Introduction
Thirty-two years ago I sat on the grounds of a college in Denton, Texas reading a New Testament. Although I was raised in church, I felt like I was reading the Bible for the first time. The highlight was when I came across 1 Corinthians 13. I have the chapter number circled, and it is the first scripture reference I wrote in the book cover.
How do you suppose the first readers, the Corinthians, felt when they read this passage? Paul had a reason for writing it to a church whose members were not so loving, even though they were rich in spiritual gifts. As Paul discusses the subject of spiritual gifts, he takes a moment to say, “Let’s put into perspective what really matters.”
Text
The Greek word for love is agape. It is a uniquely Christian word in that it was rarely used in literature outside the New Testament and Christian writings. The New Testament writers took the word and adapted it to describe the love of God for man that is based on grace. It is the love Christians are to possess for one another and for all our neighbors, a love that we are able to give because we received it from our heavenly Father. The text can be neatly divided into three parts (as Gordon Fee notes): the necessity of love, the character of love, and the permanence of love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Paul mentions speaking in tongues first because that is the gift the Corinthians are most excited about. It is also the easiest for us to nod our heads in agreement with when Paul says it is but mere noise without love. Tongues sound at best like a foreign language and oftentimes like hollow noises. But Paul’s point is not that speaking in tongues is mere noise making. He will discuss in the next chapter the pros and cons of tongue speaking. Here he is making the point that this legitimate spiritual gift loses its purpose when the speaker does not love. What is the purpose of all spiritual gifts? To build the body of Christ. Thus, if one is speaking in tongues out of pride or mere personal pleasure, then he turns what should be a blessing to the church into hollow, even harsh sounding, noise.
The next gifts presented and his conclusion begin to make us pause: 2 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.
First, consider these gifts. In the next chapter Paul will exalt prophecy. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy (14:1). Certainly understanding mysteries and knowledge must be important. He most likely means understanding the tongues spoken, which themselves are speaking forth revelation from God. In other words, it is receiving special revelation from God. How more essential of a gift can one have? Then there is extraordinary faith that calls forth great acts of power. Paul, says that even if one has such gifts; indeed, even if he has the full magnitude of these gifts, if he does not possess love he is nothing.
Nothing? What does that mean? That he is worthless? That he may as well not exist? Paul’s point is this. Some of the Corinthians, because of possessing rather extraordinary spiritual gifts, considered themselves to be extraordinary Christians in the sight of God. He is saying that we may possess the most extraordinary gifts of anyone, but if we do not possess love, then we are nobodies in the sight of God.
The last gifts or character traits listed make us pause even more. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Are not these very activities acts of love? There is giving away all one’s possessions, presumably to feed the poor. This is what Jesus told the rich young ruler to do: You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).
The second act may be just as translated – yielding his body up to be martyred through burning. Other Greek texts have the word “boast” instead of “burn,” so that it reads, “if I deliver up my body so that I may boast.” In chapter nine, Paul delineates the financial sacrifices he has made as an apostle. He then says he does not want help: For I would rather dies than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting (15). However translated, the idea is still of great physical sacrifice, whether it be to literally die or to live a life of sacrifice.
Again, aren’t such things done out of love for God and/or others? In truth, one can have other motives, that he may not even be aware of. Pride can be a motive. We can be just as prideful of our sacrifices as we are of our achievements. Guilt is a common motive. Many of our good deeds are done from guilt. We will make great sacrifices to obtain reward, such as salvation. Most religions are founded on the supposition that sacrifice is necessary to receive reward. And that most likely is where Paul is leading. As he says, “I gain nothing.” There is no merit earned with God.
None of these things are bad. Indeed, they are all good and necessary for the good of the church. But if they are not done with love, then they are rendered ineffective and fruitless. They certainly earn no standing before God.
Next Paul notes the character of love. As we go through them, I want those of you who have gone through the letter with me up to now to think how Paul wants the Corinth Church members to make application. And then, what he would want us individually and as Faith Church to know.
4 Love is patient and kind. It is passive and active. As the New Kings James says, “It suffers long.” It puts up with a lot; but it also actively shows live but doing acts of kindness, speaking kind words. A person with such love does not sue his brother. He is willing to withhold eating meat for the sake of his weaker brother.
Paul then lists what love is not. Love does not envy or boast. The person with such love is not jockeying for position in the church. He is not jealous of the attention or following someone else gets. If he is an ear, he is not complaining about not being an eye. On the other hand, if he is an eye, he is not flaunting his position. He is not boasting of his gifts. If he is single, he does not envy those married; if married he does not envy those single.
Love is not arrogant 5 or rude. The person who is the “eye” does not consider himself more important than the ear or the foot. He knows the importance of every member of the body. He is not rude. He does show consideration to every member, especially at the Lord’s Table. She does not throw off her accepted attire for worship. How he or she comes across to his/her Christian family matters.
