grow deeper and deeper in love every chance that we get.”