Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter 5:
22–23 But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is Divine Love in all its varied expressions:
joy that overflows,
peace that subdues,
patience that endures,
kindness in action,
a life full of virtue,
faith that prevails,
gentleness of heart, and
strength of spirit
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.
The “fruit” (singular) of the Holy Spirit is Love, with the other virtues displaying aspects of the greatest quality of Spirit-life, Agape Love. Love is preeminent and the other fruit result from the revelation of Agape Love.
John had this revelation as he wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1 John chapter 3:
10 Here is how God’s children can be clearly distinguished from the children of the Evil One. Anyone who does not demonstrate righteousness and show Love to fellow believers is not living with God as his source.
11 The beautiful message you’ve heard right from the start is that we should walk in self-sacrificing Love toward one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who yielded to the Evil One and brutally murdered his own brother, Abel. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 So don’t be shocked, beloved brothers and sisters, if you experience the world’s hatred. 14 Yet we can be assured that we have been translated from spiritual death into spiritual life because we Love the family of believers. A loveless life remains spiritually dead. 15 Everyone who keeps hating a fellow believer is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we have discovered Love’s reality: Jesus sacrificed his life for us. Because of this great Love, we should be willing to lay down our lives for one another. 17 If anyone sees a fellow believer in need and has the means to help him, yet shows no pity and closes his heart against him, how is it even possible that God’s Love lives in him?
Agape Love initiates actions and produces results. Jesus’ Love produced faith in me because of the assurance of His Love for me. With that assurance I was able to accept all of the other promises given to me by FATHER.
Agape Love gives me joy and peace. Agape Love encourages me to be longsuffering and walk in kindness. In addition, I take on FATHER’S quality of
Goodness and become faithful in all HE is directing me to say and do by HIS Holy Spirit. With this confidence I walk in gentleness and self-control. It all results from Agape Love being manifested toward me and in me.
We must not simply group Agape Love with the other fruit as though it comes forth after the other fruit are manifested. Can you have true joy without Agape Love? Can you truly be longsuffering without Agape Love?
As Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 13:
1 If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself with Love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of FATHER’S hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to Love, then I am nothing.
3 And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr, without the pure motive of Love, I would gain nothing of value.
The mind likes group these qualities as simple “nine gifts of The Spirit” but I say to you that we should look at them as “One plus eight resulting fruit of The Spirit” since Agape Love comes before the rest will materialize.
As Jesus spoke in John chapter 3:
16 For this is how much GOD Loved the world—HE gave HIS one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life.
Love came first and the other gifts followed. Selah!