1 Corinthians 13:8-13

I am a cessationist.  No, I don’t think Montana should secede from the United States and apply for provincial status in Canada, eh.  It means that I believe what are often called sign gifts (tongues, miracles, healings) ended after the time of the Apostles.  I believe they were temporary, given to confirm the message of the gospel after the life, death and resurrection of Christ (Heb. 2:3-4).  

I am not mean-spirited about this.  I am friends with and can serve alongside people who disagree, not to mention having quite a few from Pentecostal or Charismatic background as part of the churches I pastored over the years.  But my Biblical reasons for this position are several.  I believe miracles were never the norm in Scripture but characterized certain times (e.g. Moses and the Exodus) when God’s work needed confirmation (Ex. 4:1-9).  I believe Paul indicates that tongues was just such a sign for in the early days of the Church (1 Cor. 14:20-22).  I also believe what passes for speaking in tongues today is nothing like what happened in Acts when the languages were known languages (Acts 2:4-6).  

Then there is today’s passage.  Paul speaks of three spirituals: prophecy, tongues and knowledge.  It is clear from this passage and from Ch. 14 that speaking in tongues was held in high regard in Corinth.  It is also clear that the Apostle thinks that position is not a good one.  

Take v8 for example.  Unlike love, the three spirituals, however, will come to an end.  The Greek is interesting.  Prophecies and knowledge will cease.  The English versions typically use a different term but the Greek is the same for both (katargeo).  And it is in the “passive voice” meaning that something will act upon these two to cause them to cease.  We are told what will happen in v9-10.  Knowledge and prophesy are partial; but when the perfect or complete comes they will be done away (again, same term as applied to each in v8).  Tongues, on the other hand, will cease but here the Greek is from pauo and it is in the middle voice.  What that means is that there is something in the tongues itself that will cause it to no longer be useful or needed.  It will simply fade out, so to speak.

People who disagree with the cessationist position should at least be asked to explain this difference.  There is something different about tongues that is different than prophecy and knowledge.  And when and why will they cease?  My view is that the perfect Paul speaks of is the revelation of Jesus Christ.  At His return will be the revealing of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19), when what we shall be is finally known (1 John 2:2).  This is the time when knowledge and prophecy will no longer be needed.  As for the time when tongues cease, we will see the answer to that when we come to 1 Cor. 14:20-25.

So again, more than the spirituals, even more than faith and hope, love is what is truly excellent and should characterize God’s people.  May it be so as we serve together in Christ’s Body.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Let us continue to consider the importance of love for believers.

ü 1 Cor. 1:12-13: Love is the greatest, greater than faith or hope.

ü Mark 12:29-31: Rom. 13:10: Love fulfills the law.

ü 1 Cor. 16:14: Love must characterize everything we do.

ü Gal. 5:13-14: Love is the way we serve our brother.

ü Col. 3:14: Love makes every other quality perfect or complete.

ü 1 Tim. 1:3-5: Love gives sound doctrine a good conscience.

ü 1 Peter 4:8: Love covers a multitude of sins.

ü 1 John 4:19: Love is the only proper response to God’s love.

ü 2 John 4-6: Love makes the truth complete.

But we must ask, “What is love?”  Is it the feeling in the stomach a young man might feel for a young lady?  Is it sentimentalism?  Let us consider briefly the description in today’s passage.  (Each will be accompanied by a brief definition and a Scripture where this aspect of love is seen in a ministry context.)

·        Love suffers long (Jn. 21:15-19).  It has great patience with people.

·        Love is kind (2 Tim. 1:16-18).  It meets needs with specific acts.  This is especially critical in loving one’s enemies.

·        Love does not envy (Phil. 1:12-18).  It is not displeased when others succeed.

·        Love does not parade itself (1 Th. 2:5-6).  It does not boast about itself.

·        Love is not puffed up (1 Tim. 3:6; 2 Cor. 12:7-10).  It is not proud.

