One of the
passages that is likely to be quoted out of context, more than most, is 1
Corinthians Chapter 13, often known as The Great Love Chapter. It is usually
read and understood as something separate and apart from chapters 12 and 14,
which both speak of what our Christian community and gatherings ought to look like.
Like a diamond, Chapter 13 is best displayed in a fine setting, and its fine
setting is chapters 12 and 14 (though of course it is really the entire Epistle
and then the entire Bible).
All of my
Christian life I’ve seen people with heartburn about chapters 12 and 14, who
conjure up no end of excuses to avoid confronting the anemic state of the
professing church – the great gap between what should be normative and our
actual condition. I’ve also seen those on the other end of the spectrum who run
wild without wisdom, understanding, or teaching in chapters 12 and 14.
If the structure
of 1 Corinthians says anything to us, we ought to acknowledge that Chapter 13
is the heart of love that beats so that chapters 12 and 14 come to life in
mutual growth, edification, and glorification. After all, if we are indeed the
Body of Christ, then Christ remains on this earth within His People and we
should expect no less than to see our Lord living in His Body just as He lived in
the body that came from Mary and was raised from the dead.
Paul writes that
if he speaks in tongues, has the gift of prophecy, knows all mysteries and has
all knowledge, and has all faith…but doesn’t have love “I am nothing.” This
covers the spectrum, it includes the demonstrative and the cognitive, it covers
the emotional and the intellectual – it doesn’t make any difference how much we
know or what great things we can do, if we don’t have the love of God, we are
nothing.
What do we think
of this?
Are we living
lives of love in our Lord Jesus Christ?
Are our
relationships within the Body of Christ animated by love?
How is the love
of God flowing through us to other members of His Body?
How is the love
of God touching those around us at work, in family, in our neighborhood, in
school? In our congregations?
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