1 Corinthians Chapter 13.

1 Corinthians Chapter 13.

13:1-3.  Love is supreme over every gift and service.  

13:4-7.  Love is supreme in every situation.  

13:8-13. Love is supreme among the final values of life.

The Chapters Setting: 

Chapter's 12-14 are concerned with spiritual gifts and their exercise for the building up of the Church. They instruct the Corinthians as to the true purpose of spiritual gifts and provide sound principles for their exercise.  Paul uses a threefold argument.

           

1.  Christians are members of the Body of Christ and their corporate life in Christ is a real vital experience.  However the Church is not merely a religious club, but has an integration like that of a body, whose members share in the same life.  The Church has both unity and diversity like that of a body.  It is then the co-ordination of the many members with diverse functions that makes the unity of the body so wonderful.  Mere uniformity could not be as vital as this unity expressed in diversity.

           

2.  The Spirit of God forms the unity of the Church.  Is also the source of its diversity, but He is not the source of division and discord.  But the allotment of the many gifts manifests the Sovereignty of the Spirit.  Paul wants the Corinthians to grasp the uniqueness of their "togetherness" and the great importance of promoting it in a practical way.

           

3.  The incomparable worth of Love.  The Church is the Body of Christ, but the members are not merely hands, feet, eyes, ears and other such things, they are persons.  His Body is composed of people who have been united in Christ by the Holy Spirit of God.  Now the human body is built up by means of the blood stream, but the body of Christ is built up in love.  It is love that edifies or builds up.  All real human progress is along the way of love, that is, in the improvement of human relations.  Love consists in "better relations," a healthier working together for the welfare of all.  It is a power that binds and builds people together so that they work together. The union that the Holy Spirit forms through baptism becomes effective in a practical way through love.

           

4.  All Church activities must be directed to edify or build up the Church.  This is the lesson of chapter 14.   Through various activities the Church builds itself up in the unity the Spirit has given it.  This unity is expressed in mutual love. It is not merely that of a social club, but the people of God.  It is effected under the guidance of Christian truth expressed in worship, prayer and ministry of the Word.  To achieve this the Church must regularly assemble together.  When the Church assembles there must be spiritual communications so that their experiences are shared.  The talk that has no intelligible meaning will communicate nothing that others can share to edification, but that which is understood by all helps all.

           

The three chapters form a closely knit argument.  Chapter 13 arises naturally from chapter 12, and chapter 14 is a fitting climax.  Chapter 13 is a kind of parenthesis, but is vitally related to the previous chapter and to that which follows.  Paul's reply to the enthusiasts of glossolalia comprises not one verse alone, neither does it rely on the force of an adverb, but it consists of three chapters which fostered a new understanding of life in the Church.   For this great discussion in chapter 13 is the very heart and rightly has the central place.  For mutual love among brethren is the correcting principle.  This was the true remedy for the misuse of spiritual utterances, as that in chapter 8, which was there, a corrective for misuse of freedom.  Generally speaking, the disorders at Corinth were due to their failure to maintain mutual Christian love.   The epistle as a whole testifies to this defect among them.

           

Introductory Notes:

*  Enthusiasm and love.  The Corinthians valued enthusiasm and eagerly promoted it.  Paul was not afraid of zeal and avoids smothering it.  His handling of glossolalia shows how careful he is that enthusiasm be not quenched, but he also knows that there is a religious zeal that knows little of oral and social values.  Such enthusiasm can be proud, selfish, cruel and intolerant, rather than pure and kind.  It scattered rather than builds up.

           

Religious enthusiasm or zeal is the "raw material" of the religious life.  It is important not to destroy that material, but it requires to be transformed and moulded into channels of love and service for our fellow man.  The "raw material" of religious enthusiasm must learn the mind of Christ and become imitative of Him.  For, in this chapter, love is personified.  It stands for a character, a way of living, a person thinking, feeling, choosing and doing.  It is a true portrait of the character of Jesus.  If Paul's description of love is a portrait of Christ, then the glossolalailist stands in some measure of contrast to the Christ-like character.  In his description of love Paul describes Christ and His work.  For love in every case we could read of Christ and He is our more excellent way.

