SSL 8 - 1 Cor. 13:1-13
Prayers & Announcements
Last Week: In 1 Cor. 12:4-12, 21-26, we heard Paul rebuke the Corinthians about the un-Christ-like attitudes many of them had toward spiritual gifts. Rather than celebrating one another's gifts, some Corinthian Christians had become prideful concerning certain gifts they considered to be more significant or extraordinary but at the same time, they were trivializing the more down-to-earth gifts of others. By displaying this mind-set, they had created yet another issue that was causing divisions in the church. Here are the main points of practical application:
1. All Christians are spiritually gifted in some way, and we must understand that these gifts came to us by the grace of God, not by any personal achievement on our parts.
2. Never underestimate your important to the body of Christ. No matter how ordinary your gifts may seem to be, they are as essential to the common good of the body as the more visible gifts.
3. Like the preceding point, we should never overestimate our importance to the body of Christ. We all need one another, and no one-whether their gifts are ordinary or spectacular-is indispensible. The true measure of the value of any spiritual gift is its usefulness to the body of Christ.
4. We are so closely bound together as one body that when one church member suffers, we all suffer, and in the same way, what brings joy to one member, makes all of us feel good.
This Week: In 1 Cor. 13:1-13, we cover one of the most beautiful and enduring chapters in the NT. It is typically read at weddings and anniversaries, and it has even been set to music. However, this was never the original intent behind it. As a continuation of Chapter 12, Paul wrote it as a rebuke to the Corinthian church for their flawed attitudes toward spiritual gifts. Because this context is often ignored, it makes you wonder whether most Christians are aware of its deeper application. In this chapter Paul will argue that love is an action, not an emotion. The kind of love Paul talks about is seen, experienced, and demonstrated. We live in a culture today that honors personal feelings above almost everything: we do what we want to do when we want to do it because we "feel" like it. But as Christians, we need to study what God has to say about love, and in particular, what love looks like when it is lived out in the church.
Read 1 Cor. 13: 1-3 - Love is Greater Than Any Spiritual Gift
Preface to Chapter-1 Cor. 12:31: "But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way." - To introduce Chap. 13, Paul tells us the "more excellent way" to use our spiritual gifts is the way of love, which itself is not a spiritual gift but a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Note: In these three verses, Paul mentions six spiritual gifts: tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, giving, and martyrdom. It's interesting that martyrdom does not occur anywhere else as a gift, but by its association with the other gifts mentioned here, should be categorized as a spiritual gift.
v. 1: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" - Paul starts off with the gift tongues. Some bible students have missed the point here and have mistakenly interpreted this to mean eloquence in human speech; however, taken in the context of the preceding chapter, Paul is clearly referring to the gift of tongues, and as we already learned, it was the most highly regarded spiritual gift in the Corinthian church. Also, the type of tongues Paul is talking about are "unknown tongues"-the ecstatic languages of praise and prayer. Paul says you can speak tongues all you want, but if you don't have love, you're just making a lot of useless noise. (Have you ever heard people making useless noises?)
vv. 2-3: "If I have the gift ofprophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." - Here, Paul lists five more spiritual gifts. "Prophecy," in NT context, refers to the ability to assert God's truth in a powerful, life-changing way. "Mysteries and Knowledge" confer a deep understanding of God's Word. Faith is the unique gift to trust God for great things. These three gifts are from the Holy Spirit, yet without love the person who has them accomplishes nothing. Likewise, giving to the poor is a good thing to do and dying for your faith in Christ is the ultimate sacrifice, but as good as these things may be, without love they really mean nothing--vanity.
Comment: Clearly, Paul is telling us we must have love when we are exercising our spiritual gifts. Using Paul's perspective, you could summarize these three verses like this: Without love, I say nothing, am nothing, and gain nothing. So, stop for a moment and reflect on your spiritual gifts and your ministries in this church and our community. Do you do what you do out of genuine love or are you serving out of a sense of obligation? Do you do it because of the gratification you derive from a ministry? If we're honest, none of us is perfectly pure in terms of our motives, yet we should be actively striving to do these things out of love for the people we serve. Remember that Paul said love is an action, not a feeling; it's a choice and decision we make out of our own volition-God knows.
Read 1 Cor. 13:4-7 - Love Is Expressed By Supernatural Responses
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Note: Love is a word that can only be properly defined in terms of action, attitude, and behavior. Rather then explaining it in abstract, theoretical terms, Paul wants us to know what love looks like when we see it. In these four verses, he pictures 15 separate examples of love. In his descriptions, Paul uses 15 verbs to illustrate his point. Our contemporary notion of love is an emotion-we love our jobs, we love football, we love pizza. But in these verses, Paul uses the Greek word agape, which literally pictures the self-sacrificing type of love displayed on the cross by Jesus Christ; it occurs as unselfish actions done for people who don't necessarily love you in return.
v. 4: "Love is patient, love is kind andis not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant" - The Greek word used here for "patience," makrothumei, means patience with people, not things. A person who exercises agape love does not lose patience with people. Loving people means you're willing to tolerate their shortcomings, even insults. "Kindness" exercised with agape love means your patience is accompanied by a positive reaction of goodness toward the other person. It isn't always giving the other person what he or she wants; sometimes love must be tough, as when you force an addict to go through the hell of withdrawal or say "no" to a spoiled child. The next phrase pictures what agape love is not, in this case, "jealousy," which can be defined as resentment towards the success of others. In contrast, agape love desires the success of others. Expressed again negatively, the Greek word for "brag," perpereuetai, literally means a blowhard, an egotist. Agape love suggests that the more unselfishly loving you become, the less prone you will be to brag. The word for "arrogant," phusioutai, means grasping for power and reveals a lack of respect and an attitude of contempt for others. In contrast, agape love compels us to be open and gracious toward those we serve, an attitude coupled with humility and compassion.
