Love is the greatest

Love bears all things.... The greek stego can be translated bear, endure or stand… It lends to the idea of not giving in

believes all things… it trusts.. this doesn't mean that love always believes the best about everyone or everything, but that love never ceases to have faith.. Earlier in this book Paul made an appeal to the people of Corinth to believe the gospel and in the power of God. In the context of Pauls argument love believes all things that are true about God.

hopes all things… This again is not an empty statement like when we say I am hoping for the best, but it is in-fact hoping in the one we have trusted with our lives and our future. Having this hope helps us have a proper view of love. when we have a true view of hope we can understand how to love others because we know who our hope in found in....

endures all things… True love never gives up… One commentator said it perseveres or endures through all the challenges of this life and finds itself alive and well in all the ages to come.

it perseveres or endures through all the challenges of this life and finds itself alive and well in all the ages to come

8-13

Paul is making the argument that love never ends but the gifts will.

If you know anything about Paul and have studied this book Paul puts a high value on prophecy.. Next week we will get into his views on this, but its interesting how he treats it in chapter 13. He is putting it with two other gifts that are greatly valued by the people of Corinth and that is tongues and knowledge. I believe that Paul could have put in any spiritual gift in this text, but he was specifically addressing his own audience and how they perceived these gifts. While also treating a gift he valued in its proper context…

Now you can see in the text that Paul is arguing that all three of these gifts will pass away.

The gift of prophesy will not be needed in the new heaven and new earth. Throughout Scripture the prophets would warn others about various things, today we preach and teach others from genesis to revelation about God. While the words of God will never be void there will be a day that this will not be needed by men. When we stand before God their will be no reason to have prophets or prophecies.

Tongues will pass away.. their will be no need for new revelation that is suppose to brought in speaking tongues. Today there are two schools of thought one that they have already ceased ) ( two they are alive and active in the church today . It is interesting to note that the greek does have a different word than the other two, and I will get into that in the next few weeks. I will talk about what I believe Biblical tongues is and the role they do or do not have today ( so you will have to come back to here that )

( Not this week, but the next few weeks I will talk about what I believe Biblical tongues is and the role they do or do not have today )

Finally knowledge will pass away, because we will be in the presence in God there will be no need for new knowledge.

See the theme here we will not need these gifts because we will be in the presence of God.

verse 9 teaches us that we know in part and we prophesy in part. Now i believe that God gives us all we need for life and godliness, but that doesn't mean we know all of Gods plan. We know what he will do in the future and that he is building his church, but how he is working that out is for him to know and for us to find out.

Verse 10 has typically had two views on when the perfect comes is. One view believes that that perfect means the completion of the canon or the maturing of the church. The other is what I hold to and that is the gifts will pass away when we see the Lord face to face and know him fully .

Listen to his illustration..

“I have a partially functioning television and a partially functioning radio, but when that which is fully functioning arrives I’ll put away what is only partially functioning,” I would understand that he is waiting for a new (or at least a fully-functioning) TV and radio to be delivered. In Paul’s context, it appears that he is waiting for complete or perfect versions of that which is manifested in the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (i.e., perfect communication, communion, and interpersonal knowledge between God and his people), which will arrive when we experience the fullness of the new creation in the presence of the Lord himself. Thus, when all the complete versions of the partial realities we experience through spiritual gifts in this life arrive, those partial realities will be laid aside and will disappear.

v11 is a powerful illustration of how this works out… Paul is arguing to the people of Corinth that their is time and a place for everything. The Lord gave them these gifts to equip the church, but one day these gifts will cease. I like what one man said “There is an age appropriate to certain activities, but there comes a time when those activities are no longer appropriate” Chick fa la illustration…

There is an age appropriate to certain activities, but there comes a time when those activities are no longer appropriate

For us Christians who think we know alot in the room Pauls reminder is a humbling one. Even Paul who possessed greater gifts then all of us, and knew more than any of us still was far off from being like Christ.

Chrysostom suggests, in this verse and the next Paul is pointing out just how great the distance is between our present knowledge of God and that which we will enjoy once we fully enjoy his presence in the resurrection life. Furthermore, he points out that if Paul himself, “who knew so much,” could refer to even his own experience and knowledge as analogous to that of a child compared to an adult, the transformation that awaits us must be incredible..

