First Corinthians Thirteen Part Two

Read: First Corinthian Thirteen Part One

To explore the question "What happens if you do all first three verses but have love?" that I stated in the previous post, I want to look at each attribute extensively, if not thoroughly. The attributes of love written in the passage are in NIV 1984 in verses 4-8:

1. Patient
2. Kind
3. Does not Envy
4. Does not Boast
5. Not Proud
6. Not Rude
7. Not Self-seeking
8. Not easily Angered
9. Keeps NO record of Wrongs 
10. Does not delight in Evil
11. Rejoices with the Truth
12. Always Protects
13. Always Trusts
14. Always Hopes
15. Always Perseveres
16. Never Fails

Paul listed 16 attributes of love. It may not be the complete list but it is sufficient to see the true picture of love. So why did Paul list all these attributes above as if love does something or take actions? Paul could have said "love is beautiful" or "love is a like fragile glass" as if he were to describe love as an object. But rather, he implied that love is a verb, not a noun. With this implication, I should say "actions of love" instead of "attributes of love".

So what do they mean for us? Why did Paul write to Corinthians (and us) about love is about taking actions, why are they so important that in first three verses that contain the phrase "but have not love" and say that love is greatest, not faith and hope in verse 13?

As an Applied Mathematics major in my college days, I learned that substitution is a powerful method in solving complex integral equations. To apply this method to the Scriptures to get better understanding for myself, I want to use this verse [1 John 4:8] "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." And I want to use another verse for the purpose of showing examples [John 10:30] "I and the Father are one." To apply another method but same principle from Discrete Math (a=b and b=c, then a=c), if Love is God and God is Jesus then Love is Jesus. (Note: please forgive my math geekyness).

To rewrite this passage, "Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. He is not rude, he is not self‑seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails."

It is not a new concept. We know that Jesus are these things. In the four Gospel books, he had shown and done them countless times even to certain groups that Jewish people condemned the "worst sinners". I want to show what love looks like when Jesus actively and lovingly displayed all of those actions. Then we can get a clear idea that Paul definitely knew what he was talking about and to disprove a common commentary that supposedly Paul couldn't know how to describe love.

For words themselves in the list, we know what they mean and we know that they're good. In practice, what do they look like?

First Corinthians Thirteen Part One

It is a famous passage about love. Paul wrote to Corinthians about what love is about. It is popular in Christian weddings when a pastor use to remind and encourage the groom and the bride how to love one another. The love between the groom and the bride is described how it should be expressed in action, equating to Jesus' love for his Church (bride).

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self‑seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV 1984)

By this passage, we know what love in our relationships supposed to look like. But if we take it outside of the romantic relationship, can we ever see this kind of love anywhere else? I would often hear this passage within context of romantic relationship so I would get frustrated that I wanted to express love but had no significant one to share with. It would be weird to love my friend like a wife to her husband. That is, until I began to see Paul's demonstration of love.

Let's expand on this passage by reading from first verse to last in chapter 13.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not 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 is not rude, 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 perfection comes, the imperfect 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 childish ways behind me.

12 Now we see but a poor 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.

A common commentary on this passage is that Paul didn't know how to describe love because love is too great to fully grasp. We know that Paul was a very committed missionary and a strong evangelist for Jesus. By evidences and testimonies of Paul in Acts and Epistles, we know that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit as he was called to the Great Commission. By Holy Spirit working in him, he knew what he was talking about. He knew what love is truly about. He knew exactly how to describe it.

You see, you can't know what this passage truly means until you read the whole Bible. And if you read the whole Bible, you can see how Jesus and Paul demonstrated their love just as well as you can see how God's faithful people demonstrated their love in the Old Testaments. Most importantly, you can see how God demonstrated His love in both the Old Testaments and the New Testaments. What I am trying to say is that you can't just pick one passage out of the Bible and let that passage speaks the whole Truth. Not even a verse. We have to look at God's real intention when we read a passage like this one, otherwise it won't make sense with other passages.

To get back on track, let's look at first 3 verses. But before we do, let's keep in mind that Paul was not married and he was on the Great Commission. He was filled with the Holy Spirit when he wrote it. This is my understanding.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels
I know the Scriptures and I can speak to you about God, Jesus, and the Gospel whether you are a man or an angel.
but have not love
I can talk about love but I do not walk the walk as in loving you like these examples: Matthew 25:35-45, Luke 10:25-37
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Then what I say to you about God or the Gospel is meaningless and all you hear is noise, not words.

 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
Sure, I have a gift of knowing who God is and I totally understand all the mysteries and the Bible
and if I have a faith that can move mountains, 
Even if I have faith so strong that I believe God can move mountains for me right there and then
but have not love, I am nothing.
But I do not love you, then what's my faith to you? Nothing. It's not worth for you to bother to look at.

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,
I can do charities, I can give all my possessions and even die for my faith
but have not love, I gain nothing.
But I do not love you. My sacrifice does not mean anything to you. All you see is that I'm a fool.

This is Paul's introduction to the subject of love. He began to share his experience on what it is like to have faith but not with love in his heart [Acts 8:1-3, Acts 9:1-4, Acts 22: 1-5]. He was a zealous Jew trained as a Pharisee who knew the Laws of the Prophets (God's Law) but he did not follow the spirit of the Law (the intention of God's Law) which loving is a part of it.  He went far to defend his Jewish faith by going to house to house to weed out Christians and even more further by traveling 150 miles to Damascus just to do the same. He was strong in his faith but he did not love anyone. By look of his past identity, you'd say that he was a crazy, dangerous murderer and he self-justified his actions in his faith. You wouldn't want anything to do with him because he is out there killing people and you wouldn't want anything to do with his God, either, because his God is endorsing his madness.

The next 5 verses describe "what happens if you do all first three verses but have love?" Let's explore this question later. In the meantime, please read Psalm 1. I think Psalm 1 is a great passage to dwell on. It talks about a life of a faithful versus faithless person.

Thanks for reading First Corinthians Thirteen Part One.