“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 (Read 1 Cor. 13)
After pointing out in 1 Corinthians 12 that the spiritual gifts God gives to those who trust in Jesus Christ and His cross for pardon and forgiveness are to be used for the benefit of the body of Christ, His church, made up of all who trust in Him, the Apostle Paul shows the believers in Corinth “a more excellent way” — how God would have us use the gifts and abilities He gives to us. Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 13 is a powerful reminder that all our gifts, knowledge, and actions are to be exercised in conjunction with selfless love — the love of Christ!
We are prone to measuring our spiritual success by our gifts, like speaking in tongues, prophesying, or having great faith. But Paul says in verses 1-3, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but 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 remove 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, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
Paul isn’t devaluing these gifts; he’s elevating love to its rightful place. Without love as the motive, our most impressive acts of service or our deepest spiritual experiences are just noise. They’re empty gestures. Love isn’t just one virtue among many; it’s the very foundation of the Christian life.
After establishing love’s supremacy, Paul defines it. In verses 4-7, he gives us a comprehensive portrait of what love — specifically, agape love — is and isn’t. “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 iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love isn’t a passive emotion; it’s an active way to live one’s life.
This passage is a mirror. As we read through these characteristics, we should ask ourselves: Do I suffer long with others, or am I impatient with them and quick to anger? Am I kind, or do I gossip and speak harshly? Do I rejoice in the success of others, or do I envy others and take joy in their sins and failures? This description challenges us to live out the love of Christ daily in our interactions with family, friends, and strangers. It’s a high standard, but it’s the standard to which we’re called.
Before we can ever hope to live out this kind of love, we must first recognize its true source: Christ’s selfless love for us. It is only because of His atoning sacrifice on the cross that we can love at all. He didn’t just tell us to love; He showed us what it meant by willingly going to the cross to die in our place. He bore our sins, not because we were worthy, but because He is love. His patience with us, a patience that “suffers long,” is demonstrated in how He continues to bear with us, preserving us in the true and saving faith until the end of our lives.
The love we are called to embody is not a human invention. It is a divine reflection, a response to the unmerited love God first showed us in His Son. Our ability to “bear all things” and “endure all things” is a mirror of His perfect endurance for us on the cross and in our daily lives.
In the final verses of this chapter, Paul reminds us that everything else will eventually pass away, but love will last forever. Verses 8-10 state, “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.”
Our earthly gifts and knowledge are temporary and incomplete, like a child’s understanding. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Cor. 13:11-12). Our current knowledge is like a fuzzy reflection in a mirror. But one day, when we are with the Lord, we will have perfect knowledge. In that moment, the temporary gifts will no longer be necessary.
Paul concludes with a powerful summary in verse 13: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Faith and hope are essential to our spiritual journey, but love is the source. It is the very nature of God Himself (1 John 4:8). It moved Him to give His only-begotten Son to be our Savior. Let God’s love be the driving force behind everything we do, for without love, all we say and do are empty and will profit us nothing.
Grant that I know Your love, O Lord, and trust in You and Your gracious promises. Move me to reflect Your perfect love for me in my dealings with others, loving them as You have loved me and given Your Son to die in my stead, so that I might receive Your gift of pardon and life through faith in Christ Jesus. In His name, I pray. Amen.
[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]