Tomorrow we’ll look at…
1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
“Tongues of men and of angels” – Paul uses hyperbole. Even if he could speak not only the various languages that human beings speak but even the languages used by angels – if he did not speak in love, it would be nothing but noise.
“Charity” – the Greek for this word indicates a selfless concern for the welfare of others that is not called forth by any quality of loveableness in the person loved, but is the product of a will to love in obedience to God’s command. It is like Christ’s love manifested on the cross.
2 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.
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All mysteries, and all knowledge” – again Paul uses hyperbole to express the amount of understanding possessed. Even if one’s gift is unlimited knowledge, if one does not possess and exercise that knowledge in love, he is nothing.
“Faith…remove mountains” – a special capacity to trust God to meet outstanding needs. Again Paul uses hyperbole.
3 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.
“Give my body to be burned” – a reference to suffering martyrdom through burning at the stake, as many early Christians experienced. Even the supreme sacrifice, if not motivated by love, accomplishes nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
13:4-7 – love is now described both positively and negatively.
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
“Prophecies…shall fall;…tongues…shall cease;…knowledge…shall vanish away” – these three will cease because they are partial in nature and will be unnecessary when what is complete has come.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
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2 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
“See through a glass, darkly” – the imagery is of a polished metal (probably booze) mirror in which one could receive only an imperfect reflection (cf. Jas 1:23) – in contrast to seeing an image clearly and completely, whether the revelation of God’s completed Word through the apostles or that of the person of Christ at His Coming.
The two spiritual gifts of prophecy and knowledge which will pass along with tongues suggest that this “perfect” thing related to revelation rather than to glorification.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Ten (31-40) More Quotes About Jesus
“Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!”
― Neal A. Maxwell
“The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can’t save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient.”
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
“If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence…? You’d be bored to tears in heaven, if you’re not ecstatic about God now! ”
― Keith Green
“The Bible is the greatest of all books; to study it is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.”
― Charles C. Ryrie
“If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it.
What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ.
You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. ”
― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest – Updated
“The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God.
Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God’s constant presence with ‘the real me.’ Jesus lived his everyday life in conscious awareness of his Father.”
― John Ortberg Jr.
“Jesus is the starving, the parched, the prisoner, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the dying. Jesus is the oppressed, the poor. To live with Jesus is to live with the poor. To live with the poor is to live with Jesus.”
― Jean Vanier
“A Christian community should do as Jesus did: propose and not impose. Its attraction must lie in the radiance cast by the love of brothers.”
― Jean Vanier
“If your salvation was dependent on your ability to read and understand scripture, Jesus would have been an author.”
― Steve Maraboli
“For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Jesus Christ knows no shadow of alteration or change.
When Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened,” He assumed we would grow weary, discouraged, and disheartened along the way.
These words are a touching testimony to the genuine humanness of Jesus. He had no romantic notion of the cost of discipleship.
He knew that following Him was as unsentimental as duty, as demanding as love.”
― Brennan Manning
…the role of women in religious life in the Greco-Roman World.