v. 5: "does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered" - This verse pictures four more examples of what agape love is "not." "Unbecoming" simply means rude. This tell us that we should not always "speak our mind" but temper our actions with courtesy, tact, and politeness-the fruit of self-control. Love that "does not seek its own" is the opposite of putting your own rights first. This is a type of love that does not talk too much but listens, does not insist on its own way, and is always willing to defer to others. Love that "is not provoked" means when you allow someone to provoke you, it's your fault: it does mean you don't allow yourself to react with anger or be exasperated by petty comments. It means you carefully measure your words and respond with civility-again, self-control. Taking into "account a wrong suffered" literally pictures writing the deed down a ledger, a grudge. In contrast, agape love doesn't keep a record of wrongs but forgives them and writes them off.
v. 6: "does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth" - Here Paul provides a comparison and contrast. There is something in our human nature that draws our attention to talk of (or gossip about) crimes, natural disasters, and assorted human tragedies. But agape love takes no joy in "unrighteousness" of any kind. It means you experience no pleasure when you hear about the shortcomings, mistakes, and sins of other people. Likewise, any action that does not completely conform to the truth of God's Word, cannot be done in love. On the other hand, "truth" and love go together hand-in-hand. "Truth" makes our love discerning, while love makes our makes our "truth" compassionate and forgiving. Importantly, when our actions line up with agape love, we always welcome Biblical "truth" and never resist it.
v. 7: "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" - Paul described the last four examples of agape love in the affirmative. Stegei panta, the Greek word for "bears all things" means to cover something protectively, like a roof. It's right in line with the statement of 1 Pet. 4:8 that: "Love covers a multitude of sins." Ask yourself if you've ever said anything needlessly critical or hurtful to someone you love, and wish you could take it back. Or maybe it was said to you. In a practical sense, it means this type of agape love helps you guard your mouth when something should be left unsaid-self-control again. The type of "love that believes all things" (GR. pisteuei: to entrust) is a willingness to allow for extenuating circumstances, to give a person the benefit of the doubt, and generally to be trusting of someone unless you have good reason to believe otherwise. Automatic suspicion and mistrust of people is worse than being too trusting. The love that "hopes all things" (GR. elpizei: to expect) is simply a step beyond believing. Paul is not advocating unreasonable optimism; he is saying that agape love refuses to take failure as final, to never give up on people. Have you ever prayed for a lost friend or family member who seemed irreversibly hard-hearted?
"With God all things are possible." (Mt. 19:26). "Endures" (GR. upomenei) is a military term that means holding onto a position at all costs. This type of agape love holds fast to the people it loves, never gives up, and won't stop loving, even in the face of rejection. This kind of love takes action to change an intolerable situation and looks beyond the present to the hope of something in the future.
Comment: The kind of love described in vv. 4-7 has its source in God, and as we look at each phrase, it becomes obvious that we're depicting a lifestyle that's beyond mere human reach. It is absolutely impossible to obtain it unless we abide in Christ and ask Him to live His supernatural love in and through us.
Read 1 Cor. 13:8-13 - Love Is An Eternal Gift
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
vv. 8-9: "Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;" - In these final six verses, Paul discusses the temporary nature of gifts versus the eternal nature of love. When he says, "Love never fails," he means love never ends. With this, Paul closes this line of argument with the assertion that all the spiritual gifts will one day cease to be-finished. The term "in part" means incomplete. While the gifts of knowledge and prophecy are given by the Spirit, they are incomplete and given for a limited purpose and for a limited time. But while our understanding is now incomplete, it will not always be the case.
v. 10: "but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away" - The "perfect" refers to the return of Christ, a time of perfection in the age when Jesus reappears to usher-in the kingdom of God in all its fullness, when such "partials" will be unnecessary.
v. 11-12: "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." - Here, Paul explains that our understanding of God is indirect, using two analogies-childhood and a mirror. In the childhood analogy, Paul isn't suggesting that those who speak in tongues are childish and immature, but is projecting a longer-term (i.e., eternal) perspective of a time when gifts of the Spirit are no longer needed. The mirror analogy implies that our visibility of Christ is likewise indirect, like looking into a mirror compared to the relationship we will enjoy with Jesus when we see Him face-to-face.
v. 13: "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" - Paul tells us that we will enjoy these thee attributes for all eternity: we will experience God's incredible love, we will experience a deep love for God, and we will love one another with perfect love. We will also have "faith" in the Lord for all eternity, but where does "hope" fit into to it? This isn't a hope of better days but the hope of trusting God forever.
APPLICATION:
1. When we use our spiritual gift, we must do it with love. As Paul explained in vv. 1-3, if we exercise these gifts without love, we say nothing, we are nothing, and we gain nothing.
2. According to Paul, love is an action, not a feeling. Love is a word that can only be properly defined in terms of action, attitude, and behavior.
3. Agape, the Greek word used for love in all of these verses, pictures the self-sacrificing type of love displayed by Jesus when He died on the cross for us. This type of love is evident when we perform unselfish actions for people who don't necessarily appreciate it or even love us in return.
4. Agape love, as illustrated by Paul in this chapter, has its source in God. The type of love illustrated in vv. 4-7 describes a lifestyle that's beyond mere human abilities. We can never achieve it unless we abide in Christ and ask Him to live His supernatural love in and through us.
5. Love lasts forever. The earth, as we now know it, will pass away and with it, the need for gifts of the Spirit. But in eternity, God's love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other, will last forever.
