Great Chapters of the Bible
I Corinthians 13 - Love and the Gifts

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


For many people, I Corinthians 13 is not only one of the Great Chapters of the Bible, it is, by far, the greatest chapter of the Bible. Because of its beautiful lyrical phrases in praise of love, it is frequently read, in whole or in part, at Christian weddings worldwide. But it's not merely the beautiful language that escalates this chapter to its lofty position; it's the subject matter it treats. Many years ago, someone told me about a delightful little book written by Henry Drummond, a contemporary of D.L. Moody. In this classic, The Greatest Thing in the World, he called love the "summum bonum" - the supreme good. He opens with these words,

    "Every one has asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world: What is the summum bonum 'the supreme good.' You have life before you. Once only you can live it. What is the noblest object of desire, the supreme gift to covet?" Later in his discussion on the various elements of love, Drummond writes, "Remember, once more, that this is a matter of life or death. I cannot help speaking urgently, for myself, for yourselves. 'Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' That is to say, it is the deliberate verdict of the Lord Jesus that it is better not to live than not to love. It is better not to live than not to love."

Certainly we are ready to agree - but it is noteworthy that this idea of the importance of love finds agreement among all of the large, popular religions of the world. Here's a brief sampling:

    Judaism - "You shall not hate your brother in your heart . . . but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:17-18) However, for the Jewish people, this love was not restricted to their own people. "The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:34).

    Islam - "Human beings can live in blessing and kindness so long as they love each other, show trust-worthiness, and behave according to truth and fairness. Love is enduring and patient and kind. It judges all things with the heart, not the mind. And love can transform the most common place into beauty and splendor and sweetness and grace. For love is unselfish, giving more than it takes, being unconditional and unhampered by environment. Love never forsakes, it is faithful and trusting, truthful. It is guileless and honest and never deceiving. Love is Allah's Divine Gift." ("Islamic Digest")

    Hinduism - One of the four ends of life is Kama, which like Cupid, is a personalized god of love with flower-bow and five flower arrows, sending desire quivering into the heart. In general, love in Hinduism plays a determinative role in the whole religious practice; family love, married love and all secular forms of love are subordinate to the divine love.

    Buddhism - "Never is this world appeased by hatred; it is only appeased by love - this is an eternal law." (Dhammapada, The Way of Righteousness - 3-5, 201).

    Daoism - "There are three basic precious treasures which I would preserve forever: love, frugality, and humility. Love creates courage - love can win when fighting, and also can defend a position strongly. Heaven would save those who have love." (By founder Lao Zi, Ch. 67).

    Confucianism - "Ren" (translated as love, goodness, heartedfulness, or humaneness) is a central concept and starting point. Ren is the determinative principle for the harmony, balance and equilibrium among human beings. Love is a duty, a virtue, a moral conduct, a rational choice, and a social responsibility.

Although we certainly agree that not all religions are created equal, we can point to the universality of this persuasion that love is championed worldwide.

1) Love cannot be practiced in isolation.

However, please understand that when we identify love as the "highest good," we are not implying that it is the only good, nor that in this life, can love be practiced in isolation. To do so would be to practice what is called "situation ethics." Such practice proclaims "anything goes" in the name of love. While love may result in great self-sacrifice and heroism, if love alone provides the ethical boundary, it also could be blamed for:

    causing men to cheat on their wives, and women to leave their husbands, permitting workers to falsify resumes,
    allowing parents to lie to their children, and
    it is sometimes in the name of love that abuse takes place in families.

Even while we champion the virtues of love, we want to hold onto many other very important elements in life:

    Love, apart from faith in God, cannot save us for eternity;
    Love may sustain us for the present, but hope is important to keep our spirits up for what is to come;
    Love without holiness will degenerate into lust;
    Love without wisdom will become indulgent and produce dependence; and
    Love without obedience will lack discipline and personal growth.

2) Love is not mere emotion.

Furthermore, it is also clear that Paul is not merely philosophizing, or romanticizing the notion of love. Certainly what he wrote in theis chapter was never intended to merely promote the romantic, erotic, or even emotional response we call love. His is not an abstract discussion of a concept, but rather a very important point in the sequence of his corrective teachings to the immature Corinthian church.

3) The larger context is important - Paul was giving corrective instruction relative to the ills of the Corinthian church.

Even though the language sets it apart, I Corinthians 13 must not be isolated from the context of the entire letter.

    When Paul notes that envy and pride do not fit the definition of love, he certainly must have been thinking about their "party strife" as addressed in Chapter 3.

    "Love does not boast" (verse 4) reminds us that when Paul chides the church members in Chapter 5 because they would not discipline the incestuous man, he includes the remark "boasting is not good."

    When the Christians in Corinth were taking each other to court (6:1-8), they certainly were not exhibiting the fruit of love called "patience" and "long suffering."

    When he said that love "seeketh not her own," he must have been thinking about his exhortation in response to the problem of eating food offered in the pagan temple bazaars (10:24,33).

    And when he refers to rudeness, surely he is thinking about their behavior at the Lord's Supper (11:2-16).

4) The immediate context is also important, affirming the importance of the practice of spiritual gifts with love.

Obviously, the more immediate context of I Corinthians 13 is Chapters 12 and 14, which deal with teachings concerning the gifts of the Spirit. Unfortunately, too many interpreters have jumped to the conclusion that Paul is renouncing the "gifts" in favor of love, as though these are mutually exclusive.

