BI-112ES-BR New Testament Survey
Dr. Ralph D. Curtin
Submitted: December 18, 2003
LOVE IS THE GREATEST
1 CORINTHIANS 13
By Keith Howard
Introduction
If ever you want to experience the greatest life has to offer, you must give and receive love. It is the circumstance that induces a person to rise to the occasion. Because of its features and qualities, this chapter is known by most as Paul’s “Hymn of Love.” There is no wonder why Paul being the theologian, has inspired the Corinthians to place the most important commandment that Jesus gave “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:37-39). We must love one another for God to accept our love. “If a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 Jn. 4:20-21).
Love is an essential part of obeying the truth. We are to have sincere love for each other because we were cleansed from our sins when we accepted the truth of the Good News. Paul encourages us to “put on love” to bind the body of Christ together. It is the most important piece of clothing you must wear. “And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness” (Col. 3:14).
God’s love in the heart is to be the motivation in all of man’s living, in all of his exercising of spiritual gifts. Division & carnal thinking in Corinth grew out of their failure to understand love & to live in love toward each other. We are to “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”
(Eph. 5:2).
Love: Its Motive
Love is an act of the will, which must motivate every spiritual deed in our life. Understand this: “You must receive His love before you can love Him.” We learn to love from those who are gracious to us and therefore love them. In such a case, we do not have to change; we love because of the benefit of loving us. We become emotionally attached because of our need attached to the one meeting that need. God’s love calls for something beyond that; he calls for love based on who He is and for what He is. To step into that kind of life, there must be faith; there must be a willingness to sacrifice every opinion, need emotion, cast it away, and fall at His feet and give Him the pure praise and adoration for love He has for us. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” (Gal 5:6)We cannot have love until we recognize His love for us. If we question His love, we block His love from coming to us.
Using miraculous spiritual gifts without love gives it a shallow, hollow ring it is nothing but a loud noise with no real essence. The Corinthians had some serious problems because some were boasting that their particular spiritual gifts were superior to those that others had. Spiritual gifts are important, but not more important than love.
Paul makes a very rough statement – “even though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge¼.” If you know everything there is to know, it’s not more important than love. That’s very important – if you know everything there is to know about engineering, computer programming, theology, or anything else, it’s not more important than love.
Think about how important our society holds knowledge. Indeed it is important to be educated and learn all we can, but it’s not the answer for the ills of our society. We as African- Americans have been told that knowledge is the answer to the ills of our society. But let me ask a question: We are better educated and have more knowledge today than at any time in the history of the world – so have social problems gotten better? The answer is no.
Paul had earlier told the Corinthians, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). It seems self-evident that we don’t need more knowledge near as much as we need more love. People need to have a love transplant into their hearts; then, society will change.
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (v.2)
If the last statement about knowledge was rough, this one seems to cut to the heart. We are told in the Scripture that faith is so important that it is impossible to please God without faith. Paul doesn’t say that faith is not important. He says that love is more important than faith. The Bible teaches the importance of faith, but if you do not have love, you are nothing because even faith is of no value unless it is backed up by love.
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (v.3)
Paul is talking about being so faithful in commitment to God that one would choose faithfulness even in the face of death. Commitment is necessary to be faithful to God. But Paul says that even if you go to church every time the church doors are open and read your Bible faithfully, without love, it’s no good. Even if you pray and do everything you think a Christian should, and there is no love behind all that, it is nothing in God’s sight.
Love: Its Characteristics
Our love should be active and Unconditional “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 Jn 4:8) God is love. That is His character, his base quality, what He is. God puts no conditions on His love. He cannot do otherwise without changing His nature, and God does not change. Nothing you do can make Him love you more; nothing you do can make Him love you less. God is love. Our love is too often conditional: I will love you IF you do such and such or if you are so and so.
Love is longsuffering—long tempered; does not hastily retaliate when wronged by another the emphasis is upon patience in our relationship with others “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Col. 3:12-14).
Love is kind—Love is Good, mellow, understanding. It maintains an attitude of kindness, not bitterness toward people regardless of race, nationality, religion, or social status. It magnifies good qualities in others, not faults. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph. 4:32-5:2).
Love does not envy—It has no hatred. It has no bitter resentment of good in others “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking” (1 Pet. 2:1).
Love vaunteth, not itself—(does not brag) It is not arrogant or loud. Love never wound others causing unrest or discord “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing” (1 Thes. 4:11-12).
