Holiness is accessing the person of holiness—Christ in you—to live His holy life through you. This occurs as you walk in the Spirit, taking the provision of Christ’s life to obey His will. When you do, “the fruit of the Spirit is love” (Gal. 5:22). Amazing! The manifestation of the Holy Spirit is love. Why love? Perhaps it is because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, the mark of this holy God and true holiness is love. But what are the marks of love?

Since God is love and the fruit of the Spirit is love, I believe the following eight graces in Galatians 5:22-23 express eight marks of love—the mark of true holiness. Therefore, these eight marks express true holiness.

1. Joy
Joy expresses God’s holy love in your heart because love is not selfish. Selfishness hinders joy because it is self-focused. Joy is not found on the soul level. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual joy is not dependent on self-comforts. Content with God and His providence, love rejoices or joys in God. Accepted by God and not dependent on man’s appraisal, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

2. Peace
Peace expresses the love of Jesus in you because Jesus himself is our peace. Peace is not based on circumstances, but your right relationship with the God of peace. Trusting in God and His ability to divinely intervene, the Holy Spirit of peace imparts peace by imparting the life of Jesus in you to you.

Irritation and agitation reveal a lack of peace, but walking in the Holy Spirit who is love accesses the peaceful One; and as the Spirit imparts Christ’s life to you, you experience His peace.

3. Long-suffering
Patience expresses God’s love because love suffers long (1 Cor. 13:4).  God is long-suffering. When you access His holy life, you are long-suffering instead of short-suffering. This is a mark of true holiness.

4. Gentleness
Gentleness expresses love. Love is gentle because Jesus is. On earth Jesus was gentle even to sinners because they knew their need. He was firm and confrontational only to the self-righteous who did not acknowledge their need. As a mode of operation, abrasiveness and harshness mark the flesh, not the Spirit, and intimidation and force mark un-holiness, not holiness.

5. Goodness
Goodness expresses love because God is love and God is good. When Jesus lived among men, He went about “doing good.” And He still does through those who allow His holy life to animate theirs.

6. Faith
Faith expresses love. Love believes (1 Cor. 13:7). Walking in the Spirit accesses the Spirit of faith, who authors faith, and thus energizes faithfulness.

7. Meekness
Meekness expresses love because meekness always prefers the Father’s will over self-will. Discontentment comes from the chaffing of self-will.

8. Temperance
Temperance or self-control expresses love because love never loses control. Temperance is not mere will power, but Spirit-energized self-control. This gives hope to those who presently have character weaknesses.

True holiness is contentment with Jesus. Un-holiness comes from discontentment with Jesus, thinking some self-indulgence has more to offer than Jesus. Anytime we cave in to our flesh, we reveal discontentment with Jesus. But walking in the Spirit accesses the power of the Holy Spirit, and He never leads you to indulge in the flesh. Since “the works of the flesh are manifest…” (Gal. 5: 19-21), indulgence in the moral sins, religious sins, relationship sins, or social sins, manifest the un-holiness of the flesh.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, with all of its rich expressions. This is true holiness.