           

*  Eros and Agape.  The New Testament writers avoid `eros', a word associated with some of the worst features of Greek life and even in its better association was unsatisfactory, since it gave a wrong idea of God.  The Greeks wrought ecstasy on `eros' and the banishment of the heavenly gift of self-control.  For `eros' was more glorious than self-control, since it raised the senses to a pitch of frenzy, bursting the limitations of manhood and transporting the man above himself.  Under the tyranny of `eros', a man lost his ability to choose, his will, his freedom, and finds his blessedness in ecstasy.  The demonic force of `eros' mingled with religious enthusiasm sought its culminating force insensual ecstasy. 

           

Erotic religion or ecstasy was the background of the Corinthian church.  Paul does not describe the tongues of the Corinthian church as demonic, however their enthusiasm was misdirected and showed many similarities to `eros'.  It is against this misdirected enthusiasm that Paul presents another word meaning love, the word `agape'.  This word is associated with self- control, Gal.5:22.  `Agape' is the love that cares, chooses, is kind and generous.  It is a practical activity, moving out to meet the needs of others at every level.  It is the deliberate purpose to pursue the good of others, the overcoming of evil with good, and not the pursuit of self-interests.

           

* Translation of Agape.  Wycliffe used "charity" from the Latin `caritas'.  Tyndale chose the Anglo-Saxon "love".  Neither words are free from association that misleads.  It is therefore necessary to show the distinctly Christian meaning of `agape'.  Some scholars prefer "caring".  Charity may be cold, love sensuous, but there is nothing cold or impure about `agape'.

Exposition:

13:1-3.  Apart from love the greatest achievements have no value.  Paul has requested them to earnestly seek the greater gifts, for some are more important than others. But he now shows to them "a more excellent way", that of love.  It is along this path they must seek the more excellent gifts, for those gifts which most serve the cause of love are greater.  To desire gifts that we edify the Church is more excellent than to desire them that we emulate one another in their attainment.  The desire for distinction is strong in every man and Paul would direct that desire into service to others.  Gifts are of no significance except as used in the service of love to others.  The way of love means that gifts will not be valued for personal enjoyment, but as the means through which others are edified.

           

13:1.  Love alone can give meaning to anything we say.  The highest ecstatic utterances exceeding that of men and pertaining to angels, unless spoken in love, becomes as noisy, intolerable and meaningless as the noisy instruments used in pagan worship.  Their "angel talk" was so much `noisy gongs' if they have no love, and to have love is to be no longer occupied with such chatter. The comparison is not that of ecstatic speech without love against that of such ecstatic languages with love, but rather, the superiority of love over such ecstatic speech.

           

13:2.  Prophecy was the best gift.  To know all mysteries would be the greatest religious insight.  To have faith to remove mountains would greatly excite the wonder and admiration of men.  To see a person do such a thing would cause a great sensation. The Corinthians were easily impressed by the spectacular.  Paul gives a new scale of values, to show love and kindness to someone in need is greater.  The measure of a man's love is the measure of his life.

           

13:3.  To give away one's property, bit by bit to feed the poor seems very much like love, but it is evident that even this can be done without love.  "As cold as charity."  It may be done through pride, through religious fanaticism or hope of a greater and even heavenly reward.

           

If the reading "be burnt" is accepted, it may have reference to:-

a. The known instances of Indian fakirs doing such.

b. Christian's seeking martyrdom.

c. Selling oneself into slavery to obtain money to feed the poor.

           

If we choose the margin reading, "that I may glory", it may mean:-

*   To strive for martyrdom.

*   To sell oneself into slavery, suffering branding, to secure money to feed the poor.

However, the R.V, the R.S.V and the N.E.B. give the reading "be burned".  Dean Stanley and Moffatt see a reference to some known instances of an Indian fakir burning himself to death, while Hering rejects the idea.

           

Without love the character and life of any man is poor and barren.  The most extraordinary deeds do not compensate for lack of love.  Paul's words do not exclude the possibility that others may be benefited by our action but, unless what we do is the work of love, our character and life have no true worth.  Paul writes these verses in the first person to portray more dramatically the incomparable worth of love.

           

13:4-7.  The characteristics of love in its practical manifestation.  Moffatt's translation of chapter 13 is very beautiful.  Verse 4, 

"Suffereth long."  Love is patient with all.  It is not short-tempered, angered, nor quickly discouraged about people.   

"Kind."   Love uses every opportunity to show kindness and mercy.  It is kind in circumstances that are irritating and trying.  Always avoids hurting people, but remains kind, tender, compassionate and merciful.  The charm of the book of Ruth is that it is a book that reveals a great kindness.  The glossolalist is often impatient, intolerant, bumptuous through feelings of a fancied superiority, and will insist on the exercise of his gift though others are hurt and distressed.  

 "Envieth not." Love is jealous of no one.

`Zelos' is used in two ways in the New Testament:

*   In a good sense, meaning zeal, ardour.

*   In a bad sense, as here, meaning jealousy, envy.  Jealousy promotes strife, and is cruel, but love does not envy the success or good fortune of others.  Jealousy is no proof of love.

           

"Vaunteth not itself."  Love does not brag, it makes no parade.  It is not jealous of the gift of others nor boasts of its own gift.   

"Not puffed up"; "Conceited" N.E.B.  "Arrogant"  R.S.V.  It does not parade itself as better than others, neither is love puffed up with pride.  Love possesses a humility and refuses to give itself airs.

           

13:5. "Doth not behave itself unseemly."  "Nor rude"  N.E.B.  It doesn't insist on its own rights and opinions, neither unmannerly nor inconsiderate.  "Good manners are the result of consideration for others." - Goudge.  Drummond said, "politeness has been defined as love in trifles. Courtesy is said to be love in all things." Love stands in contrast to the loss of control shown by the ecstactic.

           

"Seeketh not its own."  "Never selfish"  N.E.B.  "Love does not insist on its own way" R.S.V.  The glossolalist is frequently determined to get his own way, is selfish and sometimes covetous.  The way things were done at Corinth indicated clearly that much selfishness lay behind their speaking in tongues.  It was a selfish enjoyment of spiritual advantages, a spiritual indulgence.  Love never seeks its own ends, but makes sacrifices for the good of others.

           

"Is not provoked." R.V. -"Not quick to take offence." N.E.B.  "It is not irritable." R.S.V.  "Does not yield to provocation, is not embittered by injuries, whether real or supposed." R + P.  The glossolalist is quickly angered at criticism.

           

"Taketh no account of evil." - "Love keeps no score of wrongs." N.E.B.  "Not resentful." R.S.V.  Love does not enter into a ledger the wrongs done to it.  The word used by ancient accountants.

           

13:6.  "Rejoiceth not in unrighteousness." R.V. "Does not gloat over other men's sins." N.E.B.  It is never glad when others go wrong and never shares the glee of the successful transgressor. R + P.  The R.S.V. has, "it does not rejoice at wrong."

           

"Rejoiceth with the truth." R.V.  Truth, moral truth, the doing of what is right, stands in contrast to unrighteousness.  Truth, like love is personified.  They are twin sisters in their joy.  `Agape' is the love that prefers and chooses, and delights in truth. 

           

Truth represents more than doctrines, it is to be understood in its widest sense, especially as meaning moral worth.  No Church has stability without the love of honesty, integrity, and a sincere holding to principles of truth.  The glossolalialist can be more concerned with displaying his unusual gift than the teaching of worthwhile truth.

           

13:7. "Beareth."  `Stego' has two meanings:

*  Cover, conceal, passover.  So keep confidential, to excuse.  "Love throws a cloak of silence over what is displeasing in another person." - Nauer.  "Love springs no leak."  It is always slow to expose or to make an issue of the fault of others.