Paul in verse 12 is alluding to

Moses had a unique relationship with God that was different from the other prophets. He actually saw the glory of God. Many Hebrew scholars believe that Moses was unique because he saw God with a polished mirror, but the other prophets saw him with a series of mirrors or blurry one. ( dirty backup camera illustration )

Someone grab Notice in verse 5 it says we shall behold the glory of the lord. Today we see the lord through his book, and imagine the glory he had, but one day we will see him face to face, and behold a beauty we cant even imagine. ( crown jewels illustration )

Finally verse 13 sums up Pauls argument that love is greater than any Spiritual gift. ( besides the traditional sunday school answer what is the greatest gift you have ever got? )

Paul highly values these virtues… Lets look at a few ways he uses them throughout scripture.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians iii. Encomium in Praise of Love’s Endurance in Comparison with Other Gifts of the Spirit, 13:8–13

(cf. Rom. 5:1–5; Gal. 5:5–6; Eph. 4:2–5; Col. 1:4–5; 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:8; Titus 2:2; Heb. 6:10–12; 10:22–24; 1 Pet. 1:3–8

I

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians iii. Encomium in Praise of Love’s Endurance in Comparison with Other Gifts of the Spirit, 13:8–13

Scott Hafemann points out that “[i]n the midst of the suffocating self-love of our modern and postmodern culture, the Bible is clear that our real hunger is to know the one true God revealed in its pages. Only in doing so will we satisfy our cravings for security (faith), find the purpose for which we exist (hope), and be able to live free from slavery to self (love).”221 In his view many of us have substituted other things for the three cardinal virtues such that “instead of dependence on God for our lives (‘faith’), we have substituted a mental assent to historical data that leads to making ‘decisions’ about God. Rather than trusting in God’s promises for our future (‘hope’), we have fallen back on a wishful thinking that is informed by our desires for heath and wealth. Hence, although called to consider the needs of others more important than our own needs (‘love’), we seek money, sex, and emotional gratification at any cost

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians iii. Encomium in Praise of Love’s Endurance in Comparison with Other Gifts of the Spirit, 13:8–13

So even the love that will mark our lives in the resurrection will be somewhat different from the love we are commanded to manifest in this present life. In this life faith, hope, and love are all challenges which need support and which believers are exhorted to meet. If it were not so challenging to love people in this world, the Scriptures would not spend so much time commanding and exhorting us to love. In the life to come it will be a delight to love and not a challenge,234 just as it will no longer be a challenge to trust God or to have hope. Then, our love will not be a love of people despite their shortcomings or our own. It will no longer be a love that goes against the grain, but one that delights in loving all those who coexist in the wonderful presence of the God who first loved us and who has fully transformed all that remains into that which is eminently lovable. It will also be a perfected love. “If the life of love to God and neighbour is a true participation in the restored order of creation, a responsive love to the divine love in which the divine mode of life becomes our own, what higher good can possibly be spoken of? Only a good that is essentially one with this good, a renewal and perfection of this good which we now have

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians iii. Encomium in Praise of Love’s Endurance in Comparison with Other Gifts of the Spirit, 13:8–13

Calvin also sees the superiority of love in that “each person derives personal blessing from his own faith and hope, whereas love is poured out for the good of others

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians iii. Encomium in Praise of Love’s Endurance in Comparison with Other Gifts of the Spirit, 13:8–13

As 1 John [3:16] says: ‘By this we know his love, that he laid down his life for us.’ Love is therefore the greatest of the three, because by it the human race has been renewed.”252 Carson reminds us that while Scripture tells us “God is love” (1 John 4:16), “it is difficult to imagine how they could have said that God is faith, or that God is hope.”253 Garland points out that “[i]t is God’s love revealed in Christ that creates the possibility of faith and hope” and that “[a]s an essential reflection of God’s character, love can never end and is elevated to the highest good.”254 As was mentioned earlier, in placing this chapter on love in the center of his discussion of the proper worship of the one true God, Paul reflects (with no irony whatsoever) the modern maxim that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and the idea that our worship is to take place within a community which is marked by this divine attribute and essential Christian virtue.

I wrote it down like this…

We may not have all the spiritual gifts of others in the church but one thing we all have is the love of Christ. These gifts in the church were dividing others and puffing up others. What they missed is that love is what holds all these things together. Think about it like this it was the love of Christ that came down from all the riches of heaven and didn’t lord it over us but chose to serve us in humility and ultimately died for us. Many of us want to lord our own gifts ( remember they are gifts from God) over others and use them for self promotion rather than serve the church for whom Christ died for. ( we can have faith, hope, and ultimately love, because of the Jesus Christ! )