·        Love does not behave rudely (1 Tim. 5:1-2).  It is not indecent or disgraceful; love is not lust.

·        Love does not seek its own (2 Cor. 12:14; Phil. 4:17).  It doesn’t seek fame.

·        Love is not provoked (Acts 16:16-40).  It is not easily angered.

·        Love thinks no evil (Gal. 2:11-16>>2 Pt. 4:15).  It keeps no record of wrong.

·        Love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Cor. 5:2,6).  Love will confront or discipline sin but will grieve over the sin.

·        Love rejoices in the truth (Ac. 18:24-28; 1 Tim. 1:3-5).  It presses for truth.

·        Love bears all things (1 Cor. 9:12).  It doesn’t get weary in well-doing.

·        Love believes all things (John 21:15-19; Acts 9:13-17,26-27).  It is not gullible or naïve but believes God can work all things.

·        Love hopes all things (Lk. 7:36ff; 19:4-10; John 8:1-11).  Again, this is not blind stupidity but godly optimism.  No situation is hopeless with Christ.

·        Love endures all things (2 Tim. 2:10; 3:10f).  It is patient in all circumstances.

·        Love never fails (John 13:1; 2 Tim. 4:6-8,16).  

These passages are worthy of study.  But believers know that one story illustrates love as no other and that is the story of the cross of Jesus Christ.  There is no greater love than the cross (John 15:13).  The cross is the ultimate lesson in how we ought to love one another in the body of Christ (1 John 4:7-11).

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3

In 1 Corinthians 12 we were given a marvelous picture of the body of Christ.  Like any body the body of Christ has many intricate parts (12:14).  The parts of the body cannot be what they want to be; they can only be what the Lord made them to be (12:15-16).  No single part is the whole body (12:17-20).  And no one part of the body can exist without the other parts of the body (12:21-26).  Paul tells the Corinthian believers they ARE the body of Christ and each an individual member of the body of Christ (12:27).  Their corporate connection to each other is bound up in the fact they were all baptized into one body.  Their specific role in the body is bound up in the gift they have each been given by the Holy Spirit.

All of this is backdrop for where Paul is heading.  12:31 provides a transition from Ch. 12 to Ch. 13.  Having noted in Ch. 12 the importance of each member to the body Paul says they should earnestly desire the best gifts.  But because their zeal is leading to boastful pride about gifts, Paul shows them a more excellent way.  And that more excellent way involves one of the most well-known chapters in all the Bible, the one commonly called “The Love Chapter.”

Being the special chapter it is it is often made to stand on its own.  It is read at weddings or other special occasions.  Often v1-7 are read because of the great description of love that is given.  But to consider this chapter in the context where it is found, as we are doing, is quite instructive.  It is at the center of what is still today a contentious issue.  In preaching it is often the case that there are great sermons on 1 Cor. 13 with little teaching on 1 Cor. 12 and 14.  That is strange, because Ch. 13 is much better understood by keeping it in its context.

This is illustrated by the opening verses.  Paul has been discussing gifts, ministries and God’s workings.  He is about to teach the value of prophesy over speaking in tongues.  And yet how does he begin as he speaks of this more excellent way?

·        If you speak in human languages or even something you consider to be the language of angels, and yet have no love for other members of the body, you are no different than the idolaters in the temples and their noisy worship (v1).

·        If you prophesy and have a deep knowledge of Biblical mysteries and have great faith, but have no love, then you are not important; you are nothing (v2).

·        If God’s work leads you to be incredibly generous to give away all your possessions and to cause you to make the ultimate sacrifice, but yet you have no love, all this will profit you nothing (v3).

What characterizes the people of Christ?  He made it clear: it is not the great gifts or heroic leaders but it is their love for each other (John 13:34-35).  This discussion of gifts needs to happen, and Paul will continue in the next chapter.  But the body will never function as a body unless every part is bound together by love, the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14).