*   Bear, stand, endure.  To cover is to protect, keep off, to be proof against trouble and foes and so bear or endure against them.  "There is nothing love cannot face." N.E.B.  It overcomes evil with good, forgiving wrongs done against it.

           

"Believeth all things."  It is ready to believe the best about people.  Bolingbroke said of a certain man, "He is naturally inclined to believe the worst, which I take to be the certain mark of a mean spirit and a wicked soul."

           

"Hopeth all things."  Love believes in God, it also believes in man, and never loses all hope of human nature.  Love comes from God and believes He is over all and is working out His loving purpose.

"Endureth all things."  Love stands its ground and holds out against opposing forces.  It does not lack durability and toughness.

           

Note:   While the above reflections are true, the translation by Hering deserves consideration, especially as it avoids collusion with the warnings about false prophets.  Love does not lack discernment.  Hering takes "all things" as "at all times" or "in all circumstances."  "In all circumstances, it is full of forgiveness, full of faith, full of hope and full of patience."

           

13:8-13. The permanency, perfection and supremacy of love.

           

13:8. "Love never faileth."  It never comes to an end. It is never out of date, but has an enduring quality that is always contemporary.  It shall continue to stand and not fall nor be overcome.

           

13:8-12.  Whilst love shall never fall from its place of supremacy, the gifts of the Spirit shall cease.  The fruit of the Spirit endures, but the gifts of the Spirit are provisional and transitory.  Prophecy and knowledge shall vanish away and tongues of ecstasy shall cease.  Paul does not expressly say when this shall occur, he is rather concerned to show the enduring supremacy of love.  The gifts of the Spirit belong to our imperfect state and shall vanish, but love never disappears, but remains, continually active in service for others, and when the perfect state arrives, it will be essentially perfection in love.  Knowledge and prophecy alike are partial, fragmentary.

           

Whether Paul means our imperfect apprehension of the perfect state, or that of a spiritual gift which is granted to some, he shows that since this knowledge is incomplete, transitory, to which he sets love in contrast, it cannot be the Christian revelation which has come to us in Jesus Christ. Paul never thinks of the Christian revelation as incomplete and transitory.  In chapter 2 it is clearly indicated that he thinks of God's revelation in Christ as eternal and complete. 

           

The gift of knowledge may mean the ability to decide what is God's will, what is right and wrong in a given situation.  Some at Corinth may have misused their gift of knowledge, using it selfishly.  Love is the correcting principle, for love offers a more full understanding, for it brings us into a full knowledge of God's nature and will.  Love gives the complete revelation of the will and purpose of God.

           

13:9.  The complete character of knowledge and the prophetic revelation is underlined.  The apostle could hardly have described the Christian revelation in these terms, but they describe the fleeting character of the charismatic utterances in the Church.

           

13:10.  This verse is not necessarily wholly eschatological, though it points to the consummation of our salvation in the Kingdom of God at the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But the perfect state that Paul speaks about is love.  This is the wholeness of which he writes:  It is something that is already taking place in time and shall be consummated in the coming Kingdom. The theme of love still defines the chapter.

           

Note :  That which is perfect has no reference to the Canon of the New Testament, for it introduces an idea foreign to Paul, and to the passage.

           

13:11.  Paul's illustration of development from childhood to manhood emphasizes the teaching of verses 8-10.   Love is the enduring value and is the supreme characteristic of that which is perfect.  He who would grow into spiritual manhood must pursue love.  The Christian who reaches some maturity in Christian love, who anticipates the perfect state, will discern what gifts best edify the Church.

           

The word for child is `nepios' and means infant.  It emphasizes the infantile state which stands in contrast to the perfect and mature state, which is to come.  The illustration points to the deliberateness with which we put away childish things when we become mature.  There is in childhood an incompleteness that full growth removes.  The gifts the Corinthians deemed so important belong to our infantile state and are therefore much inferior to love which is eternal.  The illustration in verse 11 links up verse 10 with verse 12, and explains how the word "perfect" is understood.  Clearly it describes that which the believers share in, and that is fully described in v.12.

