1 corinthians 13 the living bible1/2/2023 ![]() If Christians do not possess true love they are like “sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal” (tinkling, KJV). True love costs something and Paul tried to communicate this fact with three distinct points in this chapter: The “preeminence of love” (verses 1-3), the “practice of love” (verses 4-7), and the “permanence of love” (verses 8-13).ġ3:1c: I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. Just as a candle is quiet and is expended for the benefit of others, so love causes people to “spend and be spent” ( 2 Corinthians 12:15) for others. In fact, love might be compared to a candle. As noted in the commentary on 1a, love is an attitude that causes people to make sacrifices. Some think of love as a feeling, something like fondness or affection, or a thing that may come and go with time. Love has also been complicated by Satan one of his tools is distorting the true meaning of love. More than 1,300 different meanings of love have come from people like philosophers and poets, but human wisdom is unable to adequately define love. Man desperately needs this information because society is often clueless about true love. While this chapter is directly related to the subject of spiritual gifts, it does provide us with a divine explanation of what true love is (in verses 4-8 love is described with sixteen different qualities). It was time for the members of this congregation to show some spiritual maturity and demonstrate the type of love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes in all things, and endures all things” ( 1 Corinthians 13:7). ![]() There were various things that “provoked” these brethren (13:5) and it seems they were “keeping a record of evil” ( 1 Corinthians 13:5). Love keeps people from “rejoicing in evil” (13:6), but the Corinthians rejoiced in evil ( 1 Corinthians 5:2 1 Corinthians 5:6). Agape love “does not seek its own” (13:5), but these Christians were seeking their own (see 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and the discussion about idol meat). Love is not “unseemly,” but the Corinthians were at risk of unseemly behavior in their families ( 1 Corinthians 7:36) as well as their Sunday assemblies ( 1 Corinthians 11:2-34). Love causes people to act in a kind and orderly way, but some of the Corinthians’ behavior was disorderly (14:23, 40). Love “is not puffed up” (13:4), but tongue speakers were proud (compare 13:1). ![]() Love does not “envy” (13:4), but the Corinthians envied the gifts of others (chapter 12). For instance, love “suffers long” (13:4), but tongue speakers at Corinth were impatient (14:27-28). It is also found by contrasting the qualities in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 with other sections of this epistle. The Corinthians’ elevation of spiritual gifts over love is seen in places such as 12:13-25 14:27-33, 40. Although 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 may seem familiar to many, this chapter is often one of the most misunderstood parts of the New Testament. Stated another way, verses 1-3 affirm that spiritual gifts were worthless without love, verses 4-7 affirm that love was superior to the gifts, and verses 8-13 assert that spiritual gifts were temporal but love abides. the temporal nature of gifts” (Gromacki, p. ![]() gifts with love, and the permanence of love vs. To the apostle, the development of the character of the person was superior to the exercise of the gift. Since the Corinthians were rude, jealous, and boastful, it was necessary for them “to go beyond their present pursuit. Some consider 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 the “love chapter of the Bible” or a “parenthetical description of love,” but this chapter is actually an integral part of Paul’s discussion about spiritual gifts.
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