Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
August 2024
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, 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; 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. (I Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV)
Today, we want to talk about love. The Bible is a book of love. It is a love letter. It is God’s love letter to sinners.
Jesus talked about love. He said that the Mosaic Law can be boiled down to love, love of God and love of people (Mark 12:28-31).
He called them the two greatest commandments in the Law. He said that those two commandments summarized all 613. He commanded his disciples to love one another.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV).
We are to be characterized by love, not hate. There are religions all over the world filled with hate and violence. They want to kill people.
That is the difference between true religion and false religion. False religion teaches you to hate people. True religion teaches you to love people, even your enemies.
Jesus talked about love. The apostles talked about love. John was the apostle of love. He said a lot about love in I John.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (I John 4:11 NIV)
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (I John 4:7 NIV)
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (I John 3:14 NIV)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4:8 NIV)
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (I John 4:20 NIV)
John wrote more about love than Paul did, but Paul wrote a whole chapter exclusively devoted to love. It is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. It is one of the greatest chapters on love ever written.
Everyone knows the love chapter of the Bible. Even people who do not go to church have heard of it, but very few actually read the context of the chapter.
Most read this chapter in isolation. We will see that this is one of the most misquoted chapters of the Bible. What does Paul mean by love? What kind of love is he talking about?
Most assume he is talking about marriage. I Corinthians 13 is often read at weddings. It makes perfect sense to read the most famous love chapter in the Bible at a wedding.
It makes a good wedding sermon, but that chapter is not about marriage. It is about the church. It is not dealing with love in the context of marriage but love in the context of the church.
Now, you can apply this chapter to the love of a husband and a wife. You can apply it to marriage. There are a lot of Paul’s statements that come in handy in a marriage, especially if you have been married for a while.
Couples need to learn to be patient and kind. Many spouses say unkind words to each other. Couples need to learn to not be easily angered.
They need to keep no record of wrongs. If you stay married for a while, you will notice some wrongs. They need to learn that true love never fails. Many marriages do.
We can apply this chapter to marriage, but Paul was NOT talking about marriage when he wrote this chapter. Paul was not even married. What was he talking about? He was talking about spiritual gifts.
It is important to read the Bible in its context. Too often we read the Bible out of context. I Corinthians 13 is placed in between two chapters dealing with spiritual gifts.
I Corinthians 12 deals with spiritual gifts. I Corinthians 14 deals with spiritual gifts. I Corinthians 13 is right in the middle. Why?
Why would Paul mention love in the context of spiritual gifts in the church? You can do a lot of religious activities and church activities without love.
Some churches are not known for their love. Churches can be doctrinally sound and unloving. They can believe the Bible but argue and fight with one another over minor things.
Some churches are almost abusive. They have truth without love. You can have spiritual gifts and be very unloving.
The Church of Corinth was the church with the most gifts, but they also had the most fighting and the most division. They created factions in the church. They took other Christians in the church to court over minor things.
Some were using their gifts not to help people or to edify the body but to show off and draw attention to themselves. Some use their gifts to belittle other people who do not have their particular gift.
Paul says three things about love in this chapter. He says that love is important. He says that love is balanced, and he says that love is permanent. Let’s look at these the things.
Love is Important
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, but have not love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)
What does Paul say here? He says that love is the greatest thing in the world. Love is more important than spiritual gifts.
It is more important than the greatest gifts. He mentions five gifts (tongues, prophecy, faith, knowledge, giving).
In each case, he takes the gift to an extreme (tongues of men and angels, ALL mysteries and ALL knowledge, ALL faith, give ALL my money and my body to be burned).
In each case, he shows you what these gifts amount to without love. The greatest gift in the world without love is completely worthless.
Love is the greatest virtue. It is greater than any spiritual gift. It is greater than knowledge.
You may not only know a lot. You may know everything (“all mysteries and all knowledge“). You may have the highest IQ on the planet. You may have a PhD from Harvard.
You may have, not just secular knowledge, but biblical knowledge. You may know Greek and Hebrew. You may be an expert on bible prophecy. You may know the Bible from cover to cover. Without love, that is NOTHING.
You may be a great public speaker. You may be a gifted communicator. You may be the best preacher on the planet. You may be the greatest tongues-speaker in the world but without love you are absolutely NOTHING.
Love is even greater than faith. Most of us would think that faith is more important. Faith gives you salvation. It gives you eternal life.
You can move mountains with faith, but love is more important than faith. Paul said, “The greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13 ESV).
Love is greater than miracles. You can do great things. You can do supernatural things. You can do miraculous things. You may be able to heal the sick but without love you are NOTHING.
You may be a genuine prophet. Everyone else has to read the Bible to hear from God but God speaks to you directly. Everyday, you get a direct revelation from heaven but without love, you are NOTHING.
