DAY NINETY-ONE: 

The Most Excellent Way 

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Today we look at one of the most beloved passages in the Bible. I've been asked to read it in at least three-fourths of the weddings I've officiated. 1 Corinthians 13 is beautiful and lofty prose. But this passage is also one of the most misunderstood. That's because it's so easy to separate it from its context. So let's begin our consideration of chapter 13 with a look at chapter 12 and chapter 14

The chapter begins, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed." This is the same word Paul used in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 when he said he did not want his readers to be ignorant about matters of eternal life. We get the word agnostic from this word. So what's the deal with spiritual gifts?

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance ofwisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit,who apportions to each one individually as he wills." We don't choose our spiritual gifts- the Holy Spirit assigns them to us. Further, spiritual gifts are not for our private use but for the benefit of the whole church. There are many gifts, but just one Holy Spirit.

The Corinthians were fixated on one particular gift, speaking in tongues. If you've ever heard someone speak in tongues it's impressive. There's definitely a place for this gift, but Paul listed it in last place, the least important of the gifts. In 1 Corinthians 14:6-12 he wrote, " Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church."

The Corinthians were eager for the spiritual gifts, but they misunderstood their purpose and more importantly the principle by which they must operate. Paul ended chapter 12 with a segway into today's passage: " But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way." The word for excellent is huperbole. Recognize the English word hyperbole? It means literally to throw something the farthest distance. This excellent way is the way of love.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."  The spiritual gifts are in fact utterly meaningless if love is absent.

Before we go further we need to consider this word "love." This is pretty much the only word we have in modern English to express the concept of love. As such it's used in a variety of ways: I love anchovies on my pizza; I love my favorite TV show; I love my dog; I love my wife; I love God. Greek has four words for this concept of love:

• eros, from which we get the word erotic. This is a selfish love that seeks its own benefit, that seeks to possess and to control the other. This is a 0/100 kind of love;
• storge, an instinctive love, a natural bond that holds families together;
• philia, from which Philadelphia gets its name (city of brotherly love). This is a mutual, 50/50 type of love. I like you and you like me. I help you and you help me; and
• agape, a word used very rarely in classic Greek which Christians co-opted to describe the love that God has for us. This is love is 100/0. This love gives with no expectation of return. This love is concerned for the welfare of the other. This is the love of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

It is this last word that Paul used repeatedly. Agape love is the controlling principle for our Christian lives. Paul didn't define this kind of love. A definition limits the meaning of a word, and there is no limit to agape. Instead he described it with a series of adjectives:

• Love is patient 
• and kind; 
• love does not envy 
• or boast; 
• it is not arrogant 
• or rude. 
• It does not insist on its own way; 
• it is not irritable or resentful; 
• it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, 
• but rejoices with the truth. 
• Love bears all things,
• believes all things, 
• hopes all things, 
• endures all things.
• Love never ends.

What a list! What would it be like if we all lived out this kind of love? This is the ideal for us as individual Christians and as a church. Of course we fall short because of our sinful human nature (aka the flesh). And sometimes we have to confess that we're far from this ideal, operating from selfish motives. If this godly love is absent, the church is just another human organization, not much different from the Lions Club or 4-H. Jesus said in John 13:35, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Paul stressed that love is far, far more important than the spiritual gifts over which the Corinthians squabble. Those gifts will pass away. They won't be needed someday, when we see God face to face. We won't need revelation any more, because "...then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Paul said that when you strip everything away there are just three things that remain: faith, hope and love. He said that the greatest is love. Why is that? Because, as Peter Gillquist's classic book is titled, Love is Now. Faith is based on the past. I've seen God's goodness and faithfulness demonstrated earlier and in faith I rest upon those promises; Hope always looks to the future, to the fulfillment of God's perfect will; But love looks around at the present reality and works to make a difference in the here and now. We can't live in the past or the future. We live in the present, and God's love is present with us right now. 

Here's a beautiful song that I learned as a young Christian that summarizes 1 Corinthians 13:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWbPznwRrOM