True Heart of Worship
Church of God (Seventh Day) Independent
Church of God (Seventh Day) Independent
The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians is commonly called the Love Chapter. It's a small chapter with only 13 verses.
Beginning with verse 1, it talks about how essential love is to everything a Christian does. Then, beginning at verse 4, it explains what true love looks like in practice, what it does and doesn't do.
Then, just barely into verse 8, it seems to make a sudden shift as it starts talking about prophecies, speaking in tongues, knowledge, and the end-times, and also about things that endure and things that don't.
Love never fails; for prophecies shall cease, tongues shall be silenced and knowledge will be nothing; 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 But when perfection shall come, then that which is partial shall be nothing. 11 When I was a child, I was speaking as a child, I was led as a child, I was thinking as a child, but when I became a man, I ceased these childish things.
What's going on? Did Paul change topic in the middle of a verse? If he didn't change topic, how is all of that related to love? We'll come to understand this by understanding this chapter in its context.
More commonly we want to understand a verse in it's context. Usually that is done to be sure the verse isn't being misused. In this case though we have a sudden shift within a small chapter and are trying to understand that. Therefore we need to look at the chapters that come before and after this one to discover the connections between them.
The Love Chapter doesn't really seem to belong between these.
Now we might remember that the first couple verses of chapter 13 were also speaking about spiritual gifts. We had already seen that the last half of chapter 13 was speaking about spiritual gifts. This makes it look like most of chapter 13 is still about spiritual gifts.
So the question is not why the Love Chapter refers to prophecy and speaking in tongues. The question is why 3 chapters on prophesying and speaking in tongues have a section about love.
Hopefully, from previously reading 1 Corinthians, you remember the theme of chapters 12 and 14. The Corinthian church has mistakenly put their focus on spiritual gifts, especially the lowest of the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues. Paul is correcting that.
They are not different from the modern Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.
Now we'll connect these chapters together. First 12 to 13 and then 13 to 14.
Chapter 13 begins with:
If I shall speak with every human and Angelic language and have no love in me, I shall be clanging brass or a noise-making cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and I know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so that I may remove mountains, and I have no love in me, I would be nothing. 3 And if I should feed everything that I have to the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned up and I have no love in me, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
The connection between the two chapters, between spiritual gifts and love is obvious here. His point is that the spiritual gifts are nothing without love.
Now we'll connect chapter 13 to 14.
Chapter 14 begins with:
Run after love and be zealous for the gifts of the Spirit, but especially that you may prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1).
Again we see Paul tying love and the spiritual gifts together. He says, love must be the first priority, then the gifts.
He also says they should give prophecy first priority over the other gifts. Back in chapter 12 he had listed some spiritual gifts in order (12:28). At the top was apostle, then prophecy, and the last was speaking in tongues. His point is that the Corinthian church has focused on the least of the gifts instead of the greatest.
It's interesting though that he doesn't encourage them to be apostles, the highest of the gifts. The most likely answer is that he knows no more apostles will be chosen - the spiritual gift of apostleship will not be given again. Elsewhere he does refer to himself as the last.
If I shall speak with every human and Angelic language and have no love in me, I shall be clanging brass or a noise-making cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and I know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so that I may remove mountains, and I have no love in me, I would be nothing. 3 And if I should feed everything that I have to the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned up and I have no love in me, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
In chapter 12, Paul has been telling them everything they have been doing wrong with spiritual gifts. He continues in this chapter by carefully saying what they do is done without true love. As such, their works done via the gifts count for nothing.
His point in these verses is that everything they do, including the exercise of the gifts should be done with love. He feels the need to say this because they have been using the gifts to glorify themselves and have been envious of the gifts of others. It has become about self.
Love never fails; for prophecies shall cease, tongues shall be silenced and knowledge will be nothing; 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 But when perfection shall come, then that which is partial shall be nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10)
When we started this study it seemed odd to say "Love never fails" and then follow that with "prophecies shall cease." We know now it isn't so odd - they are connected.
Paul is speaking of the return of Jesus and of what life will be like in our new bodies. There is an Old Testament prophecy that says the same thing but from a different perspective.
And if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, 'You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord'; and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies. (Zechariah 13:3)
Not only will prophecies cease, as Paul says, but prophesying will become a punishable offense.
When we the Messiah returns we will get our new bodies. At the same time we will be perfected. Prophecies (words from God) and knowledge of God will be pointless because we will all know God.
At this time some have one gift from God or another; at that time we will all have everything because we will all know God. We will know him so clearly that these partial (unclear, incomplete) gifts we have now will seem like nothing.
When I was a child, I was speaking as a child, I was led as a child, I was thinking as a child, but when I became a man, I ceased these childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Paul's primary meaning here is that, when Jesus returns we will grow up and put away prophecy and speaking in tongues. It's It's likely he has a second meaning in mind, "it's time for you Corinthians to grow up. Put away your squabbles over toys and begin to live in love." Paul is being careful how he speaks to the Corinthians but he is calling them out for what they have been doing.
Now we see as in a mirror, in an allegory, but then face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I shall know as I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
In Paul's time mirrors weren't what they are now. The wealthy used copper or silver pounded as flat as possible. The others they used water reflections or polished glass reflections (sometimes obsidian or other stone was used). That's why Paul refers to mirrors being like allegories. In his time they both gave unclear, incomplete views.
He equates this to our current understanding of God. Now God knows everything about us but we know only a little of him. Then we will know everything about him.
For there are these three things that endure: Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
In chapter 14 Paul talks about the purpose of the spiritual gifts for this time. His point here is that we shouldn't invest in the gifts of the Spirit – they won't last and you can't take them with you. Instead we should invest in those things that you can take with you, faith, hope, and love, and especially love.
We understand the Corinthians weren't exercising love with the spiritual gifts. From chapter 12 it sounds like there was a lot of arrogance, envy, and competition going on. Paul seems to refer to that in verse 4.
Love is patient and sweet; love does not envy; love is not upset neither puffed up … (1 Corinthians 13:4)
It's easy to become arrogant if we have physical or mental gifts that others do not have. It's also easy for those who do not have those gifts to become envious. The X-Men movies give us a glimpse of this when even friends use their powers to impress each other.
It's just as easy to use the spiritual gifts to glorify yourself (which is self love). We can even be tempted to use the gifts to make money (love of money) or for other benefits. Jesus said something important about all gifts.
And as you are going, preach and say 'The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.' 8 Heal the sick, purify the lepers and cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:7-8)
The Corinthian church also likely had people who had been claiming gifts they did not have.
We now see the Love Chapter in a bigger way. It is still a description of real love. But now we see it being used as a standard the Corinthians can use. Paul is saying, here is the standard, does that sound like the way you are using spiritual gifts.
Because of the context here, of a church misusing spiritual gifts, those gifts have been out focus. The same question comes to us though but a little differently. Are you using love with your non-spiritual gifts?
We also got a glimpse into the life we will have in our new bodies. We will know God as completely as he now knows us. No longer will we look to prophecies or visions, which must be unclear. Instead we will know him and his will.
Mostly we've looked at chapter 13 but we've also connected it to chapters 12 and 14.
A change happened after Paul wrote this letter. We can't say if it was a consequence of these chapters. Perhaps 100 years later, in the 2nd century, an author in Rome writes that neither he nor anyone he knows has ever seen a church that displays the abundance of gifts of the Spirit as described in 1 Corinthians. By that author's time the gifts have become very rare, as they are in our time.