Note: In this post we welcome guest blogger, David Hundert. David is studying in Kairos University – Evangelical Seminary’s Master of Divinity program.
As we learned in the previous post, love is at the heart of what Jesus called the Old Testament’s two greatest commandments. How can we practice that kind of love? What does it look like in today’s world, for us to love unconditionally?
In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 7 teach us what love is. However the chapter is meant to be read as a whole. The chapter tells us not only what love is, but what we aren’t if we don’t have it, so starting in verse 1, we read,
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. 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. 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. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 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. 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. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The chapter begins with a description of eloquence, which in and of itself, is an amazing gift. Yet when used without love, it’s only as good as a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Imagine all of the effort that it takes to get to the point of eloquence in your speech. All of the studying and hard work. You get to the point where you can stand before kings and speak in a way that would be articulate and well-expressed. You are finally called to address an important audience, but all that they hear is noise!
The difference is love.
In verse 2, Paul mentions prophecy. This is the very gift that in verse 1 of the very next chapter, he mentions as the one gift he values most. This is the one gift that he says we should desire among all others, and yet he states in verse 2, that if he has the faith to move mountains or the ability to prophesy and have all knowledge, that without love, he is nothing.
He drives his point home in verse 3. He talks about the selfless, the one who gives up all that they own for the poor and less fortunate. He talks about the one who willingly lives a life of suffering, and yet without love, they’ve gained nothing. There are those that have given up everything, because they have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, because they feel that they will have possessions in heaven. Is it possible to live that kind of lifestyle, and even preach the gospel, and not have love? I don’t want to find out, do you?
In 1986, an artist by the name of Billy Crockett, released a song called “Portrait of Love,”
A traveling artist known as Paul,
Painted truth with words,
The truth that he saw was burning love,
That comforts and disturbs.
Each year he grew until he knew,
The portrait couldn’t wait,
Without a sound,
The man sat down,
And he began to paint.
Love is patient, love is kind,
Never jealous, free of pride,
Love will never be confined, Love will abide,
Love is hopeful, love’s not blind,
Love is faithful, every time,
Love is Someone, and
When you open your eyes, you’ll find
That love is alive.
I love the idea in the song, that Paul was an artist, whose medium in his art was words. The idea that the subject of his artwork was the Lord, and the medium he chose, Love, is inspirational.
Verses 1 through 3 described what it’s like to not have it, verses 4 through 7, probably the most famous and most quoted passage of Scripture, is the description of what love is. With a series of fifteen verbs (some with objects) Paul proceeds to describe the love that he has just insisted is the absolute necessity within Christian behavior.
The passage is basically broken down to three parts. It begins with two positive expressions of love (patience and kindness); followed by eight verbs expressing what love is not like or doesn’t do, the last of which is balanced by its positive counterpart. Finally, there is a list of four verbs, describing what love always is, the last of which ties back into the first item, patience, by means of its alternative expression, “endurance” or “perseverance.”
The next set of verses are an interesting contrast. Paul starts out with “Love never fails. On the one hand, this could be a continuation of the previous verses, but Paul intends it as a contrast.
I would like to make one observation here aside from the discussion at hand; take a bit of a rabbit trail here, but you will understand why in the end. There are those within the body of Christ, that use the last two-thirds of this verse as an excuse to refute Pentecostalism. They are referred to as “cessationist,” and they state that Paul mentions, in the English Standard Version, “As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease…”
They use this to say that in modern day Christianity, those gifts no longer exist. Now, I’m not going to get into whether or not those gifts do or don’t exist today. However, keep in mind, they also tend to cut off the end of the verse where it says that knowledge will pass away. As believers that want to rightly read the Word of God, you have to be very careful picking and choosing what parts of what verses you want to use and how you use it.
In the case of this verse, Paul is using those as a contrast to his initial statement of “Love never fails.” Love doesn’t fail… These things do, but Love doesn’t. Paul continues this thought with contrasting the way things were, the way things are, and the way they will be. “When” he was a child, but when he “became” a man. “Now” we see in part, but we “will” see face to face. Now I know in part, but eventually I will know fully. This highlights the transitory nature of all things, however, Paul finishes out the passage with the three things that don’t. He states “…these three remain: faith, hope, and love.” He finishes with the greatest being love.
Engaging Scripture 