Today’s post is from 1 Corinthians 13. As we approach Valentine’s day, a time of year where we celebrate love and talk about love, I wanted to look at some of the Biblical writing about love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Who’s heard this verse before?? Nearly everyone has. When do you hear it?? Frequently it’s read at weddings, and everybody has probably heard it, or at least parts of it in that context. It’s a verse that really elaborates on the very nature of love. What it is, and what it isn’t. The interesting thing about this verse is often it is used to train or instruct two people who are either just married or about to be married. It’s recited as a charge to be a good husband or wife. And while I am all for using the Bible to train and instruct people, and I am all for learning about God’s standards, as opposed to the world’s or popular culture’s norms, this verse is used beyond it’s original intent. The book of 1 Corinthians is written by Paul and it’s written to an entire church. The proper context of this verse is to be read among an exhortation to a larger group, instead one couple. And the surrounding verses are talking about the church family, or the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is talking about how there are many different members, but we are one body. There are many different gifts, but one giver and one Spirit. And the one purpose of these gifts is the “common good.” That common good is to glorify God by building up the Body or the church. Some are good at speaking in tongues and even more important than speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues (as he writes in chapter 14, to edify the church). Some are good at healing people, others are good at administration, others are good at generosity, giving guidance. The members of the Corinthian church seemed to place differing values for each gift. The church struggled with unity and there was division caused by arguing about who was better at what, and which gifts are more important. Paul cleared a lot of that up in chapter 12, but ended that chapter saying, I will show you the most excellent way. Then we are here in 13.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Paul starts chapter 13 Verse 1 by writing about speaking in tongues. This was one of the gifts that the Corinthian church valued excessively. People spoke in tongues at their services, but we find out in chapter 14, the problem was there was no interpretation of those people. They were just making noise. Or showing off. If I speak fluent Mandarin Chinese, and I bust it out at church in front of everyone, but there’s no interpretation, what good is it? Honestly, it’s just me showing off that I can speak Chinese.. And to people who don’t speak Chinese, it’s not words, but just a pretty sounding noise, that has no more meaning than a cymbal or a gong. When a drummer plays cymbals, nobody tries to attribute a specific message or prophecy to the playing. It sounds good in the right context, but there is no intrinsic meaning to it. So if I speak Chinese to somebody who doesn’t understand it, to the non-Chinese speaking listener, those noises aren’t even really functioning as words. If what I am trying to communicate in Chinese is valuable, I should, in LOVE, first understand that nobody is following me, and second make sure that there’s an interpretation, so everyone benefits. I am just being selfish or ignorant and not acting out of love if I don’t take the rest of the body of Christ into account.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Who else is valued in the Corinthian Church? The people who gave prophecy. Now, Again, that word prophecy doesn’t carry the same weight as it did in the Old Testament. Remember Hebrews 1, God used to use the prophets to speak directly to his people, but in these final days, he spoke to us through his Son. New Testament prophets are people who should speak and exposit and teach the word of God and draw people to Christ. If there’s somebody who is good at understanding scripture and teaching scripture and has ideas about God’s nature and God’s mysteries and possesses a great knowledge, he is valuable to the body of Christ. He’s a valuable asset to a church. But if he is lacking Love, His gift of prophecy is worthless. Why? The person who is an expert on the word of God doesn’t even understand the message. Without LOVE, the message of the cross is meaningless. God so LOVED the world that he Gave his only Son that whoever believes will have eternal life. If I don’t have love, I can never comprehend that gospel. I can never understand what God did for me. I can never repent of wrongdoing. I can never admit that I was an enemy, and was treated with grace and mercy in Love. Without Love, I could know the Bible back to front, name all the books, the human authors, the main characters, the explanation of all symbolism. If you read a verse, and I could tell you what book, chapter and verse number, I might appear to be a great prophet. But with out Love, all I am good for is trivia or Jeopardy. I would not understand why it’s good, and what’s important in there. Without Love, I wouldn’t be able to understand God’s love. But even if I did understand God’s love, it’s not enough. God loved us first so we can love each other. If I understand that God loved us, but it stopped there, I would STILL be totally ineffective as a prophet or teacher. If I had love for God, but no love for my brothers and sisters (and I am not sure if it’s even possible), I wouldn’t care enough about others to feel the importance of sharing God’s word and teaching God’s word. I might be happy about my own perceived salvation and my own wacky personal relationship with God, but without the interpersonal love, I wouldn’t be excited to hear that somebody else also responded to the call of God’s salvation so my motivation to be a prophet or someone who proclaims God’s word would be entirely absent.
