LOVE: The Superior Way

INTRO

This lesson builds off yesterday’s lesson on 1 Corinthians 12, which talked about the gifts the Holy Spirit has breathed into each believer. Nine of the gifts were listed in 1 Corinthians 12: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, performing miracles, prophecy, discernment (between good and evil), languages (tongues), and interpretation of languages (tongues). All of these gifts have to lead to one thing: love.

TEACHING

1 Corinthians 13:1: When people speak in “human or angelic languages” (v. 1) or pray over you without doing so in love, then it’s just confusing noises. When it’s done without love, it’s often done in pride as if the person speaking or praying is saying, “Hey, look at me. I can pray in tongues.” This is just manufactured and sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher. In other words, you can’t understand.

1 Corinthians 13:2: The person who exercises the gifts of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1 where Paul told them to desire this gift above all others) without love is nothing. Note that 1 Corinthians 14:1 also instructs believers to pursue love first. Love is most important; if you’re just after the spiritual gifts then you’re missing the whole message of the gospel.

Prophecy literally means “. . .to speak before. The gift of prophecy is the divine enablement to reveal truth and proclaim it in a timely and relevant manner for understanding, correction, repentance, or edification. There may be immediate or future implications.”¹ If you’re speaking up to “expose sin or deception in others for the purpose of reconciliation,”² but love is not behind it, nobody wants to listen because it’s just a loud noise. But if you have a heart and you want to “speak a timely word from God causing conviction, repentance or edification; see truth that others often fail to see and challenge them to respond,”³ and you do this with love, then they will be drawn to Christ. If you come with the attitude that “I have this prophetic word,” and you’re just trying to stick it to somebody or to show how much the Holy Spirit has given to you, then you can abuse your spiritual gifts. But when you love people, it can be received. If you want people to “understand God’s heart and mind through experiences He takes them through,”⁴ all of that has to be filtered through the love of God. When you walk in prophecy that is based on love, you’re discerning, compelling, uncompromising, outspoken, authoritative, convicting and confronting—all of it done because you love them. You can have the gift of prophecy, knowledge, faith, and giving to the point of sacrifice, but Scripture says it’s worthless without love.

1 Corinthians 13:3: Giving everything to the poor, even sacrificing yourself, but not having love, you gain nothing. All of these gifts are worthless unless there is love. In these three verses, Tom Constable said Paul “was arguing for the necessity and supremacy of love.”⁵

1 Corinthians 13:4–7: In these verses, we see “the character of love.”⁶ As we talk about these characteristics of love, it’s important to keep the bigger picture in mind. Paul was talking to the Corinthian church, whose people at this point in time were not displaying any love but were abusing the gifts. There was division in the church. They were envying other gifts. Their behavior was disgracing the Lord. In this midst of those problems, Paul needed them to own up to this behavior and understand what true love was and how to express it. In these verses are 15 words that describe love. If we embrace 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, we just might see unity in the church. MacArthur explains them this way:

• “‘Love suffers long.’ Bearing with a person’s worst behavior, without retaliation, regardless of circumstances.
• ‘Love is kind.’ Diligently seeking ways to be actively useful in another person’s life.
• ‘Love does not envy.’ Delighting in the esteem and honor given to someone else.
• ‘Love does not parade itself.’ Not drawing attention to oneself exclusive of others.
• ‘Love is not puffed up.’ Knowing one is not more important than others.
• ‘Love does not behave rudely.’ Not engaging any person in ungodly activity.

‘Love does not seek its own.’ Being others-oriented.

‘Love is not provoked.’ Not resorting to anger as a solution to difficulties between myself and others.

‘Love thinks no evil.’ Never keeping an account due on others.

‘Love does not rejoice in iniquity.’ Never delighting in another person’s unrighteous behavior, nor will I join its expression.

‘Love rejoices in the truth.’ Finding great joy when truth prevails in another person’s life.

‘Love bears all things.’ Being publicly silent about another person’s faults.

‘Love believes all things.’ Expressing unshakeable confidence and trust in others.

‘Love hopes all things.’ Confidently expecting future victory in another person’s life, regardless of the present imperfections.

‘Love endures all things.’ Outlasting every assault of Satan to break up relationships.”⁷

1 Corinthians 13:8–13: These verses show “the permanence of love.”⁸ Love never ends. But prophecies, languages, and knowledge will come to an end. At some point, the gifts will come to an end: “When the perfect comes.” Nelson’s Commentary offered some options to interpreting verse 10:

The gifts ended at the end of the apostolic era.

The gifts ended with the completion of the canon of Scripture—all 66 books of the Bible.

The gifts will end at “the second coming of Christ, at which point the role and relationship of all believers and the church will be transformed, and the ‘partial’ will no longer be needed.” ⁹

Note that five times in verse 11, Scripture talks about the growth from childhood to adulthood. The revelation of God is ultimately incomplete until the end when we see Him face to face (v. 12). So we have these gifts and function in them until the perfect comes. Of all these gifts, faith, hope, and love remain—and the greatest gift is love (v. 13).

CLOSING

I want to encourage you to study the Word for yourself. Dig into 1 Corinthians 13. What do you see? What is the truth behind these words?