Paul also says that you can give to the poor and have not love. How is that possible? How can give to the poor and have not love? That sounds like the definition of love.
James says, “If you claim to have faith but don’t help those in need, what good is it?” (James 2:15-17).
Paul says something different. He says that you can give to the poor and help someone in need without love and you you gain NOTHING (I Corinthians 13:3).
Apparently, you can give to the poor for ulterior motives. Some to do it to make a video on TikTok. Others may gain something, but you get nothing. You can do some of the best actions for the wrong reasons.
Love is Balanced
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; 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. (I Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)
The second thing that Paul says is that love is balanced. Love is not just thoughts or emotions; it is actions. Love is known by what it does and by what it does not do. It is both negative and positive.
Some think love is just positive. That is like parents who believe in loving their kids but not discipling them. That is not love.
Some think love is just negative. That is not love. Love is both. Do you have love? Take the love test. Paul personifies love. He gives it fifteen characteristics.
The Love TestThe question to ask is this: Do these fifteen characteristics describe you? Can you put your name there? Let’s find out. Take the test. This may be a little convicting. 1) Are you patient with people? Love is patient. Are there people who get under your skin? Are there people that irritate you, annoy you and drive you crazy? Some will say, “Yes. That is my spouse.” God is patient with people. He does not immediately strike us dead every time we sin. He gives us time to repent. There is a famous story about Robert Ingersoll. He lived in the 1800s. He was a very charismatic speaker. He was perhaps the greatest orator in the world at that time. He had a lecture tour throughout the country and spoke to thousands of people. His dad was a minister. His mom died when he was little and he grew up to be an atheist. He hated Christianity. He mocked the Bible. He mocked the supernatural. He mocked God. One time during a speech, he said, “If God is real, I’ll give him five minutes to strike me dead.” He went on talking, wait till five minutes had elapsed, look at his watch and when he didn’t drop dead, he used that to prove that God does not exist. Someone said, “Did Ingersoll think that he could exhaust the patience of God in five minutes?” God is patient with the worst of sinners. 2) Are you kind? Love is kind. Do you denigrate and insult people? Do you demean them? Are you polite? Are you considerate? Do you treat people with respect or are you just rude and obnoxious? Christians should be known by their kindness. 3) Do you envy others? We can feel this way towards fellow Christians. We see this in the church sometimes. It is easy to fall into this. Pastors can be jealous of other pastors if one church is growing, and the other is not. Some are envious of another Christian who has a gift that you don’t have. Does it make you mad when the spotlight is on someone else and not you? Love does not envy. How is love the opposite of envy? If you love someone and good things happen to them, you are not upset. You feel good for them. 4) Do you like to brag about yourself? Love does not boast. How are love and boasting opposites? If you are arrogant and proud, you focus on yourself. If you love someone, you focus on others, not yourself. Do you boast and brag about your accomplishments? 5) Are you a proud person? Love is not arrogant. How is pride the opposite of love? If you are proud, you think you are better than other people. If you think you are superior, you are not loving others. Love regards others as more valuable than yourself. 6) Are you a rude person? Love is not rude. You do not insult the person you love. You do not make fun of them or mock them. You are not disrespectful. You are not mean to people. This is the opposite of love. 7) Do things have to go your way? Paul does not say that you can’t have any desires or requests but he does say that love does not insist on its own way (my way or the highway). Love is not self-seeking. It is selfless. It is not self-centered. It is not focused on self. It is focused on the needs of others. 8) Do you get angry easily? Love is not easily angered (I Corinthians 13:5 NIV). Paul does not say that love is never angry. Anger is not a sin. Even Jesus got angry. God has wrath. Some people have a temper. They get angry over anything. If another person says or does something they do not like, they blow up. That is not love. It is the opposite of love. True love treats people with grace, mercy and kindness, not anger. 9) Do you forgive people? The KJV reads “thinketh no evil.” That is too general. The idea is that love us not vindictive (οὐ λογίζεται το κακόν). NIV reads “It keeps no record of wrongs” (I Corinthians 13:5). Are you an unhappy, bitter person? Are you angry and mad at people? Do you like to hold grudges? It is a sign of unforgiveness. That is not a sign that you love someone. 10) Do you celebrate evil? There are some sins that are socially acceptable. There are some sins that society glorifies (premarital sex, extramarital affairs). Everyone does them. That does not define morality. Just because everyone may have told a lie does not make lying a good thing. Some of the things we call loving today are actually unloving. Today, you are considered loving if you accept all lifestyles and moral choices equally, even unbiblical ones. Love today celebrates evil. It glorifies sin. All you have to do is to watch the Olympics. We have Pride Day and Pride Month. That is not love. Biblical love does not rejoice in evil (I Corinthians 13:6). It does not celebrate it. It does not condone sin or excuse it. 11) Do you love biblical truth? This is interesting. Love does not compromise the truth. It does not deny truth. It does not reject the truth. Love rejoices with the truth. Many groups today throw out the biblical definition of marriage. They throw out the biblical definition of gender. They claim to do it out of love for people. That is not biblical love. I Corinthians 13:7 mentions four specific things that love does. