1 Corinthians 13 (ESV): The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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. 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.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians is a letter from Paul to a church that he started in Corinth. The people there are dear to him and it hurts him when he finds out they are quarreling with one another over who they follow, taking one another to court, and poorly handling serious issues that occur in the church. Paul spends the first part of his letter focusing on Jesus, the only one under whom we can truly be united. Then, to start wrapping up his instruction on how to deal with some of these issues, Paul paints the truest picture of Christ-like love found anywhere in history.
These verses are often used in weddings as a romantic kind of love. The church after all is the bride of Christ, and love in a strong marriage is probably the closest we can get to modeling this kind of love. But we must realize that what we see here is completely unattainable outside knowing and understanding the love of God. 1 John 4:8 makes it very clear that the only way to truly know love is to truly know God and most people outside of the church would probably agree that this ideal picture of love would never really occur in reality.
Unfortunately, even in church, we have trouble making this definition a reality. In our culture we toss around the word love in so many un-meaningful ways, “I love pizza! I loved that movie! I love playing football!” The church at Corinth, like us, needs to be reminded about the love to which we have been called. Paul’s words tell us that no matter what you do, how smart you are, how generous you are, or even how much faith you have: if you don’t have love, you are missing the point of following Jesus!
To explain Paul’s final sentence in this chapter, N.T. Wright mentions that when we spend eternity in the presence of God, love will be the only thing left. Our faith and hope will have been fulfilled in Christ and in our resurrection: faith and hope will no longer be needed. But in the presence of God his love for us and ours for him will continue through eternity.
How can we demonstrate that eternal love now?
In what ways could this kind of love strengthen your relationships with others?
Have you ever experienced a problem in church that was handled without love?
How might you use that experience to better demonstrate love in the future?
Dear God,
Help us to live into your eternal love even now in our relationships at home, at work, and most importantly with our familia of faith.
Come join us Sunday as we delve a little deeper into this passage!