           

13:12.  By means of this second illustration Paul shows the vast difference between the partial and imperfect with the perfect and enduring, and so indicates the greatness of the change that takes place.  "For now."

`Arti' means "just now," and distinguishes our present experience from what is to come.

           

The mirror, R.V. was made of highly polished metal.  There may be a reference to the use of mirrors made by the ancient magicians.  One paid him a fee and concentrated one's gaze on a mirror and there would appear the faint image of a person or place far away.  We see darkly, in a riddle, baffling reflections.  It reminds us of Plato's allegory of the cave.

           

It is through earthly imagery we seek to understand heavenly realities.  Therefore our present insights are baffling and elusive, but when that which is perfect arrives we shall see "face to face."  In the Old Testament the words "face to face" are used to show the superiority of the revelation given to Moses in contrast to that given to others. See Num.12:6-8.  The words denote an experience, personal, experimental and reciprocal.  It is `know' according to the manner of the Hebrew `yada' which includes personal involvement.  The full realization of this is eschatological, but he who lives in love already experiences in measure the "face to face" vision of God.  At present we know in part but then we shall know as we have been known (aorist).  The aorist may point to the Divine election.  The intimate, personal and reciprocal knowledge that shall be ours shall be the perfection of love. See 8:1-4.  It is the knowledge that springs from complete love.

           

When Paul writes of "seeing in a mirror, darkly," does he refer there to the experiences of certain persons who had a charisma of knowledge, or is he writing of our present immaturity which would include himself?  More likely, he is writing in wider terms than of the charisma of knowledge and includes himself.  However, in setting forth the abiding character of love which constitutes that which is perfect, he holds before his readers an ideal, a metamorphosis, whose realization begins in time.  This is why, that to Paul, the Person of Christ, the Christian revelation, and `agape', are closely related.

           

13:13.  "But now."  Is usually taken as logical, not temporal, and translated "so then."  Some commentators think love alone is eternal in the Christian Triad.  But more probably all three shall last on.  The singular form of the verb "abideth" links the three together in an indissoluble unity.  But love is greatest, for faith and hope are facets of love, which "believeth all things, hopeth all things." 

           

However, Allo's reconstruction has much to be said for it.  He says that `nuni de' stands in contrast with `tote' in 13:12, and consequently, could only have a temporal sense now. That would mean understanding the Triad as belonging to the present order of human experience.  Probably Paul is thinking of the enduring quality of faith, hope and love, without raising the question whether all three shall constitute part of the coming Kingdom.

           

Paul would have his readers realize the supreme importance of love, which comes from God and has been manifested in the Cross, and becomes effectual in our hearts by the activity of the Holy Spirit.  The love of which Paul writes cannot be thought of apart from the great facts of the gospel.  It is God's love manifested for our redemption.  It is no mere human sentiment, but is the central truth of the Christian revelation, and cannot be known apart from the revelation in Christ.  Verse 13 presents the three great principles of Christian living, and of the life and testimony of the Church:

*   The faith of Christ, which is bulwarked with salvation.

*   The mutual love which edifies the Body of Christ.

*   The hope of eternal glory.

           

These are the three basic principles of the Church.  They constitute the energy of its life, worship and testimony.  A good churchman, according to the ideal of the New Testament, is one who walks in love and the church that does not walk in love has deserted the most basic New Testament principle of its church life.  Faith, hope and love, constitute the central lasting principle of the life of the Christian community.

           

In this hymn of praise to love, Paul takes love down to the little things of life and shows how it works.  Love is seen at its best in the ordinary wear and tear of church life.  It manifests itself in patience, kindness, humility, courtesy and such like things.  It is the central stuff of everyday community life.  It is that which makes church life work in having the same care one for another.  Love must govern our aspiration for spiritual gifts.  To pursue love is to set our hearts on edifying the Church.

           

The Corinthians thought that ability to talk was the mark of the spiritual man.  They emphasized the cult of personality rather than the Christ like character.  The spiritual man is not he who talks well, but he who walks well, and that in the way of love.  For mutual Christian love is the greatest power for building the Church.