    One of the "insider" jokes in our family started with what our daughter told us about a sign posted in the University cafeteria when she was studying abroad in England. It said, "Soup or Juice." It seemed so incongruous to have to choose between "soup or juice," or between "Jell-O or ketchup," "salt or coffee"! It would be like a hostess meeting you at the entrance of the restaurant and asking, "Do you want water or a menu?" Or the greeter at the front entrance of the church asking, "Would you like to fill out a prayer request card or get a drink of water?"

Silly, to be sure, but this is how many people have treated this passage - "gifts, or love." The good news is, we don't have to choose, but rather see this as another example of partnership - God supplies the gifts, which are absolutely necessary for our own well-being as well as the well-being of the church, and we use them always with attitudes and behaviors of love.

Look at just one example of this partnership. Verse 5 tells us "love thinketh no evil." God offers many gifts, but what we think, is our responsibility. That's why Paul later provides this exhortation, ". . . if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

    So when someone comes with a choice bit of gossip, telling you about the sins of another person, you don't have to immediately "think evil" of that person, you don't have to judge them in your thoughts, for "love thinketh no evil." And by the way, if someone does tell you that they have been hurt by the words or actions of a brother or sister, simply offer them the words of Jesus, "If your brother [sister] sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother [sister] over." (Matthew 18:15) Let me say it clearly, one of the most damaging and divisive problems in the church today is that people, instead of adhering to this command of Jesus and going to their brother or sister to resolve their issues, go on "thinking evil" - and often even spread it by telling others and getting them to "think evil."

But going back to this idea of the importance of all the gifts -

    Are such gifts as prophecy, wisdom, and faith necessary? Of course, but they must be exercised with kindness, with no desire for personal advantage, and void of pride.

    Is it a good thing to give to people who are needy, and isn't self-sacrifice a high ideal? Yes, as long as they are not done to draw attention, or to win approval of man or God

    And we also add that, in our experience, the gift of tongues is a tremendous blessing to the individual as well as the church, as long as it isn't flaunted as a badge of superiority.

So it's not "gifts or love," it's "gifts with love."

Think about it. If you wanted to give someone a gift, if you really loved the person, wouldn't you want to give him or her the very best? So instead of giving them money, if you could, you would give them a job. Instead of giving them a band-aid, you would give them healing. Instead of sympathy, if they were open for it, you would provide good and wise counsel as to how they might best deal with their grief. In the same way, God's love in us causes us to desire to give more than what human resources can produce; we want to give a Spiritual Gift.

Far from replacing the Spiritual Gifts, love urges us to seek them, and then direct their use so that the recipients are built up in their faith and encouraged in their faithfulness.

Would to God that what Paul said to the Corinthian church could be said of today's church, "You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." (I Corinthians 1:7). In his case, it may have been said with tongue in cheek, because it was apparent that the gifts were not being motivated and directed by love. However, having learned a lesson from them, today we want it all - we want all of the gifts to be abundantly displayed - gifts of wisdom, gifts of power, and gifts of utterance - but all done according to love's most excellent way.

5) Love, the "excellent way," provides for edification.

Let's remember, the gifts of God are evidence of His love ("God so loved that He gave"), so for these gifts to be fulfilled they must be practiced with love.

Notice that the sentence which creates a bridge between chapters 12 and 13 is this, "eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way." (I Corinthians 12:31) What is the "most excellent way"? The way of love. The gifts are to be fully employed in the church, but always in love.

That's why Paul goes on in I Corinthians 14 to explain the use of gifts in terms of edification - they are to be used for the benefit of others.

    Read it in verse 4, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church."

    Also in verse 5 where Paul gives the instruction that when there is speaking in tongues in the worship gathering, there must be interpretation, "so that the church may be edified."

    Note verses 16-18: "If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say 'Amen' to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you."

    Also note that this idea is not unique to this section of the book. Earlier, when dealing with the subject of food sacrificed to idols, Paul made this point, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." (1 Corinthians 8:1)

6) Love is superior.

But someone may object, and remind us that clearly love is superior - "the greatest of these is love." Why is love superior? Because gifts are for the present; love is for both the present and the future. We admit that we are now immature, we are like children, as Paul says, speaking, understanding, and thinking as children; we are imperfect, incomplete. Consequently for the present we need prophecies, tongues, and revealed knowledge. In the future, when we will have been perfected, only love will remain. Yes, because we "see through a glass darkly," we need the gifts all the more.

In addition to I Corinthians 13, there is another great "Love Chapter" in the Bible, John 13. You remember, that was when Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34, 35) First, notice that these words follow Jesus becoming their servant by taking the basin and towel and washing their feet. In other words, "This is how I want you to love one another." But secondly, and pertinent to our subject, notice that in the three following chapters (John 14-16), we find John's concentration of teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. Again in the middle of Chapter 15, Jesus reiterates the love command, "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (15:12,13) This idea is repeated in the "other" John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

At the end of the little book I cited earlier, Drummond makes the statement, "To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love for ever is to live for ever." In other words, as was stated earlier, love becomes a matter of life and death. Which will you choose?

  • - - Return to Top of this Page
  • - Email a Link to this Page
  • - Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
  • - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List
  • - - Download This Sermon 
    This Page's Title Is:

                       
    Your Name Is:

                       
    Your Email Address Is:

                        
    Your State and Country:

    Please identify your vocation:

         Senior Pastor.     Associate Pastor.
            Youth Pastor.    Lay Minister.
                  Church Member.

    Which section of this site would you most likely return to?

         Sermons     Articles     Stories   
             Poems     Hymns    Articles for Leaders
               Marriage Articles         A Bit of Humor

    Would you like to receive the free weekly E-mail Circular?

      YES

    If you have a web page, would you like to establish a reciprocal link?

      YES

    Feel free to add a comment or prayer request: