Love and 1st Corinthians 13
Love is our topic of the week because Love
has been on my mind a lot this week. This
blog isn't as clearly defined because it is a very complex subject.
First Corinthians 13; 4-13 is a very popular Bible reading at
weddings because it's central theme is about love. The language changes
depending on which version of the Bible you read from. There are over 50
versions of the Bible in English alone to pick from. The version below is a
popular one.
New Testament 1st Corinthians 13; 4-13
Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and I have not love, I have become sounding brass, or a
clanging cymbal.
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 move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not
love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind;
love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not
behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not
rejoice in differences, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Love
never fails. It's a beautiful thought.
But is it true? We're going to look at love this week. Does love conquer
all? Is love all that is necessary for a successful relationship? ( A complete analysis of what 1st Corinthians
means religiously follows my ramblings.)
Most of
us fall in love (or what we may think of as love) more than once in our
lifetime. But often these love relationships don't last. Otherwise we'd all get
married about the time we're 13 and live happily ever after. Was this a bad thing to fall in love? Did we
make a mistake falling in love? I say
no. We learn things about ourselves and about love by being "in
love." And one of the things we
learn is that just because we fall in love with someone doesn't mean that we
are meant to spend our lives with them. That's true even if they love us too.
Because
a successful long term relationship requires more than love. It requires and deserves daily attention to
keep it strong, backed with the will to make it last. A successful relationship
requires common values in the couple, not common interests.... common VALUES. Common
values, combined with honesty among partners engenders trust. And trust is an
imperative for a successful long term relationship. Can you love someone and
not have common values...yes you can, so clearly love doesn't account for all
here.
And it
requires skills. Skills that you were most likely not taught. Effective
communications skills. How to recognize your partners communications style and
temperament and then how communicate with them for maximum effectiveness. How to negotiate power and decision making in
the relationship. Parenting and discipline. Family and friends. Finances and
goals. How to fight fair and a lot more.
Without these skills you will never have a
successful relationship long term, even one built solidly on love.
How do
you acquire the skills? Lots of reading. Work with a counselor....not when the
relationship is in trouble but early on when you establishing the patterns you
will use in your entire relationship.
We will
feature discussions on these skills in future entries.
Additionally,
we have a testing and pastoral counseling program that we offer to couples to
help make this happen over a period of three months. We'd be happy to discuss the specifics of the
programs and costs with you on a person to person basis.
Lastly,
what follows is an analysis of the Biblical passage 1st Corinthians 13. I pulled it off the internet years ago and I
can't find the name of the author....but I want to state that this is not my
original writing.
The Way of Love - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
1 Corinthians 13 is one of the best known and best loved passages of the Bible.
The structure and beauty of the chapter are evidence of a highly skilled
author. The unusually high literary quality of the chapter and the strong
connection between 12:31 and 14:1 have led to the theory that someone other
than Paul wrote chapter 13 and inserted it into 1 Corinthians at a later date.
Regardless of one's conclusions on that question it is a fact
that 1 Corinthians 13 has most frequently been studied out of context as a source
for understanding the Christian view of love.
First Corinthians 13 has been called "The Hymn to Love." It is more structured
than much of Paul's writings. The chapter can be divided into three clear
divisions. Verses 1-3 contrast love with other religious actions and attitudes.
Verses 4-7 describe love (primarily in terms of what it is not). Verses 8-13
return to the contrasting of love with other religious and theological
concepts. The similarity of verses 1-3 and 8-13 has led many
commentators to describe the chapter in terms of an ABA' pattern. This pattern
of writing was considered an evidence of stylistic expertise in the biblical
world. Further, the sentences are more balanced than is usually the case in
Pauline writings and the vocabulary is powerful. These facts have led some to
conclude that Paul did not originally compose chapter 13.
If he did not compose the chapter two possibilities exist. Someone else prior
to 1 Corinthians could have written it and Paul, knowing it, quoted it here
because he thought it fit. The other possibility is that someone inserted it
into 1 Corinthians after the letter had been written. This is the less likely
explanation. Though chapter 13 interrupts the connection
between 12:31 and 14:1 it does not interrupt Paul's flow of thought. The language
of prophecy and tongues figures prominently in chapter 13. These gifts were
mentioned in chapter 12 and will become the main subjects of chapter 14.
Chapter 13 certainly appears to be part of the flow of thought
not a later insertion.
Close examination shows that the literary quality of the chapter can be exaggerated.
Though it is much more artistically written than most of Paul's letters,
chapter 13 is still prose. All efforts to interpret it as poetry and to put it
into verses have failed. The idea that Paul was quoting a hymn to love that he
had heard and memorized is not the most likely explanation.
A very probable explanation of the unusual nature and structure of chapter13 is
that Paul was adapting some "sermonic" material that he had developed
in the past. Through several years of preaching and polishing it Paul had developed
the balanced sentences and the pointed vocabulary. The adaptation to the
Corinthian situation provides the emphasis on prophecy and tongues and keeps it
from being as evenly structured as we might expect in a hymn.
The key word in chapter 13 is love. The Greek word throughout the chapter is agape.
It is often said (correctly) that agape does not refer to emotional love, but
to seeking the best for the other person without regard to the closeness of
relationship with that person. It is important to remember that linguists and
Bible scholars do not have an ancient dictionary full of definitions (Webster's
Greek Dictionary, 3rd edition, A.D. 47). Rather the
meaning of biblical words is determined by close observation of how those words
are used. First Corinthians 13 is one of the major resources for understanding
the meaning of agape. Paul's use of the word throughout chapter 13 helps us
understand that agape seeks the best for the other person.
Verses 1-3 describe the importance of love. Three conditional sentences are worded
and ordered to hammer away at the Corinthians' absorption with speaking in tongues.
Fee (p. 630) makes a very important observation:
It is hard to escape the implication that what is involved here are two opposing
views as to what it means to be "spiritual." For the Corinthians it meant
"tongues, wisdom, knowledge" (and pride), but without a commensurate concern
for truly Christian behavior. For Paul it meant first of all to be full of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, which therefore meant to behave as those
"sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be his holy people" (1:2), of
which the ultimate expression always is to "walk in love." Thus, even
though these sentences reflect the immediate context, Paul's concern is not
simply with their over-enthusiasm about tongues but with the larger issue of
the letter as a whole, where their view of spirituality has caused them to miss
rather widely both the gospel and its ethics.
If the Corinthians - or we - miss the message of chapter 13 the purpose of the
whole letter of 1 Corinthians will likely fail. This may be the reason Paul
gave his best writing skills to the message of this chapter.
The point of verse 1 is that speaking in tongues without love is meaningless noise.
The inter-testament Jewish book, the Testament of Job, speaks of people
speaking ecstatically in the angelic dialect. Paul does not commit himself to
such an understanding of what the Corinthians were doing as they
spoke in tongues. Rather, he is open to the possibility that the Corinthian phenomenon
was a human matter or angelic speech. Either case does not matter unless the speakers
have love. Without love the most elevated and religious speech is empty,
hollow, meaningless and perhaps even pagan. Thus verse 1 is frontal attack on
the Corinthian pre-occupation with speaking in tongues.
However, Paul moves to other religious values in verse 2. Prophecy, understanding
mysteries, knowledge, and faith are all weighed in the balances and found
wanting if not accompanied by love. Prophecy is the gift Paul will promote in
chapter 14. There is no need to rehearse the centrality of faith in
Christianity. Paul is not "picking" on the Corinthians in verse
2. Any religious value or expression is meaningless without love.
Verse 3 moves beyond spiritual gifts into sacrificial religious commitments.
The Greek literally speaks of parceling out one's possessions presumably to feed
the poor. The verb means to feed by putting little bits [of food] into the
mouth. Though such acts of mercy would have been highly approved in Judaism
(see Matthew 6:1-4) Paul sees no value in it if done without love.
The final clause in verses 1-3 is textually uncertain. Some ancient manuscripts
read, "If I hand over my body that I might be burned." Others read,
"If I hand over my body that I might boast." The evidence suggests that
the "boast" edition was more likely original. In either case the important
part of the phrase is in handing over his body. To totally give up oneself to
God brings no benefit for the person who makes that sacrifice of
self without love. Whatever our most significant spiritual achievement may be
it is nothing without love.
Verses 4-7 attempt to define the character of love. The sentences of this section
are short, several times a single Greek verb expresses the whole idea. The
first two phrases are positive. Love is long suffering and kind.
The next eight expressions describe love negatively. The first three reject the
idea that love is boastful or arrogant. The fourth denies that love behaves
inappropriately. Love is not self-seeking. The sixth and seventh elements are
especially relational in nature. Love is not easily angered or provoked. It
does not keep record of wrongs. The final negative element in this list states
that love does not rejoice in evil. At this point Paul
returns to a positive statement. Instead of rejoicing in evil, love
co-rejoices in the truth. The shift from rejoicing to another Greek word, "co-rejoicing,"
indicates the fact that love operates in the community of faith.
Verse 7 concludes the central section of chapter 13 with four positive, parallel
sentences. All four consist of two words in the Greek text and the first word
is identical in all four. That first word is "all things" (one word
in Greek). The first and last sentences are parallel in that they seem to refer
to endurance or patience. The two middle sentences are related in that they
deal with faith and hope. The first phrase of verse 8 sums up the
four elements of verse 7. Love never fails. It endures, it believes in the present,
and it hopes for the future. Even more than the Energizer bunny,love just keeps
going.
Verses 8b-13 return to the meaninglessness of religious virtues without love.
Paul points out the lack of value in prophecies, tongues, and knowledge by
reminding the Corinthians that those virtues will someday cease. In both
ancient and contemporary culture permanence is the mark of quality. No matter
how highly one might value prophecy, tongues, or knowledge those virtues are
temporary.
Verses 9-10 further points out that prophecy and knowledge are partial rather
than complete. As a result there is built in obsolescence in prophecy and
knowledge. Paul could have easily moved to verse 13 at this point.
However, he inserts two illustrations before coming to his conclusion. The partial
quality of the spiritual gifts valued so highly by the Corinthians compares
poorly to the final relationship that God intends. In fact, their fascination
with their spiritual gifts is like childish immaturity. What God has in mind is
as different as adult maturity. The Corinthians have a long
way to go. Their understanding of spiritual realities is no better than the knowledge
gained by gazing into a poor quality mirror.
Paul's conclusion is a bit surprising. We would expect him to say that only love
abides forever. What he states is that faith, hope, and love remain forever.
But the greatest of these is love. The importance of love is not that it is the
only eternal reality. Faith and hope are also eternal. Love's importance
derives from the fact that its absence makes faith, hope, and any other
religious virtue meaningless.
We may or may not be tempted toward a Corinthian understanding of spirituality.
We may or may not swing to an opposite extreme of reducing life in the Spirit
to correct creeds. But we dare not forget Paul's powerful exhortation of the
centrality and eternality of love. However we may end up
being religious, we will never be Christian without love. The teaching of Jesus
and of the New Testament confronts us with the demand for love of God and of
neighbor.
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