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It is a chiasm in Greek. A chiasm is a literary pattern of inverted order (ABBA), which sounds like the Swedish pop group from the 1970s. The first and last ideas go together (bears all things, endures all things). The middle parts go together (hopes all things, believes all things). Paul uses some exaggeration here, like he used in the first section. All things do not necessarily mean all things. Paul uses some poetry here. 12) Are you willing to put up with some things you don’t like? What does Paul mean that love bears all things? Don’t take this to extremes. Is Paul saying that love bears with abuse? Is he asking people to be doormats. No. Paul is not dealing with abuse. He is dealing with hardship. Love puts up with all kinds of bad things. It is equivalent to the marriage vow “for better or for worse.” 13) Do you believe the best about people? Love believes all things. Don’t take this to extremes. Paul is not saying that love is blind. He is not saying that love is naïve. The Bible says that “The simple believeth every word” (Proverbs 14:15 NKJV). This is not talking about being gullible. It is talking about believing the best about people and giving people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. 14) Are you optimistic about the future? Some of us write people off and think they are completely hopeless but love always hopes for the best. Love hopes all things. Believes all things has to do with the present. Hopes all things has to do with the future. 15) Do you love when times are tough? Love endures all things. It never gives up. It never quits. With that philosophy, there would be far less divorces in our land. One preacher said, “We say, “I get so tired of you”—but “love bears all things.” We say, “You’re never going to change. I don’t think you can do it”—but love “believes all things.” We say, “I just don’t see myself with you anymore. I don’t see how this marriage can last”—but love “hopes all things.” We say, “I can’t keep going on like this. I can’t do it anymore”—but love “endures all things.”[1] |
Love is Permanent
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 (I Corinthians 13:8-9 ESV)
Love is permanent. All of the gifts are temporary. The gifts will all cease and pass away one day. Love goes on forever.
One day, there will be no need for the gift of faith. When we see Jesus, faith will pass away. It will be no more. It will pass away.
One day, there will be no need for the gift of knowledge. Knowledge will never stop but one day the gift of knowledge will be needed no more.
One day, prophecy will pass away. We won’t need any prophets in heaven.
The gifts will pass away. Paul says when they will pass away. They will pass away when the perfect comes.
When the perfect (το τέλειον) comes, the partial will pass away (I Corinthians 13:10 ESV). There are a lot of errors about this verse.
Has the perfect come yet? No. I am not perfect. You are not perfect. Our world is not perfect. The perfect hasn’t come yet.
One of the most common errors today is that the perfect is the Bible.[2] You will hear preachers say this all of the time. Once the Bible was written, all of these gifts ceased. We have the full or revelation of God today but there are some problems with this view.
We do not see face to face, even in the Bible. We do not know fully, even today. There are parts of the Bible that are hard to understand. The Apostle Peter said so. We do not understand it completely. There are many questions the Bible does not even answer.
Even after the Bible is written, we still know in part. We do not know even as we are known. The perfect has not come yet. Even after the canon was written, we still do not know even as we are known.
This view leads to absurdities. It would mean that we know more than Paul did, as Charles Ryrie points out.[3] It seems hard to believe that we would know more than Paul. He was a genuine apostle, writer of Scripture and was taken up by God into the third heaven.
According to this view, Paul only knew in part, but we know fully now. We have the Bible. That is absurd and it is not in the context at all. Paul is not dealing with the canon in the context.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that the Corinthians knew anything about he canon. As Tom Shriner comments, “it is quite improbable that Paul would write about something that he knew the Corinthians would not and could not understand.”[4]
When will the perfect come? The perfect will come when an individual believer is with the Lord.[5] It will come when we see God face to face. That happens at death for some believers. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8).
It will happen when Jesus returns for others. When Jesus comes back, we will see him as He is (I John 3:2). It will happen in the eternal state. We will see His face (Revelation 22:4).
It will happen when Jesus returns. When Jesus comes back, we will see him as He is (I John 3:2). It will happen in the eternal state. We will see His face (Revelation 22:4).
[1] https://jamesmacdonaldministries.org/love-stops-at-nothing/
[2]https://salinabible.org/info-articles/the-pastor-s-pen/144-biblical-theological-issues/806-what-is-the-perfect-thing-of-1-corinthians-13-10
[3] Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition (NASB 1995 Update), p. 1836.
[4] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 280.
[5] Thomas R. Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, 343.