Love is not puffed up—Love does not have an inflated opinion of one’s importance. “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits” (Romans 12:16). Love feels something of its own unworthiness.
Love is not rude—Love doesn’t behave disgracefully, dishonorably or indecently. Your belief will determine your behavior. “Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.”
(2 Cor. 8:21).
Love is not selfish— Love puts God first. Love looks out for things of others instead of itself. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:4).
Love is not provoked—Love is not irritated; it does not go around with a chip on its shoulder. William Barclay says, “The man who is master of his temper can rise to be master of anything” “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).
Love thinks no evil—Love does not keep a running account of offenses with a view toward revenge; it does not dwell on past wrongs. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). Love does not allow the past to become a stumbling block; instead, it’s a stepping stone to the future.
Love does not rejoice in iniquity—Love cannot find pleasure in sin. Sin grieves love and tries to overcome it. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). We must come out from them and be separated. “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).
Love rejoices in the truth—Absolute truth, gospel truth. Love takes joy in the truth of God. “But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15).
Love bears all things—Love can bear whatever troubles come upon it. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
Love believes all things— Love takes God at his word. Love is not suspicious, thinks the best of others, and grants the benefit of the doubt in the absence of evidence.
Love hopes all things—Love hopes for the best in others even when the evidence leads one to believe otherwise. If we look through the eyes of Jesus, there is potential in everyone we meet. Some were told they would never make it. God made a liar out of many who made those remarks.
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Romans 8:25).
Love Endures all things—Love will provide you with steadfast endurance; the brother or sister who has genuine love perseveres in whatever circumstance life throws at them. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12).
Love: Its Stability
Here is the superiority of love over miraculous spiritual gifts. Paul here describes the short-lived nature of spiritual gifts vs. the stability of love. He told the Corinthians that love never fails. Paul was discussing how God revealed Himself to man through spiritual gifts. The Corinthians thought they were super-spiritual because they spoke in other languages and had knowledge that others did not have. Still, Paul explained to them that they only had a partial revelation and that all these things would disappear in the end times. Notice that Paul’s illustrations of the Childlike vs. the adult-like attitudes how they should put away those things if they have matured in Christ. He also encouraged them to take an honest look at themselves to realize that they hindered themselves more than becoming a blessing to God. He then gave them the foundation to Christian living: faith, hope, and love. Love being the greatest.
Conclusion
The very nature of love, the first most important aspect of love, is that we can’t give it away unless we’ve received it. That’s the beauty of Christianity. Christianity doesn’t tell you to love; it means you first to receive love. Herein is love, not that we loved, but that He loved us. And He gave himself for us. The first most important aspect of our lives is receiving His love.
I want my life to result in the glory of God when Christ returns. Then I must live a righteous life. If I want that, I must lead a pure and blameless life through discernment that arises out of love—a love grounded in personal knowledge of Jesus and the world, and, therefore, has thoughtful insight into the way people are and behave. Jesus tells us in the book of John, “If you continue in my word, then are you, my disciples, indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus also made this statement, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one for another…so love is a badge, a mark, an identification that we are the children of God and disciples of Christ. If we know that the “Word” is Jesus and that Jesus is born of God, we should have no problem loving the children born of God. Remember, love is a verb; it’s something we do get this, the proof of our Christianity is not determined by our declaring our sonship, the evidence of being a child of God is seen in our living, by their fruits ye shall know them. Having true love is the most excellent witness we can show when we love our savior as we should; people will see in us a quality of Christian living that goes beyond the ordinary when we love our church as we should, we will be a testimony of the benefit of having a church family when we love others as we should, we will share our concern by being a witness of grace to them.
Our study of the Word will inevitably change our way of thinking, like in Hosea the 14th chapter; repentance brought about the promised blessing of God. It will give us the personal revival needed to put our trust in man no longer; we will also put away our idols that are overtaking our society today. Many have compromised themselves by promotional programs and methods that only capture the attention of men. I see many that enter the church week after week as a social time before the services start; where are those that would grab hold of God at the altar. It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. When we get back to the basics of caring for the elderly, widows, and the fatherless, then God will have mercy on this nation and us. Love and obedience will bring about spiritual healing.
We must understand love and live in love; our Christianity is worthless.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
McPheeters, Julian C. Proclaiming the New Testament the Epistle to the Corinthians, Baker Book House Company, 1964
Swindoll, Charles R. Paul the Man of Grace, W Publishing Group, 2002
