TL;DR: First Corinthians 13 declares that even the greatest spiritual gifts and sacrifices are meaningless without agape love. God's transforming love destroys pride, prejudice, and self-centeredness while nurturing Christlike character. This selfless love should shape every Christian relationship and guide cross-cultural ministry.
What does 1 Corinthians 13 mean for us today?
13 1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul points out that, for the believer, love is more important than anything else. He has a good reason for saying so. Agape love is the greatest Christian virtue. Part of the rich meaning of true Christian love is its purifying and transforming power.
That may sound strange, so let me explain. Agape love has an eradicating power that destroys what is not Christlike in us. It also nurtures in us all the virtues that we identify as Christian.
Carnal vices and heavenly virtues cannot flourish together. Therefore, if we allow God to release agape love in our lives, it will destroy the pride, lust, and other self-centered attitudes lurking in the dark recesses of our hearts. As God removes these attitudes, God nurtures love in their place. We can love as God loves—giving ourselves for the good of others.
The Church of Jesus Christ has been slow to learn all that the Holy Spirit is trying to teach in 1 Corinthians 13.
For instance, just 15 minutes from where we lived in Florence, Italy, there is a bronze plaque in the middle of a public piazza (or "square," as we usually say in the U.S.). That plaque marks the spot where Savonarola and two other reform-minded friars were hanged and burned in 1498 after proceedings involving both church and civic authorities.
The violence surrounding Savonarola's death is a stark reminder that people acting in the name of faith have not always practiced the love Paul describes. Today, too, we sometimes fail to make agape love the "greatest of these." Sadly, we sometimes base how we love on what we perceive as a person's worth.
In the early 1960s, the appearance of a Black minister as a guest preacher caused a stir in a church my dad, Nolan Culbertson, pastored. The agape love the Holy Spirit produces had not been allowed to overcome sinful prejudices. Unfortunately, some in that congregation found themselves more in line with carnal philosophies than with the Word of God.
At the height of the Cold War, I remember hearing people voice the slogan "Kill a Commie for Christ." In light of 1 Corinthians 13, this extreme example comes close to violating the commandment against misusing God's name, not to mention the commandment against murder.
On a lesser scale, most of us have experienced unloving actions of one kind or another in the church. Fellow Christians have hurt us, and perhaps we have sometimes responded in kind.
True agape love transforms a carnal, self-seeking person into a caring human being. Agape love destroys in order to create. Only as we open ourselves to this purifying and transforming force of God's grace can we become the loving people God intends us to be within the Christian fellowship.
The full spectrum of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 is not an unattainable ideal. It sets parameters for the Spirit-filled life.
Have you let God's love do its purifying and transforming work in you? Have you let its "eradicating" power transform your life? [ How entire is entire?]
I wrote this devotional when Barbara and I were serving as missionaries in Italy. It is one of a series of 52 brief devotionals written for Standard, a weekly Faith Connections take-home curriculum piece for adult Sunday school classes published by The Foundry.
Agape is a Greek word that means the highest kind of love. Agape love is sacrificial, selfless, and unconditional. It is expressed through empathy and a desire for the good of everyone. The word agape appears frequently in the New Testament and also occurs in other ancient Greek writings, but Christian writers gave it particular theological prominence.
What does good cross-cultural missionary work look like? The thirteenth chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is a good place to start. Those words were written to a very diverse congregation that was divided and whose members were struggling to get along with one another.
—Jean McCracken (São Paulo, Brazil)
Evangelical Missions Quarterly, © June 1979, p. 151. Used by permission and in accordance with the educational use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
1 Corinthians 13 is often referred to as the "love chapter" because it can lead us to deep reflection on the nature and importance of love. Seven important lessons that can be drawn from this "love chapter" are:
Overall, 1 Corinthians 13 powerfully declares the transformative power of love and its indispensable role in the lives of Christ-followers. This chapter challenges us to embody love in all aspects of our lives so that we will reflect to others the love that God has shown us.
