If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

Happy Valentines Day! For most people, valentines day is a day centered on love, and when most people think of a Bible verse on love, 1 Corinthians 13 comes to mind. I mean, how many times have you heard or seen it at a wedding? (No judgment if you used it at your wedding, it was painted on signs at the top of the aisle at my wedding!)

But recently I read this passage and was struck by the connection to the fruit of the Spirit, which is listed in Galatians 5. Many people have the misconception that these are the FRUITS of the Spirit (plural), but if you read the verse, you will see that fruit is singular. There are nine character traits listed in Galatians 5, but they are all one fruit. These are often talked about and taught as separate entities, but when I read 1 Corinthians 13, the “love” chapter, I began to make those connections.

Obviously, this chapter is about love, which is the first characteristic in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. But 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that to be truly loving, you must also have the other 8 characteristics. Any of them without love are useless.

The first verse addresses peace. Without love, our speech is “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” but with love our speech brings peace. The second verse says you can even have faith, but if you don’t have love, your mountain-moving faith is nothing. The third verse talks of good that you can do, but if that good is not done with love, it is worthless. All three of these verses from 1 Corinthians 13 speak to self-control. In love, we must control our tongues, our knowledge, and our actions.

Verse four tells us love must be patient and kind. This is the verse that got my attention and had me start thinking about the fruit of the spirit. If love does not have patience, it isn’t love. And if love does not have kindness, it isn’t love. These are two essential characteristics.

When verse five says love isn’t “rude … irritable, or resentful,” it makes me think of gentleness. A gentle person is the opposite of all those things love is not, therefore love must be gentle. Verse five share that love “rejoices with the truth.” Love has joy for what is right and true.

True love can “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, [and] endure all things” because it is full of the fruit of the Spirit. God is the only one who loves perfectly, so if we desire to love like He does, we must be full of His Spirit and the fruit He produces in our lives.