If I have a faith that can move mountains, that means I trust in God’s power and His provision. It means I hope for this promises. But if that’s ALL I had, and there was no Love, I would be somebody who was studying God’s power as a tool to use for some selfish purpose. And one of God’s most powerful attributes, one of God’s most trustworthy and faithful characteristics is His Love for us. Without that Love, we would not see God’s goodness for what it truly is. We would have faith in a power that isn’t all that powerful, because we don’t understand the most powerful part of God’s power, and that’s his unconditional Love for an undeserving people. When we read the Bible we read about God’s power. Like what happened in the book of Exodus when God parted the Red Sea, or later in Joshua at the Battle of Jericho.
We learn that the power of God can defeat an enemy in battle. But an even more impressive display of His power is when God defeats an enemy by forgiving them and making them a friend, like the ultimate battle at Calvary, where Jesus died for our sins. That victorious battle against sin, Calvary, is where God’s power was perfected in His love. A love that God demonstrates in grace. A love that God demonstrates in mercy. God didn’t just defeat enemies, he made them friends. More than that He made them sons and daughters. John used Calvary to DEFINE love. 1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Without love, I can recite that, and locate it in the Bible. But I would never really be able to express to anybody why that’s so good, or why the culmination of the Bible and all of History happens at that cross. Let’s talk about another gift that’s vital and important to our church- Giving. Verse 3.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Let’s say I am someone who gives time and money generously, and spend my life working very hard for others. But now let’s say that I am not doing it out of love, then what could possibly be my motivation? It’s boasting or selfishness. I could work 80 hours a week, and give all my money to the poor or to some charity. But if I don’t love the poor or the recipients of that charity, why am I giving? It’s almost impossible to picture such a scenario. Because to give that much, you’d have to on some level love the people you are working for. But let’s say you don’t. Then why are you giving so much to people you don’t love? The giving is motivated by selfishness to look good or you have some sort of martyr complex. What do I gain in that context? Nothing. I lose my life trying to save it, I resentfully struggle for people who I don’t even like, or I work hard so that I can look good when I donate my time or money. But who am I even looking good in front of? People who I don’t even love. Why else would anyone be generous if they didn’t love the recipients of their generosity? Maybe I give out of guilt! Well, that means that I don’t understand Romans where it says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. If I still feel guilty, I don’t fully trust Christ’s atonement. He took our guilt and condemnation so we would be made free. In that case, my giving out of guilt would not save me or justify me, it would just illustrate my lack of faith in Christ.
The first 3 Verses of chapter 13 are written poetically and beautifully. They sound so transcendent and mystical. “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels.” “if I can fathom all mysteries and knowledge” then Paul later quotes Jesus himself with “the faith to move mountains”. It is beautiful writing, but these examples from the first 3 verses are all different types of people at the Corinthian church. These are just types of church members who have different gifts. We will deal with numerous people who are gifted in different ways when we become part of a church. If we spend any time inside the larger family in Christ, we see some people good at some things, and others good at different things.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
We think about this part in the context of a married couple when it’s read at a wedding. And whenever I hear it, I always wonder how often spouses really envy each other? Why? Aren’t you part of the same team? Aren’t you one flesh? But imagine how Paul intended it, when writing it for the whole church. Love is patient. We need to be patient not just with our soulmate, but with everyone at church. Love is Kind. We need to be kind, not just to the one person we’ve chosen to spend our lives with, but to all the people that we don’t choose, but who have also been called by God to worship and study in our church. Love does not envy. If someone at church gets a promotion, a new car, a lucrative job, we are not supposed to envy them. Love does not Boast. When we get a promotion, a new car, a lucrative job, we aren’t supposed to boast about accomplishments. Love is not proud. Our only boast, our only pride should be in the cross of Christ, that our names are written in the book of life. Love does not dishonor others. We should never look to dishonor each other, and when someone in our congregation is dishonored or falls, we should look to help to build them back up, not to get ahead. Love is not self seeking. We shouldn’t be cut throat or dog-eat-dog like the secular world, illustrated by the competitive nature of business. We should be cooperative like a family, or like a body.. We shouldn’t be easily angered, or keep any records of being wronged by each other. Love does not delight in Evil. If I mess up, nobody should delight in it. But delighting in others’ mistakes is COMMON in this world. You see this in the grocery store check out section all the time with tabloids. These newspapers love to find out when famous people mess up and then they write a big story about it. They delight in selling articles about celebrity mishaps whether they are on the scale of extra-marital affairs, or even as trivial as walking out of the house in a sloppy looking outfit. But we should be different. We shouldn’t delight in gossip. If I find out that a brother in Christ struggled in some way or sinned, or had a moment of weakness, I should lovingly understand that we’re all human beings, and I am just as likely to make a similar mistake. Just a few verses back in 1 Corinthians 10:12 Paul writes:
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
The context here is that Israel has made mistakes throughout history. Mistakes that are common to God’s people throughout time. So what do you do when you see a mistake? You can see a mistake and learn from it and do what God does, and forgive the person who did wrong.. Or you can see a mistake and get a false sense of pride and justification, but be warned, the more confident you are in your own devices, the more close you are to falling yourself..
