This was not posted back in 2022 – enjoy an extra post from Martin!
Nothing without love (13.1-3)
What do we particularly esteem? Apostles, prophets and teachers (12.28)? Sensational gifts of tongues and working miracles? Of course, all such gifts and ministries have their place in God’s purposes, but without love they remain worthless. Paul is probably suggesting that the Corinthian Christians were in danger of over-emphasizing such things, but diplomatically he uses the first person ‘I’, as if he himself were the guilty one.
Paul picks out just a few spiritual gifts which can easily be exercised without love and therefore be over-valued. He starts with the gift of tongues, which is sometimes thought to be the primary sign of the Holy Spirit’s filling. But without love even speaking in angelic tongues (13.1) has no importance. Paul describes such loveless speaking in tongues as “a resounding gong” or “a clanging cymbal”. The word for ‘resounding’ was used for the sound of the sea in a fierce storm (e.g. Luke 21.25). And the word for ‘clanging’ relates to grief-filled wailing (e.g. Mark 5.38) or a war cry. These are strongly emotional words.
In these verses Paul in no way denigrates the good gifts of the Spirit. Speaking in tongues (13.1) is a positive gift of the Spirit, given to build up God’s church. Prophecy and knowledge of God’s mysteries and truths (13.2) plays an essential part in the edification of God’s people. All Christians earnestly desire greater faith, even such faith as can move mountains (13.2; cf. Matthew 17.20), but without love such faith can lead to arrogance. Was Paul thinking of the rich young ruler when he wrote about giving away all we possess (13.3; cf. Luke 18.22)? Even such generous giving without the underlying motive of love is worth nothing. This is also true of sacrificing our lives to the flames of martyrdom (13.3), the ultimate self-sacrifice. Everything finds its worth in the supreme gift of love. Loving God and loving our neighbour fulfil God’s law and give value to everything else.
God and Neighbour
It is easy to talk piously about the primacy of love in the Christian faith. But we need to ask the vital question of who should we love. The lawyer’s question to Jesus hits the nail on the head: “who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10.33). Jesus’ reply with the Good Samaritan parable challenges us to practical love for those in need – whatever the danger or cost. We note too that it was a Samaritan who helped a Jew in need; true love is inter-ethnic, crossing racial boundaries. Relations between Jews and Samaritans were very tense at that time. Christian love reaches out beyond family and friends to embrace even our enemies (Matthew 5.44).
Many people with unloved or damaged backgrounds find it hard to love themselves. But Jesus’ command to love our neighbour includes loving ourselves – “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 19.19; 22.39). While pride and arrogance top the biblical list of sins, self-deprecating failure to appreciate all that God has given us in our own lives also displeases the Lord. We have an example of this in the call of Jeremiah. Jeremiah plays down his abilities and his maturity. Although God has assured him that he had been forming Jeremiah’s life since before his birth, Jeremiah nevertheless responds: “I don’t know how to speak; I am only a youth” (Jeremiah 1.6). God firmly opposes such false humility.
The primary source of all other love is the glorious truth of God’s amazing love for us. This stimulates the greatest command in God’s law, namely that we are to love God. We are commanded not only to believe in God and acknowledge his supremacy, but to love him. How well I remember the life-changing joy when Elizabeth and I came to love each other. Being loved by God himself and consequently coming to love God, with all that we have and are, stands above even the greatest of inter-human love. I often find myself praying: “Lord, I do love you, but please help me in my lack of love”.
Love’s character (13.4-7)
These verses reveal the active nature of true love. In the original Greek, 13.4 starts with an active verb plus a connecting participle (“love ‘patiences’, being kind”; unfortunately the English language doesn’t have an active verb ‘to patience’). Love should never remain merely as an emotion, but must work itself out in practical living. Together with the positive descriptions in 13.4, the equally positive verbs in 13.7 bracket a list of negative descriptions of love. These relate strongly to our inter-personal relationships and demand particular attention in the fellowship of the church.
We don’t have space for a careful exposition of each characteristic of true Christian love listed here, but it would be good if each of us would pray through them one by one to stimulate greater love in our own lives and in the life of our churches.
The final three characteristics of trusting, hoping and persevering (13.7) are meant to relate to our attitude to other people, but they could also apply to our relationship with the Lord. As we trust in the Lord, so we are called where possible to trust our neighbour – not always easy if previously they have acted beforehand in a dishonest or untruthful way. We are also to have assured hope that God will surely keep his word and his promises. Likewise, we are called to relate to other people with confident hope of their goodness and truth. The call to persevere in our faith in the Lord challenges us in our faithfulness, but wonderfully our God never lets us down. But sadly, our fellow believers, as well as our non-Christian friends, may well disappoint us. Nevertheless, we should never give up!
Future perfection (13.8-13)
How we look forward to the glory that awaits us! When that day comes, everything imperfect will pass away (13.10). We shall no longer need prophecies, the gift of tongues will be silenced and intellectual knowledge will not be needed any more (13.10). Such gifts may be vital in this world, but in the coming glory they will be quite infantile and redundant (13.11).
In our present life it is as if we see everything in a misty mirror and we only discern a small part of people’s nature and of what is happening around us (13.12). Even our knowledge of the Lord is only partial. But the glorious day will come when we ‘shall know fully, even as we are known’. God knows everything about us absolutely perfectly and we shall “know fully” too (13.12).
Paul concludes this wonderful chapter by stating that, in the future glory and even now, faith, hope and love remain. We marvel at and rejoice in the beautiful gifts of faith and hope, but love gloriously out-strips them. True love (not what some modern song-writers sing about!) is the greatest gift of all (13.13).
Lord, give us love – more love – perfect love!
Martin Goldsmith 
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