Personal Study on 1 Corinthians 13 - Agape Love
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
a. The Corinthians were enamored with spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of tongues. Paul reminds them that even the gift of tongues is meaningless without love. Without love, a person may speak with the gift of tongues, but it is as meaningless as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. It is nothing but empty noise. “People of little religion are always noisy; he who has not the love of God and man filling his heart is like an empty wagon coming violently down a hill: it makes a great noise, because there is nothing in it.” (Josiah Gregory, cited in Clarke)
b. Tongues of men and of angels: The Greek word translated tongues has the simple idea of “languages” in some places (Acts 2:11, Revelation 5:9). This has led some to say that the gift of tongues is simply the ability to communicate the gospel in other languages; it is the capability of learning languages quickly. But the way tongues is used here shows it can, and usually does, refer to a supernatural language by which a believer communicates to God. There is no other way the reference to tongues of . . . angels can be understood. In Paul’s day, many Jews believed that angels had their own language, and by the Spirit, one could speak it. The reference to tongues of . . . angels shows that though the genuine gift of tongues is a legitimate language, it may not be a “living” human language, or may not be a human language at all.
c. Prophecy, knowledge, and faith to do miracles are likewise irrelevant apart from love. The Corinthian Christians were missing the motive and the goal of the gifts, making them their own end; Paul draws the attention back to love. Paul, quoting the idea of Jesus, refers to faith which could move mountains (Matthew 17:20). What an amazing thing it would be have faith which could work the impossible! Yet, even that faith makes us nothing if it is without love. A man with faith can move great mountains, but he will set them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else – if he doesn’t have love! It isn’t an issue of love versus the gifts.
d. Have not love: Paul is using the Greek word agape. The ancient Greeks had four different words we translate as love. It is important to understand the difference between the words, and why the apostle Paul chose the Greek word agape here. Eros was one word for love. It described, as we might guess from the word itself, erotic love. It refers to sexual love. Storge was the second word for love. It refers to family love, the kind of love there is between a parent and child or between family members in general. Philia is the third word for love. It speaks of a brotherly friendship and affection. It is the love of deep friendship and partnership. It might be described as the highest love of which man, without God’s help, is capable of. Agape is the fourth word for love. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it is rejected. Agape love gives and loves because it wants to; it does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves, it does not love in order to receive. It can be defined as a sacrificial, giving, and absorbing love.
The word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the sake of another. We can read this chapter and think that Paul is saying that if we are unfriendly, then our lives mean nothing. But agape isn’t really friendliness; it is self-denial for the sake of another. The most dramatic renunciations of self are, in the same way, profitless without love.
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
a. Bestow all my goods to feed the poor: This is what Jesus told the rich young ruler to do (Matthew 16:19-23), and he refused. But even if the rich young ruler had done what Jesus said, yet had not love, it would have been of no profit.
b. Though I give my body to be burned: Even if I lay my life down in dramatic martyrdom, apart from love, it is of no profit. Normally, no one would doubt the spiritual credentials of someone who gave away everything they had, and gave up their life in dramatic martyrdom. But those are not the best measures of someone’s true spiritual credentials. Love is the best measure. There were some early Christians so arrogant as to think that the blood of martyrdom would wash away any sin. They were so proud about their ability to endure suffering for Jesus; they thought it was the most important thing in the Christian life. It is important, but not the most important. Without love, it profits me nothing. Even if it is done willingly, some believe the burning referred to here is not execution, but branding as a criminal or as a slave for the sake of the gospel. The more likely sense is execution, but it really matters little, because the essential meaning is the same. Paul is writing about great personal sacrifice. As well, some Greek manuscripts have if I give up my body that I may glory instead of though I give my body to be burned. Again, the meaning is the same, and the difference is really minor. Many Christians believe the Christian life is all about sacrifice. Sacrificing your money, your life, for the cause of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice is important, but without love it is useless. It profits me nothing.
c. Each thing described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is a good thing. Tongues are good. Prophecy and knowledge and faith are good. Sacrifice is good. But love is so valuable, so important, that apart from it, every other good thing is useless. Sometimes, we make the great mistake of letting go of what is best for something else that is good, but not the best.