Love does not insist on its own way. For the person of love, personal freedom is not the guiding principle of the Christian life. He does not eat whatever he wants wherever he wants. He certainly does not explore his sexual freedom, nor freedom from marital restraints. He directs his behavior according to what serves the best interest of his church.
Love is not irritable or resentful. People do not need to worry about what will set off the person of love. He is not looking for an offensive look or listening for a certain tone of voice. His conversation does not include the latest wrongs done against him. We do not have to hear one more time about how he was mistreated.
6 Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. A church of love certainly does not boast over the sexual immorality its members engage in such as a man sleeping with his stepmother (chapter 5). Its members do not go back to their pagan temples and party. People of Christian love do not reminisce over the good old days when they indulged in sin and hurt their neighbors; they do not laugh with movies that promote sexual immorality or ridicule the good or truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The person of love puts up with all the trials of life and with all the trying people in life because he always believes God and always keeps his hope in the promises of God. He does not lose confidence in God’s Word and thus resorts to sinful practices and attitudes for security and happiness.
Paul then teaches the permanence of love. 8 Love never ends. Just about everything else is temporary, but never love.
As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. These neat spiritual gifts will some day end because they will no longer be necessary. The kingdom of God will fully arrive. Neither speaking in tongues or receiving special knowledge will be necessary, because we will come into the presence of God and all of us will know whatever it is we need to know. We will not need prophets to reveal anything new, not even preachers to teach us.
We need such gifts now because that time for the full revealing of God’s kingdom has not come and will not come until Christ’s return. For now our knowledge is partial, but the time will come when it is perfect. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
Our situation today is like that of a child. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. When we were children we appropriately thought and acted as children. We reasoned with the faculty of children. But when we grew into adulthood, we were able to give up those ways of thinking, and indeed to continue to do so would be considered childish. A day will come when the childhood of man and of the church will end, and the practices we have now, which are appropriate for now, will be given up as we enter into the full persons we were created to be.
Or understand our situation through the illustration of a mirror. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Corinth was famous for its polished brass mirrors which gave clear images. Even so, however clear a mirror may be, it is merely casting an image. Today we can look at photographs and even moving pictures. Nevertheless, they are mere images, not the real persons. All that we know of the spiritual world, of God and of his kingdom, are at best images. The day will come when we will know such a world, when we will know God as he knows us – directly, and not through the Bible or through nature or through one another.
Paul closes by grouping love with its companion virtues: 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three. These are the Big Three of the Christian life. Here are some quick examples:
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:3)
having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8)
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven (Colossians 1:4-5).
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love (Galatians 5:5-6).
These three traits mark the whole of life for the Christian. We have faith in God and in his Gospel; our hope is in the inheritance of salvation to be fully realized with Christ returns; we love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Whether we possess big gifts or little gifts, red gifts or blue, these virtues are what matter.
But even then, Paul makes the daring remark that love is superior: but the greatest of these is love. How can love be superior to faith which is essential for salvation? How can it be superior to hope which expresses the longing God has placed in our hearts? Two ways. Love will go on when even faith and hope will no longer be needed. We have faith because we do not see; we have hope because the promise has yet to be fulfilled. When the new heavens and new earth come to be and God lives among us, faith and hope will be put away. But love will go on.
Here is the second way love is superior. Love is the most important motivation to God. We can have faith that God exists and will do what he says, and still not love him. We can hope for a better life for ourselves without God being the focus of our hope. Ask this of yourselves. When you think of entering heaven, who do you want to see? We are likely to name someone we loved on earth before we mention God. What God wants is what we want – to be loved. He will be glorified by all creatures. All will worship him even if they must be made to do so. To love God, to desire God above all else is our highest calling.
Conclusion
So where do you stack up in possessing love? Could you confidently insert your name in place of love when the traits were mentioned? No? Aren’t you glad that Jesus was able to? Think about it.
Jesus was patient and kind to us. He endured all manner of abuse and performed the greatest act of kindness – sacrificing his life for us. Jesus did not envy or boast. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing for our sake. Jesus was not arrogant or rude. He did not lord his authority over us but became our servant. Jesus did not insist on his own way. Even in Gethsemane he desired that his Father’s will be done. Jesus was not irritable or resentful, even with his inept and cowardly disciples. Jesus certainly never rejoiced at wrongdoing, but rejoiced with God’s will being done. And understand this: Jesus still bears and endures all things – our sins, our failures, our half-hearted attempts at love. For Jesus still believes in the eternal plan of his Father; he knows the joy that God has set for his creation. And because Jesus never fails – because he is eternal – then the love by which he loves us is eternal.
