Calvin says, “The subject [from chapter 12, putting spiritual gifts into practice for the sake of edification] he follows out at greater length, and illustrates it more fully in the thirteenth chapter. The sum is this – that all things must be viewed in relation to love. He takes occasion from this to make a digression for the purpose of commending that virtue, that he may the more strongly recommend the pursuit of it, and may encourage the Corinthians the more to cultivate it.” Let’s take a look.
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[1] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[2] but have not love, I gain nothing.
Paul uses many dramatic overstatements or exaggerations to show how foolish it is to think of one’s importance in God’s Kingdom without love. No gifts are useful apart from love, and the Corinthians were arguing and dividing over their use of these gifts – and it wasn’t loving. They didn’t seem to care how their gifts benefited one another, but that’s what it’s all about. Paul says elsewhere, “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:14). If you want to “gain” (v3), then have love for others. “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Specifically, Paul points to five admirable traits and shoots down their esteem apart from love. First is eloquence. A great speaking voice is truly admirable; it’s a pleasure to listen to a good speaker. Some commentators think Paul is referring especially to mastering a number of different languages, which would have been particularly impressive to the Corinthians; even in our day, we admire someone who can speak 4 or 5 languages fluently. Can you imagine someone who spoke the language of angels? Yet, Paul says this is nothing in the Church without love; it’s like the sound of clanging symbols if used without love. Second, we read of prophecy, knowledge, and wisdom combined – valuable gifts, yet worthless without love. In other words, we are to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope that [we] have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15); without the qualifier, our answer can be viewed as arrogance or irrationality and do the opposite of what we might intend. Third, Paul speaks of having “a faith that can move mountains.” He’s talking about the gift of working miracles, mentioned in chapter 12. If you have the ability to exorcise demons, but don’t do it in love, then you are “nothing.” Fourth, Paul mentions generosity; if it is done with wrong motive, without love, then it is not admirable to God. Fifth, Paul speaks of the ultimate sacrifice, giving you life. But motive is everything! If your goal is boasting, then you receive your reward in this life and not in the next; on the other hand, if your motive is love, like that of Jesus, then your reward is great in heaven!
Calvin concludes, “The main truth in the passage is this – that as love is the only rule of our actions, and the only means of regulating the right use of the gifts of God, nothing, in the absence of it, is approved of by God, however magnificent it may be in the estimation of men. For where it is wanting, the beauty of all virtues is mere tinsel – is empty sound – is not worth a straw – nay more, is offensive and disgusting.”
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8aLove never fails.
In this famous passage, Paul personifies love. You can replace your name where you read “love” and see if it describes you; then you place Jesus’ name where you see love and notice how it describes Him. Paul has a number of points to make here. First, he commends love as the ultimate virtue (v13b); second, he rebukes the Corinthians by implying a contrast between love and their attitude toward one another; third, he shows what love in action looks like practically; and fourth, perhaps most importantly, he shows how necessary love is for maintaining unity in the Church. In calling love “patient,” Paul points, as Calvin notes, to how, “by endurance of many things, it promotes peace and harmony in the Church;” likewise with kindness, which can also be translated as “gentle” or “lenient.” It’s not vengeful or severe, and the implication is that the Corinthians were not exhibiting these traits of love, but rather their opposites.
Next, love is contrasted with envy, boasting, pride, and rudeness, all traits that the Corinthians probably displayed in one area or another of their lives. The word “boasting” is very difficult to translate here, as it’s not the typical word used for boasting. In fact, it’s used only here (twice back to back to add exclamation to its meaning) in the entire Bible. A better word might be “rash” or “insolent” or “presumptuous” or “fierce” or “aggressive” or “self-promoting,” and the positive aspect of love displayed in this negative contrast would be that love is a restraint, leading to moderation and order; love “keeps the peace,” if you will. When Paul says that love “is not proud,” he might be referring back to what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up;” or he may be simply restating in different terms the true that love is selfless. Again the word “rude” is tough to translate; “disdain” is an option. The positive aspect Paul is getting at is propriety. Calvin says, “He again reproves the Corinthians indirectly, because they shamefully set at naught all propriety by an unseemly haughtiness.”
