1 Corinthians 13:1
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.
It is hard…. not to love this man. Paul does something in opening this chapter that very few experts do. He points to himself as the root of a problem, thereby giving his listeners room to ruminate on their response. The church at Corinth was a young church. They were excited. There was a mix of cultures and ethnicities, including a Jewish contingent. In this moment, Paul does not seek to dampen their enthusiasm, but to redirect it in a way that benefits the entire body of believers.
“If I speak with tongues of men and angels”...
Paul makes the case that the gift of tongues is a purely spiritual manifestation. Literally, it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God within the body of believers. He notes that not only are the languages of men made manifest, but also the languages of angels. Full stop. ‘Tongues of angels’ suggest something so otherworldly as to find it’s place firmly outside the realm of human understanding. As a spiritual gift, it can only be accessed by … a leap of faith. Many have argued whether tongues have any place in the present-day church. My question to them is: “If God gave us such a gift, who are we to reject it?
“ but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Paul is speaking to a young enthusiastic church. They were babes in Christ. They were ‘yet carnal’. In regards to the gifts of the Spirit, they were missing a key ingredient: Love. Beloved, as believers, we must seek to carefully follow the Holy Spirit as He leads and we must always desire to be motivated by love. The Corinthians were enthusiastic over the manifestations of the Spirit, but they weren’t always motivated by love. Subsequently, the message of Christ, the Gospel was lost on ears that had been deafened by mistrust of the messengers.
1 Corinthians 13:2
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.
The mysteries of which Paul speaks are not ‘learned’ from a book, rather they are revealed by the Holy Spirit. The gift of prophecy is just that, a gift…. from God. There are many gifted orators, singers, performers whose gifts are honed by years of scholarship and practice. While it is true that those gifts are within the creative rendering of God, they are not the ‘charisma’s that Paul is speaking of in this writing. The gifts of the Spirit are ministry gifts rendered by God in the moment for the purpose of the furthering of the Gospel. They distinctly reveal the Presence, the heart, and mind of God to those in need of a moment of intimacy from God. Faith to remove mountains, again suggests that these gifts have their origin outside of what is possible within the realm of human effort. Mountains don’t just move because you wish them to. Paul concludes this statement by stating that, even with these kinds of God-given miracles available to him, without the motivation of love, he, Paul is nothing. Nothing!
1 Corinthians 13:3
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Here, Paul broadens the argument to reveal a different kind of gift: the gift of sacrifice. This requires the personal surrender of all that one may hold dear, whether it is money or possessions or even one’s own body into slavery or worse. And again, unless sacrifice is made in love, there is no personal, eternal benefit. None. Beloved, this is a key component of the Gospel. We are not saved by works, by good deeds. We are saved and set apart for them. In and of themselves, they offer no eternal benefit, especially if done to draw attention to oneself.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6
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;..
Herein lies the problem within the Corinthian church. They were self-seeking, arrogant and prideful. They were easily triggered by every perceived sleight. Paul seeks to turn this group of believers from prideful self-promotion to a humility of spirit that seeks the betterment of all.
1 Corinthians 13:7
7 (Love…) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…
Paul presses the point by pointing out tht love goes the extra mile, turns the other cheek, gladly surrenders the shirt off of his back to the benefit of other believers, especially those in need or of lesser economic or societal status. Sacrifice for the good of others. This message is consistent with the message of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament as well.
1 Corinthians 3:8a
8a Love never fails;
The beauty of this singular statement, apart from the remainder of the verse is that it speaks to the everlasting, omnipotent, omniscient power emanating from the Throne of Grace because… God loves us. Nothing more. It is purely the love of God that sustains every fiber of our existence. It is love that carries us, that nurtures us, that rescues us. Love eases our pain, extends mercy in our greatest time of need, and comforts us when our sorrow is deepest. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:8b - 9
8b ...but if there are gifts of [c]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;....
Here is the portion of scripture many use to argue that the spiritual gift, the charismas have been done removed from the modern-day church, with the further implication that they have been removed by God.
1 Corinthians 13:10
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
But: a conjunction used to introduce a phrase or clause contrasting with what has already been mentioned
The word ‘but’, in verse 10 indicates a conjunction introducing a contrast. I am restating the obvious, but… for this illustration, I must focus all of our attention on the contrast in order to draw the truth out of this verse. Here is the first and most obvious contrast. A contrast of the perfect versus the partial. The perfect is obviously Christ: The Alpha and Omega, The First and The Last. The Word … (watch this) Incarnate. The second contrast has to do with time, or rather a contrast in times. It seems that the times being contrasted are present and future, but that is an incomplete understanding of the moment. You see, when Christ appears, he will usher in the eternal. So then, a complete rendering of the contrast should be a contrast of time as we understand it to the eternal as we imagine it, where there is no passage of time.
1 Corinthians 13:11
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I [d]became a man, I did away with childish things.
“Son, that dog won’t hunt.” “Son, I’m not fattening frogs for snakes.” “Boy, you believe fat meat is greasy, do you?”
These were both truths and truisms that were spoken to me by my dad over the years as he sought to help me survive the ineptness that comes with childhood and mature into a healthy adult. Paul uses an analogy of growing out of and away from childishness into adulthood to offer the same kind of truism to a young, immature Corinthian church. In doing so, he implies, correctly that the gifts of the Spirit, especially if used incorrectly are but a shiny thing that can, if used improperly draw attention to the gift, rather than the giver. Certainly not God’s intention.
1 Corinthians 13:12
12 For now we see in a mirror [e]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.
Or
1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message)
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
Paul then illuminates the prior thought with another truism, the example of a dim mirror or a cloudy window. The implication is that we can’t know everything about God (watch this) that he knows about us. Selah. Let me try this another way..
1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Like Paul, the Apostle, John points to a future eternity, separate from time where we will behold our Savior, Jesus Christ face to face and know him as fully and intimately as we are known by him.
Revelations 21:1-2
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
John clearly identifies this time for the believer as a moment in eternity, not a present or future time. So then, beloved, to all those who argue that the gifts f the Spirit were done away with, I would argue that in the world and in the church today, the spiritual gifts are more needed than ever. I will argue as well, thatGod continually manifests the gifts of the Spirit, both inside and outside of the church through the body of believers in countless ways. Sadly, because this teaching is rejected by so much of the church, many are unaware of the manifestation of God in the church or without.
1 Corinthians 13:13
13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the [f]greatest of these is love.
Please know, Beloved, that in this moment, this temporal moment, we only have a measure of faith. Our hope is yet deferred, yet faith and hope abide, with love as the ultimate manifestation of God and His reflection of God upon our hearts. Love must be the driving force within the Church in order for the true character of God to be revealed to mankind.
1 John 4:16
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [d]for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him...
Selah
wb
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