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First Corinthians Chapter Thirteen

by Paul George  
11/26/2008 / Bible Studies

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Quotes from World English Bible unless noted otherwise

Paul told the Corinthians, spiritual gifts must be exercised in love to have any value. In verses four through seven, Paul describes love in a way that makes it very clear that the Corinthians have lost their first love. In verses eight through thirteen, we are told all spiritual gifts are temporary, Christian love is eternal, outlasting faith and hope.

If these first three verses of chapter thirteen, Paul seems to suggest that living a loveless life; the Corinthians became worse than what they were before they became Christians. In verse two, Paul speaks of the Corinthians in terms of their present state. In verse three, Paul points out a fact often overlooked, great acts of sacrifice may win man's approval, but they will not win God's approval. Love is essential for eternal rewards.

Paul said, "If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal" (v 1). Can you imagine anything more boring than listen to a cymbal or a gong hour after hour? He said, "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 don't have love, I am nothing" (v2). Prophecy is the ability to receive knowledge from God by divine revelation. Carried to its ultimate possibility, the gift of prophecy would enable one to understand every existing mystery in the universe. However, without love, the gift of prophecy would not be profitable to the one possessing the gift. In addition to the gift of prophecy, Paul speaks of the gift of faith. Faith, exercised to the ultimate measure of success, would be a faith that could not only move mountains but also remove them (Matthew 17:20; 21:21). If one had this kind of faith, yet lacked love, the gift of faith would not be profitable to the one possessing the gift. He also said, "If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing" (v3). Here, Paul speaks of a great personal sacrifice, either by giving up all of one's possessions for the sake of the poor, or by the giving up one's life as a martyr. Because love is sacrificial (Ephesians 5:25), some might be tempted to conclude that giving up all one's possessions or one's life is proof of great love. Paul denies a great personal sacrifice is proof of a great love. A great personal sacrifice can be made apart from love, and if they are loveless, they are of no eternal benefit to the one making the sacrifice.

In verses 4 to 7, Paul provides us with a description of love. Love enables us to endure evil, injury, and provocation, without being filled with resentment, indignation, or revenge. Love gives us power over angry passions. Love enables us to put up with many slights and neglects from the person we love, and wait to see the effects love has on that person.

If patience is the passive side of love, kindness is the active side. Kindness is the opposite of "having a chip on one's shoulder," an attitude of hostility. Kindness in one's heart enables one to helpful action that only requires the hint of a need before it takes action. The "good Samaritan" did not need prodded into action nor did he seek to find a way of escape from helping his neighbor. When he saw the man lying in the road in need, he willingly did all in his means to help (Luke 10:30-37). Kindness is a characteristic of God and should be a characteristic of the Christian. If we love our neighbor, we should not envy his good fortune. Instead, we should rejoice at it. The prosperity of those to whom we wish well should never grieve us.

Love subdues pride and vainglory. Love is not filled with self-centeredness, pride, or insolent. Love is not filled with contempt and scorn. Those who process the principle of true brotherly love will do nothing out of a spirit of contention. True love does nothing improper, despicable, or vile. It does nothing out of place or time; but behaves towards all men as becomes their rank and ours, with reverence, courtesy and good will towards all men. True love is self-love's enemy. Self-love, in some degree, is natural to all men. Paul does not mean that true love destroys all regard to self; he does not mean that the charitable man is to neglect himself and all his interests. True self-love never acts in a way that injures others.

True love does not harbor malice or seek revenge. True love is not apt to be jealous and suspicious. It takes no pleasure in doing injury or hurt to any. It wishes no ill to anyone, hurt or wrong any and least of all make this a matter of delight and rejoice in doing harm and mischief. Nor will it rejoice at the faults and failings of others, and triumph over them, either out of pride or out of ill will. It takes no pleasure in the sins of others, but is highly delighted to see them do well, to approve themselves men of morality and integrity. It rejoices seeing truth and justice prevail among men, innocency cleared, and mutual faith and trust established.

