An Exposition of the Thirteenth Chapter of First Corinthians.
By L. J. Fowler
Taken from Grace and Truth Magazine 1923
The expositions which men have given of that wonderful thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians are almost without number, yet none have been able to sound the depths of its meaning. It seems to resist all attempts which would search out the riches of its truths, and the more earnestly one endeavors to grasp the scope of
its teaching the more unfathomable does it become.
This passage appears as the
central section of three great chapters devoted by Paul
to the question of spiritual gifts. Its relationship to the
two other chapters is revealed in the closing words of the
twelfth. After dealing with the diversities of gifts and the
exercise of them by the members of the body of Christ, Paul
exhorts the believers to "covet earnestly the best
gifts," and then adds, "And yet show I unto you a more excellent
way." The more excellent way is the way of love.
And the whole of the thirteenth chapter is taken up
with the comparison and description of the gift of love.
In the fourteenth chapter Paul resumes, in a more
restricted way, the teaching
concerning the gifts of the Spirit.
As we approach the study of the
thirteenth chapter itself we find that it falls
into three main divisions with the thirteenth verse as the
epitome of the whole. Three things the Holy Spirit has
presented — faith, love and hope. The first three verses are
taken up with a comparison
between love and the gifts of the Spirit which, as we learn from Romans the twelfth chapter, are always exercised "according to the proportion of faith." The gifts of tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and self-sacrifice are all presented as being exercised in the fullest degree, hence according to the utmost faith, and yet
love is shown to be superior to all, yea, the crowning gift of
all gifts. In verses four to seven we find the inspired
definition of love, both from the affirmative and negative
sides. And in verses eight to twelve love is shown to be
more enduring than hope, for as the Apostle writes to the
Romans, "Hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man
sees why doth he yet hope for?" That which we hope
for is the glorious return of our blessed Lord, but in
that day we shall cease to hope for Him, for we will be
in His presence. Then hope will be merged into love.
The design of this study is to
seek a more complete knowledge of the true
meaning of love according to the Holy Spirit's own
definition which is found in the central section
of this chapter. For our purpose we will employ that
accurate and beautiful translation given to us by Richard
Francis Weymouth and which appears in display on the
opposite page.
It is well for us to look a
little more closely into the meaning of the word which is the
subject of this chapter and which is translated
"charity" in the King James version and "love" in practically
all other versions. It is the noun
agape, and occurs 310
times in the New Testament either as a noun, a verb,
or an adjective. With but few exceptions, it is translated
"love" or "beloved." Thayer points out that it is
used frequently in I John of the love of Christians toward
one another; of the benevolence which God, in providing
salvation for men, has exhibited by sending His Son to
them and giving Him up to death. It is used to mean
divine love, whereas phileo, the other Greek word translated
love, is used to mean human affection. A remarkable
illustration of this distinction is to be found in the
story of the death of Lazarus and his restoration to life
as recorded in the eleventh chapter of John. The sisters of
Lazarus sent unto Jesus, saying, "Lord, behold he whom
Thou lovest (phileo) is sick." And as Jesus stood by
the tomb and wept, the Jews said, "Behold how He loved
(phileo) him." But the Holy Spirit directed the Apostle to write: "Now Jesus loved (agapao) Martha, her sister, and Lazarus." It was the same love with which the Father loved the world (John 3:16). The first thing, therefore, that we need to note in approaching this study is that God is not calling us to mere human affection, but to the love which He Himself has shown toward us, His unworthy creatures.
Patience, that grace which is so rare among God's people today, is presented as the first characteristic of love. And for fear that we might overlook the fact that love is patient, two other words are used in this passage having the same general thought but with slightly different shades of meaning. The first one means long-suffering or patience, especially with respect to the wrongs of others committed against us. It means
to withhold judgment; not to seek for revenge. The
second word is given to us by Weymouth as "She knows how
to be silent." True love does not gossip; she
exhibits that phase of patience which just keeps still about the
failures of others. The third word having in it the thought of
patience is the last in this inspired definition of
love. Love is "full of patient endurance." It is the endurance
of the trials and testings of this life which is the
outstanding thought. She knows how, in the midst of the
vicissitudes of life just to patiently endure.
Then love is kind. It is because
Christians generally have exhibited so little of real
kindness that the world's philosophers have taken up the
cry as though they were urging some new and unheard of
moral quality. But the world knows little about the
kindness of love. Instead of a kindness actuated by love it
is a kindness born of the desire for human recognition,
temporal rewards and the plaudits of men. Nevertheless
the gift of true kindness is to be earnestly sought. Its
presence will make small men great, but its absence will
shrivel great men into insignificance. It stamps the
character of both old and young with a divine imprint.
Love is unmeasured kindness.
"Love knows neither envy nor
jealousy." With this sentence the Holy Spirit begins
that work of definition which excludes all that is not
contained in the meaning of the term defined. Envy and
jealousy have no place in love. Love is contented with
such things as she has. She knows how to be thankful. Though
as children of God we are blessed with all
spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies in Christ, we are so prone
to look around us and to view the possessions of others.
The old nature whispers to the soul that we are not
getting our just dues; we are being slighted either in
material prosperity or in human recognition. And then bitterness
enters the soul and all joy in the Lord flees us. It all
comes about by a failure to look up instead of around.
Another sin which is incompatible with love is given to us in the words, "Love is not forward and self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited." Stated from the affirmative angle, it
is simply the truth that love is meek and humble. If this be true love, then surely the modern church has lost even the semblance of it. Instead of
meekness and retirement, we have wire-pulling; and instead of humility, we have haughty airs and proud looks, and this in pulpit as well as in pew. If John's statement be true that "God is love,'' then we must conclude that He has little to do with many efforts that are being made today in the name of Christianity. Brethren, let us put away forwardness and self-assertiveness, boasting and conceit, and let God's love manifest itself in meekness and humility. Then and then only can we expect God's fullest and
richest blessing on the proclamation of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
We next find some specific acts
which are the direct antitheses of love. Loves does
not act unbecomingly or unseemly. She knows that she is
a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus and she
acts in harmony with that glorious standing. Do we not,
contrary to Paul's exhortation to the Ephesian
believers, often give way to
jesting and foolish talking instead of
giving of thanks? Then love does not even go after that
which belongs to her. Love "seeketh not her own," or
does not "seek to aggrandize herself." She rather
suffers wrongs. And love never blazes out in passionate
anger. We think of hate, that sin of the mind which feeds
the flame of anger, as the antonym of love, and so it
is, but have we not heard some child of God again and
again make excuses for an unbridled temper which
manifested itself in the life? With James we may say, "These
things ought not so to be."
A marvelous thing is love. If we
permit it to come into our lives a host of things
must vanish. All those petty suggestions of the old
nature which we have permitted our souls to feed upon
must go. And one of the things which has been so
carefully harbored in our souls is that sin of thinking upon
wrongs. It is expressed by the Holy Spirit in the words,
"Does not * * * brood over wrongs." If we have really
learned to love, if we are permitting God's own divine love
to flow through our lives, we will find no time to
"brood over wrongs," and "no pleasure in injustice done
to others." What an expressive phrase the translator
has given us! Love does not meditate upon the injustice
which has been inflicted upon her; she does not
permit the mind to go over and over again some petty wrong
which the soul imagines it has suffered. Love just
forgets all about the wrongs. She has a better
occupation. The soul who is willing to face
the unapproachable light of perfect love as
revealed in these few verses is compelled to confess his
unworthiness and inability to meet the standard which God has
made. But God has not left us in the dark, even in
this definition of perfect love, concerning the method
whereby we may reach the goal of love's full realization.
He has not left us without a formula. The formula is in
direct contrast with the truth that we should not think
upon evil things. Instead of giving way to brooding over
injustices done either to ourselves or to others, we
joyfully side with the truth,
or, as the King James version
renders the phrase, "Love * * * rejoiceth in the truth." Since
this is the method prescribed, we know immediately
what the Holy Spirit is endeavoring to convey to our
minds; we are to rejoice in Jesus, Who is, in the most
complete sense, the Truth. This is further suggested in the
words. Love "is full of trust, full of hope." As the soul
learns to rejoice in Jesus, in who He is and what He has
accomplished through His atoning death; to fully trust
Him in every problem of life; and to yearn for His
coming again, true love will manifest itself in the life. If
we simply turn from our meditation upon the wrongs which
we imagine have been done to us or to others to an
unceasing occupation in the One Who bore our sins on the
accursed tree, we will find that His matchless love,
yes His divine love, will flood the soul and by a miracle
there will appear in our daily lives patience, kindness,
contentment, meekness, humbleness, graciousness,
unselfishness and calmness.
When we have seen in this section
of God's Word these remarkable truths
concerning our individual Christian lives, we
have not yet drawn from it all the meaning which it
holds. Because the world is "without God" it is of
necessity without love. Being without love, the world
can only reap the fruits of that which is directly
opposed to love — hate. A careful study of conditions in the
world today will reveal that every sin which is
threatening modern civilization can be traced to the absence of
love. The sins here set forth, which ha\e no part in
love, contain the dynamite which is causing the upheavals
among the nations today. If men had been given over in
complete devotion to the One Who gave Himself for them
instead of to self-aggrandizement, we would have no
industrial troubles. If the human race was not
inherently proud and conceited we would have no social castes.
If the rulers of Russia had learned the love of
kindness, and the proletariat
had known how to fasten their minds
on Jesus, their eternal Saviour, instead of brooding
over wrongs, real or imaginary, Bolshevism would not be
commanding the position which it does today. And so
we might go on in our investigation, showing that
every evil today had its beginning with these things which we
have so often considered insignificant.
In talking with one of the stock
of Israel, he insisted that although he was not a
Christian, he loved everybody, whether they were Jews or
Americans or Italians or Greeks; he loved everybody.
And most of us Christians, no doubt, have come to
moments when, in our self-righteousness, we have felt
that we really did love everybody. But oh, what paltry
ideas of love must be ours in order to countenance
such a thought! If God has led us to love, in a
measure, those who are His, and to yearn for the salvation of
those who are lost, let us learn to abound more and more.
Let us learn to love with a full understanding of the
inspired definition of Holy Writ.
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