1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (WEL) 1 If I speak in human and angel languages, but don’t have love, I become like a resonating gong or clashing cymbal. 2 If I have prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I give up my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it doesn’t profit me.
Chapter summary (UCRT References): “Gifts and miraculous powers, without love, are of no worth or efficacy, 1-3, The excellent properties of love, 4-7, Love will abide, when prophecies and tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall be perfected, 8-12, It is greater than faith and hope, 13.”
V1 If I speak in human and angel languages, but don’t have love, I become like a resonating gong or clashing cymbal.
Paul has listed spiritual gifts and church offices. As great as all the spiritual gifts are, the greatest gift is love. The gift of teaching or discernment is worthless if it is without love. The church office of teachers or leadership is worthless if it is without love.
Every act of God is based on love, wisdom, and holiness.
Love is a choice, an act of our free will; the character traits of this love are demonstrated by God Himself and are listed in verses 4-8a.
We notice this clearly in the ministry of our Lord Jesus. When He taught, rebuked, healed, answered questions, and did anything, the motive was love. Overthrowing the tables of the money changers? Yes, that is love too, for the highest love is for God, to believe Him, and obey His rules. His honor is greater than whatever honor the money changers had.
Great natural abilities mean nothing without love. If I want to honor God, everything I do must be in love. May God help us, and He will.
Love is described in the following verses. God’s love can still be expressed towards enemies, murderers, politicians, and anyone.
Corrie Ten Boom gives an example (it is worth reading):
“It was in a church in Munich that I saw him, a balding, heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear.
“It was 1947, and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.
“It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown.
“When we confess our sins,” I said, “God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.”
“The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, collected their wraps in silence, and left the room.
“And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.
“It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!
“Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp where we were sent.
“Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”
“And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course–how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?
“But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors, and my blood seemed to freeze.
“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard in there.” No, he did not remember me.
“But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein”–again the hand came out–“will you forgive me?”
“And I stood there–I whose sins had every day to be forgiven–and could not. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow, terrible death simply for the asking?
“It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
“For I had to do it–I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus says, “neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
“I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war, I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality.
“Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.
“And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
“Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
“And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!”
“For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.
“And having thus learned to forgive in this hardest of situations, I never again had difficulty in forgiving: I wish I could say it! I wish I could say that merciful and charitable thoughts just naturally flowed from me from then on. But they didn’t.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned at 80 years of age, it’s that I can’t store up good feelings and behavior–but only draw them fresh from God each day.
“Maybe I’m glad it’s that way. For every time I go to Him, He teaches me something else. I recall the time, some 15 years ago, when some Christian friends whom I loved and trusted did something which hurt me.”
V2 If I have prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but don’t have love, I am nothing.
Prophecy, understanding in every field and endeavor, perfect faith to move mountains are worthless if I do not have love.
V3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I give up my body to be burned, but don’t have love, I gain nothing.
The same is true for these illustrations, too.
We learn:
- Love must be the main motivation for my Christian life and service.
- Love must be defined by God’s standards.
Questions:
- What is your main motivation for your Christian life and service?
- Please give an example.