Love is “not self-seeking,” Paul continues in v5. He’s getting at the selfishness of the Corinthians, especially in regards to their lawsuits, which he instructed them on in chapter 6. We are not, in the words of Calvin, “to be wholly taken up with concern for [our] own advantage.” Yet you might be confused, for your body is the Temple of God. So how are we to have any regard for ourselves at all? Calvin answers, “Paul does not here reprove every kind of care or concern for ourselves, but the excess of it, which proceeds from an immoderate and blind attachment to ourselves. Now the excess lies in this – if we think of ourselves so as to neglect others, or if the desire of our own advantage calls us off from that concern, which God commands us to have as to our neighbors. He adds, that love is also a bridle to repress quarrels, and this follows from the first two statements. For where there is gentleness [love is kind] and forbearance [love is patient], persons in that case do not, on a sudden, become angry, and are not easily stirred up to disputes and contests.” If love is “not easily angered,” or provoked, and “keeps no record of wrongs,” then lawsuits don’t become near the issue that the Corinthians were making of them.
Paul sets forth a clear distinction in v6, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” The Corinthians were delighted with their grace for the man who had his father’s wife (chapter 5). Paul says, “That’s not love! That’s evil. Instead love rejoices with the truth, which is why I told you to excommunicate that man for the sake of his repentance and restoration by God’s grace.” Love doesn’t overlook or tolerate sin and error; rather, speaking the truth in love is something worth rejoicing in (Psalm 52:3; Ephesians 4:15).
Paul has told us what love is and what love is not; now in v7, he lists a number of things love does. And these words are fairly difficult to translate. First, Love “always protects,” elsewhere translated as “bears all things.” The image that comes to my mind is, when either of my parents was driving with me in the front seat, they would always put a hand out across my chest if we had to brake suddenly. Another image of this word (stego) might be to jump in front of another person to take the bullet that a gunman meant for them. Love always does this, in every circumstance. Next, love “always hopes,” elsewhere translated, “believes all things.” This word (pisteuo) is about candor. If you’re questioning love, then it’s probably not love; love leaves no doubt. Then we read that love “always trusts,” or “hopes all things.” The word (elpizo) speaks to what Paul said about hoping and believing in Romans 8:24-25. It’s a certainty that involves patiently waiting; love does that. Finally, love “always perseveres;” it “endures all things.” The word (hypomeno) refers to remaining and abiding despite circumstances, courageously standing firm and not receding or fleeing.
V8 begins with “Love never fails;” the word “fails” could be translated as “loses power,” “dies out,” or “ends.” There’s no entropy, decline, or degeneration with love. Love never ends. This short sentence summarizes v7 and ties it to the rest of v8, which we’ll look at in a minute. Paul contrasts love’s permanence with the temporal nature of the other spiritual gifts.
8bBut where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When 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 childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor 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.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul contrasts love’s permanence with the temporal nature of the other spiritual gifts. Some question whether Paul mentions “prophecies, tongues, and knowledge” in v8 as a good representative of the spiritual gifts, or as a specific endorsement of the ones that did end with New Testament completion, or as specific gifts that the Corinthians were dividing over, or as v10 seems to indicate, as confirmation that spiritual gifts apart from love will end with Christ’s return. Other interpretations have also been suggested.
Others concern themselves with what heaven will like if there is no knowledge and learning. But that’s Paul’s point in v10-12; we won’t need to learn or pursue knowledge then and there, because we will have it. It is only necessary now because of our imperfection; once made perfect (Hebrews 10:14; 11:40; 12:23), we won’t need those things that aided us in our imperfection. Do you wear diapers now? No! Did you before you were potty-trained? Yes! You engaged in learning knowledge en route to being potty-trained. But you don’t need that anymore. That’s the gist of Paul’s argument in v11 (Ephesians 4:14). He has matured in his understanding of the topic of spiritual gifts. He is gently admonishing the Corinthians to do the same. They need to put childish ways behind them, because talking, thinking, and reasoning like children is equivalent to immaturity. He wants them to simply love one another.