In verses four through seven, Paul described the true nature of love. In verses eight through thirteen, Paul describes the difference between love and gifts. Love is superior to all the spiritual gifts because love outlasts them. In contrast to love, which does not end, Paul declares that prophecy and tongues will cease; knowledge will be done away (v 8). Paul gives the reason for the passing away or the failure of the spiritual gifts in verses nine and ten. Knowledge and prophecy in this age are partial and incomplete; however, "when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with" (V10).

Spiritual gifts are not permanent because they are not perfect. Prophecy is never wrong or inaccurate; it is simply incomplete. Peter writes of the prophets of old, who spoke of the sufferings and glories of the Messiah who was yet to come and whose own writings puzzled them because they were incomplete (1 Peter 1:10-12). Paul filled in some of the gaps of the Old Testament Scriptures by unveiling certain mysteries but his revelations were partial. He did not reveal all that we would like to know. Because of this, his Epistles raised unanswered questions, and false teachers use these unanswered questions to distort his writings.

In verses eleven and twelve, Paul puts spiritual gifts into perspective and indicates how we should view them. Paul tells the Corinthian Christians, and us, that we should view spiritual gifts as we do the toys of our childhood. Paul likens our perception of truth and reality to looking into a mirror that only imperfectly reflects reality. The Corinthians did not see as clearly as they thought. At best, their knowledge was partial. They should not cling to their spiritual gifts with pride and think too highly of themselves. Rather, they should possess and appreciate all the gifts as temporary provisions of God, seeing them as partial and inferior to what eternity holds for us.

Paul wants everyone to understand that love is not something to look down upon as inferior to spiritual gifts and wisdom; rather, it is something of the greater value. The Corinthians, knowingly or not, sacrificed love in their pursuit of certain spiritual gifts. Paul shows this to be contrary to eternal values, since love is the greater. One does not wisely sacrifice that of the greatest value for something of lesser value.

The first verse of chapter fourteen14, Paul tells the Corinthians, "Follow after love."

In chapter thirteen, Paul is not belittling spiritual gifts. He merely seeks to put spiritual gifts into perspective. Spiritual gifts are a gracious provision of God, but they are not to be pursued or practiced at the expense of love. Love is the attitude of the heart that adds value to gifts. Love is one ingredient that can never be absent without being noticed. The Corinthians may profess to pursue and practice love, but they are surely lacking in love. Therefore, this church, so marvelously gifted by God, falls desperately short of the mark. Paul's words in chapter 13 are intended to challenge us to give love its proper place and to pursue it in practice. Love is to be our priority. This truth is not unique to Paul. The teaching of the entire Old Testament and of our Lord Jesus Christ can be summed up by one word, "love." In the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ spoken to the disciples (John 13-17) Jesus repeatedly spoke of the importance of love. Love was to distinguish His disciples from others, He told them He was giving them a new commandment; they were to love one another, even as He has loved them. Jesus told the disciples that their love for one another would show all men that they are His disciples (John 13:34-35).

Question, if love is so important, why is it so quickly and easily lost. Certainly, love was lacking in the church at Corinth. The church at Ephesus all too quickly lost its first love and did not even seem to know it. Love is quickly lost when we do not make it our priority and our pursuit. How does one pursue love? We begin by reading God's Word and meditating upon it. The Bible is the only source of truth that defines what love is and does. If we are to keep ourselves in the love of Christ, we must never stray from the cross of Christ, for there on the cross of Calvary was God's love for us revealed. The love we have received from God came in the form of a cross, sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is the kind of love we are to manifest toward others.

However, we must never forget, we demonstrate love toward God and toward others by obeying His commandments and we cannot express the love of God until we have first experienced it. Love, Christian love, is impossible for those who have not yet accepted the love of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Even while we were sinners, Christ died for us, to bear the penalty for our sins, and to give us His righteousness, as we place our trust in Him by faith.

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

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