7 Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love always protects. When we’re part of a body, we watch out for each other. If somebody is acting predatory or delighting in the evil that we sometimes fall into when we disobey, we need to protect each other. We shouldn’t sit in judgement of each other, we shouldn’t spread gossip about each other’s mistakes. We need to trust each other. We need to hope and pray for the best for each other. We need to recognize that if Christ is on the side of that brother or sister who sinned, there can be nobody against them. “If God is with me, who can be against me?” If a Christian sins, you should never align yourself to be against him, because that means you are against God and Christ. Each of our congregation members will some day sin, but each will also persevere if they are in Christ. We will persevere, not because we are a great church, but because we serve a great God. So let’s take perseverance to the end of the road, where Paul goes in verse 8.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
Paul is looking at the Corinthian church and the gifts and the people and the divisions, He looks at the earthly church of God. And that ends too. Prophecies will cease. Tongues will be stilled. Knowledge will pass away. Why do prophecies end? Because we will be complete. We will be with God. We won’t need a prophecy to hear the word of God. We will just listen and Hear God directly. We won’t need to interpret or run our mouths to get our ideas across. We will be in Heaven in the presence of the host of angels and the company of the saints praising God directly. We will not have the partial picture. We will be made complete and whole. All the gifts found in the church actually point to a place where the gifts are obsolete. The only thing that remains is Love.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
Paul compared the difference between earth and heaven kind of like the difference between being a child and a man. While we’re on earth, there’s a lack of understanding. A lack of reasoning. A lack of maturity. We’re like a bunch of kids and we don’t know any better. Sometimes that can sound demeaning, but only if you are arrogant. To be honest, there’s nothing wrong with being a child. It’s actually a wonderful phase of life when everything is exciting and new and mysterious and magical. Childhood is a time where we lived by faith and hope. Why? Because we were unable to comprehend and understand, we had to imagine and guess. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1,
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
I have an entire post about Hebrews 11, which you can read later. Christ praised the faith of children. Children aren’t expected to understand. They don’t have that capacity. Similarly while we are on Earth, we only see in part and understand in part. It’s not a character flaw or a lack of effort. We are just unable to see the whole picture. God doesn’t expect us to see everything. That’s where Faith comes in. Faith means We are hoping for what we don’t see. For faith to even exist, we need to be unable to see everything. Currently, we are not in a phase of our existence where we are completely mature and completely reasonable, and understand things completely. Not Yet. Why not? We don’t see.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Someday we will see God face to face. Paul says “then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” so we will know fully, just like we are fully known. Who fully knows us? God! So we will have a knowledge of God that is as vivid and clear as God’s knowledge is of us. I’m not sure if that means we will be omniscient like God. It COULD mean that, but to me that’s a stretch to take on one of God’s attributes. But when Paul says he will know fully, I am confident that means we will know a whole lot more than we do now. God Himself will be with us, we will be in His presence, which means we will understand more. As an example to what I am trying to say- Do I know everything that there is to know on wikipedia? No. But if I am in the presence of a wifi or mobile internet connection, I can access that knowledge with the right tools. In God’s presence, we will be in the presence of omniscience. So we will be able to know things fully. We will be able to understand. We will see more. That means that Hope and Faith at that point are no longer necessary because Faith is the hope in what we do NOT see. But in Heaven we will see. Paul ends this chapter by saying: For now, these three remain. Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is love. Love is the one thing of those three that will continue once we see and know God. Of those three Love is the greatest, because it is eternal. This week we should continue to live our lives in Love. We should continue to expand our ideas about what it means to love and have love affect our actions and thoughts and beliefs. As Christians, we are uniquely positioned in this world to know how to love, because we’ve seen love demonstrated by God, and we’ve been recipients of this love!