In v12, Paul acknowledges that his maturity is not perfection and emphasizes dependence on God’s grace (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9) contrasting our knowing God in part now, fully later, as we are already fully known by Him (“have been known” would be a been translation than “am fully known”). Now, “we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), “but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). He offers a popular analogy – one that would have been especially fitting to the Corinthians, as their city was famous for mirror manufacturing. (Their mirrors were of horrible quality, compared to the mirrors of our day, but back then, they were excellent. They actually made them out of metal, polishing repeatedly until the reflection was adequate.) Spending time here, Paul’s analogy can be understood two ways.
First, he says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror.” So the context is love, and Paul is suggesting that when we consider ourselves, as looking in a mirror, we see a very imperfect reflection of love. We exhibit some of the qualities of love some of the time, but we are in fact a poor reflection of love, the way Paul explains it. Now we see in ourselves a poor reflection of what love ought to be and what it one day will be in us, by the grace of God. This is a purposefully reality, as God does not want us to cling to this world. If we saw love clearly here, why would we long for heaven?
Second, there is another way to see this analogy. Instead of the word “mirror,” other translations have the word “glass,” referring to a window. Have you seen windows that are made intentionally foggy, like frosted glass, so that all you see is an outline of what’s on the other side? So we are not looking at ourselves to see a dim reflection of love; rather, we are looking through a foggy window, through a frosted glass, at others and seeing a dim reflection of true love. We are reflectors of God’s love to others in this world of darkness, but we ought not see ourselves as the source of light. The light shines off of us, and by God’s grace, others might see the good that we do and give Him glory. Others might see us and notice the love of God, though we are merely poor reflections of it.
In our culture, we have a tendency to notice the bad qualities of other people. She snores, or he smells bad; he leaves a mess everywhere, or she refuses to help others. But understanding this verse in this way, we need to strive to see the reflections of God’s love in others. Do you see a reflection of love, however dim it may be, in your parents (superiors)? In your children (inferiors)? In your spouse (equals)? Perhaps it comes in emotional ways, perhaps spiritual, or physical. I have a wonderful marriage, but to think that marriage love is merely a poor reflection of the love that will be realized in heaven is an awesome thought. Do you see a reflection of God’s love and grace in your roommate? In the person sitting next to you now? The people around us are windows of God’s love and grace, and we ought not take them for granted. And again, this is a purposefully reality, as God does not want us to cling to this world. If we saw love clearly in others, why would we long for the presence of God? So now we see a shadow of God’s love, encouraging us to long for glorification, where light will be so abundant that there are no more shadows. The same is true of communion, as we see a dim reflection of God’s love for us in celebrating the work of Christ on the cross. One day, we’ll have communion face to face with Him. What a difference! And it will be for eternity.
In v13, Paul concludes, having done the math on these spiritual gifts, and come to the great sum of three – three remaining virtues of importance. It’s as if Paul had said, “Yes, there are many gifts, but their aim is bring about faith, hope, and love. If they aren’t doing that, then they are not part of the equation that God is working on.” Calvin asks rhetorically, “For what is the object of the entire [gospel] ministry, but that we may be instructed as to these things?” So faith, hope, and love remain; but Paul calls love the greatest. Why? Faith, the application of some knowledge of God and of the divine will, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation from the wrath of God due you for your sin, passes away when we have sight, on the day Christ returns. Right now, we live by faith and not by sight, but in eternity, we will not need faith, “for we will see Him as He is.” The same is true of hope, which is nothing more than the perseverance of that faith. Paul asks in Romans, “Who hopes for what he already has?” The answer, of course, is no one. We will have the fullness of glorification in eternal life, and so we no longer will need to hope for it. Calvin points out that love is actually born of faith, and he notes and gives examples that “faith is, in many of its effects, superior to love.” But, while faith and hope primarily benefit the one who has them, the beneficiary of one’s love is someone else. That, along with the fact that love is perpetual, the everlasting virtue, gives it the distinction as “the greatest of these.” Love will be perfected in us so that we won’t see merely a dim reflection of perfect love in ourselves. Love will be perfected in others, so that we won’t see love in them as looking through a foggy window. We will know and be known by perfect love and through perfect love. Love never dies; it lasts for all eternity.
Footnotes
- 13:1 Or languages
- 13:3 Some early manuscripts body that I may boast
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.