“Love suffers long and is kind.”
a. At the beginning, we see that love is described by action words, not by ethereal concepts. Paul is not writing about how love feels, he is writing about how it can be seen in action. True love is always demonstrated by action.
b. Love suffers long: Love will endure a long time. It is the heart shown in God, when it is said of the Lord, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). If God’s love is in us, we will be longsuffering to those who annoy us and hurt us. The ancient preacher John Chrysostem said this is the word used of the man who is wronged, and who easily has the power to avenge himself, but will not do it out of mercy and patience. Do you avenge yourself as soon as you have the opportunity?
c. Love is kind: When we have and show God’s love, it will be seen in simple acts of kindness. A wonderful measure of kindness is to see how children receive us. Children won’t receive and respond to unkind people!
“Love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
a. Love does not envy: Envy is one of the least productive and most damaging of all sins. It accomplishes nothing, except to hurt. Love keeps its distance from envy, and does not resent it when someone else is promoted or blessed. Clarke describes the love which does not envy: “They are ever willing that others should be preferred before them.” Is envy a small sin? Envy murdered Abel (Genesis 4:3-8). Envy enslaved Joseph (Genesis 37:11, 28). Envy put Jesus on the cross: For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy (Matthew 27:18).
b. Love does not parade itself: Love in action can work anonymously. It does not have to have the limelight or the attention to do a good job, or to be satisfied with the result. Love gives because it loves to give, not out of the sense of praise it can have from showing itself off. Sometimes the people who work the hardest at love are those the furthest from it. They do things many would perceive as loving, yet they do them in a manner which would parade itself. This isn’t love; it is pride looking for glory by the appearance of love.
c. Love . . . is not puffed up: To be puffed up is to be arrogant and self-focused. It speaks of someone who has a “big head.” Love doesn’t get its head swelled, it focuses on the needs of others. Both to parade itself and to be puffed up are simply rooted in pride. Among Christians, the worst pride is spiritual pride. Pride of face is obnoxious, pride of race is vulgar, but the worst pride is pride of grace! William Carey is thought by many to be the founder of the modern missionary movement. Christians all over the world know who he was and honor him. He came from a humble place; he was a shoe repairman when God called him to reach the world. Once, when Carey was at a dinner party, a snobbish lord tried to insult him by saying very loudly, “Mr. Carey, I hear you once were a shoemaker!” Carey replied, “No, your lordship, not a shoemaker, only a cobbler!” Today, the name of William Carey is remembered, but nobody remembers who that snobbish lord was! His love showed itself in not having a big head about himself.
d. Love . . . does not behave rudely: Where there is love, there will be kindness and good manners. Perhaps not in the stuffy, “look at how cultured I am” way of showing manners, but in the simple way that people do not behave rudely.
e. Love . . . does not seek its own: Paul communicates the same idea in Romans 12:10: In honor giving preference to one another. Also, Philippians 2:4 carries the same thought: Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. This is being like Jesus in a most basic way; being an others-centered person instead of a self-centered person.
f. Love . . . is not provoked: We all find it easy to be provoked, to become irritated with those who are just plain annoying. But it is a sin to be provoked, and it isn’t loving. Moses was kept from the Promised Land because he became provoked at the people of Israel (Numbers 20:2-11).
g. Love . . . thinks no evil: Literally, this means “love does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received.” Love will put away the hurts of the past instead of clinging to them. One writer tells of a tribe in Polynesia, where it was customary for each man to keep some reminders of his hatred for others. These reminders were suspended from the roofs of their huts to keep alive the memory of the wrongs, real or imagined. Most of us do the same.
h. Love . . . does not rejoice in iniquity: It is willing to want the best for others, and refuses to color things against others. Instead, love rejoices in the truth. Love can always stand with and on truth, because love is pure and good like truth.
“Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
a. All things: we might have hoped Paul would have chosen any phrase but this! All things encompass everything! We can all bear some things, we can all believe some things, we can all hope some things, and we can all endure some things. But God calls us father and deeper into love for Him, for one another, and for a perishing world. “You must have fervent charity toward the saints, but you will find very much about the best of them which will try your patience; for, like yourself, they are imperfect, and they will not always turn their best side towards you, but sometimes sadly exhibit their infirmities. Be prepared, therefore, to contend with “all things” in them.” (Spurgeon) “Love does not ask to have an easy life of it: self-love makes that her aim. Love denies herself, sacrifices herself, that she may win victories for God, and hers shall be no tinsel crown.” (Spurgeon)
b. Love . . . bears all things: The word for bears can also be translated covers. Either way, Paul brings an important truth along with 1 Peter 4:8: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” “Love covers; that is, it never proclaims the errors of good men. There are busybodies abroad who never spy out a fault in a brother but they must needs hurry off to their next neighbor with the savory news, and then they run up and down the street as though they had been elected common criers. It is by no means honorable to men or women to set up to be common informers. Yet I know some who are not half so eager to publish the gospel as to publish slander. Love stands in the presence of a fault, with a finger on her lip.” (Spurgeon)
c. Love . . . believes all things: We never believe a lie, but we never believe evil unless the facts demand it. We choose to believe the best of others. “Love, as far as she can, believes in her fellows. I know some persons who habitually believe everything that is bad, but they are not the children of love…I wish the chatterers would take a turn at exaggerating other people’s virtues, and go from house to house trumping up pretty stories of their acquaintances.” (Spurgeon)
d. Love . . . hopes all things: Love has a confidence in the future, not pessimism. When hurt, it does not say, “It will be this way for ever and even get worse.” It hopes for the best, and it hopes in God.
e. Love . . . endures all things: Most of us can bear all things, and believe all things, and hope all things, but only for a while! The greatness of agape love is it keeps on bearing, believing, and hoping. It doesn’t give up. It destroys enemies by turning them into friends.
“If your brethren are angry without a cause, be sorry for them, but do not let them conquer you by driving you into a bad temper. Stand fast in love; endure not some things, but all things, for Christ’s sake; so you shall prove yourself to be a Christian indeed.” (Spurgeon)
Key Points:
• Spurgeon sees the four qualities mentioned as love’s soldiers against evil. Evil is such a strong enemy, it comes at us again and again. First, we face evil with patience, for love bears all things. “Let the injury be inflicted, we will forgive it, and not be provoked: even seventy times seven will we bear in silence.” If this isn’t enough, we battle evil with faith, for love believes all things. We look to God and His promises and we believe them. If this is not enough, we overcome a third time by hope, for love hopes all things. “We rest in expectation that gentleness will win, and that long-suffering will wear out malice, for we look for the ultimate victory of everything that is true and gracious.” Finally, we finish the battle with perseverance, for love endures all things. “We abide faithful to our resolve to love, we will not be irritated unto unkindness, we will not be perverted from generous, all-forgiving affection, and so we win the battle by steadfast non-resistance.” Spurgeon concludes the thought: “Yes, brethren, and love conquers on all four sides. . . . What a brave mode of battle this is! Is not love a man of war? Is it not invincible?”
• The best way to understand each of these is to see them in the life of Jesus. We could replace the word love with the name Jesus and the description would make perfect sense. We can easily say Jesus suffers long and is kind; Jesus does not envy . . . and make it through the whole chapter.
• We can measure our spiritual maturity by seeing how it sounds when we put our name in place of the word love. Does it sound totally ridiculous or just a “little” far-fetched?
• There is a reason why Paul put this chapter in the midst of his discussion of spiritual gifts. Paul wants the Corinthian Christians to remember that giftedness is not the measure of maturity, the display of love is.
