1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? ³¹ But earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And I show you a still more excellent way.

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In today’s text Paul is again speaking of the spiritual gifts given to individuals for ministry, both within the body and to others outside the church. He says:   God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.  All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?  All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?       These gifts are given individually so that collectively the church body, working together can do all that it is supposed to do, to fulfill God’s purposes, to do His work and His will.

As we read scripture we should remember that these letters to the churches were not written with chapter and verse divisions, those were added later by people who translated the Bible into other languages. Paul move directly in His letter from the spiritual gifts to: And I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.       None of the spiritual gifts, no spiritual service, has value if it is not done with love. The thing is, love too is spiritual. In Galatians 5:22-26, Paul says:   the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.         So the love we are to have in exercising theses other spiritual gifts is itself a fruit of the Spirit. It is Holy Spirit inspired and derived love, not human love. In all of the ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues, we recognize and acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s presence, guidance and power. Why would we then think that we can love with human love? If love is greater than all the others how can it be our love and not God’s love? Do we make ourselves greater than God? I hope not.

So what does Holy Spirit inspired love look like?    Holy Spirit inspired love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,  does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,  does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.       Human love, loving in our own strength and ability simply cannot check all of those boxes, all of the time, no matter how hard we try.    The world, unbelievers try to use this portion of scripture against Christians. They are quick to point out when we fail, when we are not patient, when we allow ourselves to be provoked, they even say our intolerance of their choices is not kind, that it is arrogant to believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. They tend though, to leave out the part that love does not act unbecomingly, that it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in truth.    1 Corinthians 2:14 says:  a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.     Only Holy Spirit, God inspired and derived love can balance the things that would seem to be opposites to our natural human understanding and ability. How does God demonstrate His love to the world?    God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)     The love of God was demonstrated through the harshness and cruelty, the pain and anguish, of Jesus sacrifice for the sins of man on the cross. Natural human love cannot love in the same way, nor can the natural mind comprehend such love. It is both received and conceived by the Spirit.  

In today’s text Paul continues:    Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part;  but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.  When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.  But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.      All that we do we do partially, not fully, because we still struggle between spirit and flesh. One day,  when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. For now though all we can do is to yield to the Spirit, to abide in faith, hope and love. Jesus says:     “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17)      He says:    “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment.  We can only love God, who is spiritual with spiritual love. Then and only then, can we with that same spiritual love begin to do what Jesus says:    The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Paul says:   And I show you a still more excellent way.    Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Your ways are higher than our ways. Thank You for the demonstration of love, the cross of Christ which redeemed us from sin. Thank You that through the Holy Spirit, which You have given to dwell and abide in me, I can love like You loved me. Each and every day I choose and desire to yield more to You, to live, walk and love in and through the Spirit.     Amen