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nothing apart from love. It is love that gives worth to the gifts, and without it,the gifts become a curse. In the following verses, the Holy Spirit gives a description of the love of which He speaks (vs. 4-8). Merely to read this list is to be condemned by it, for no one of us nieasures up to this standard; only the one per fect Man, Christ Jesus, can meet its demands. The chapter is a beautiful picture of Him. To pare down these instructions to fit human insufficiency is to ruin the perfect character of the love that is here portrayed. But our shortcomings constitute no reason for our abandon ing the endeavor to grow up into such love from day to day. This is the standard of conduct that is raised by the Holy Spirit. Paul exhorts believ ers to grow into this character (cf. Eph. 4:31 to 5:20; Phil. 4:8; Col. 3:14; 1 Thess. 3:12). The world speaks of having love, but all it has is sentiment, not iove. "God is love” (1 John 4:16), and the world knows not God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:21). The love of God is, first of all, right eousness—and that righteousness ne cessitated the death of Christ upon the cross before divine love could be manifested toward sinful men. When we study this chapter, we study our Lord, who was and is the personifi cation of the love which is God. Our present knowledge of all things —of love includ^l—is partial and rel ative: But the time w ill come when we shall know fully and see clearly. In the meantime, and looking toward that day of complete fulfillment, we are to give attention to the. three great Christian virtues that abide: faith, hope, and love. Ultimately faith will be changed to sight, hope will be ful filled, and love will reign supreme over all forever.
Points and Problems
find a more perfect pen portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ than in this chapter. Without doing violence to the passage it is possible to insert “ Christ” for the word “love” all through this section. Christ is the supreme mani festation of God, who is love. 4. "But the greatest of these is love" (v. 13, R. V.). Turning back to the first three verses of the chapter, note the several ways in which Paul em phasizes the greatness of love. It is greater than (1) eloquence, “ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” (v. 1); (2) greater than prophecy. “And though I have the gift of prophecy” (v. 2); (3). greater than faith, “And though I have all faith” (v, 2 ); (4) greater than benevolence,.. “And though I bestow all my'goods to feed the poor” (v. 3); and (5) greater than martyrdom, “And though I give my body to be burned” (v. 3). As an aged Christian lay dying in Edinburgh, a friend called to say fare well. “I have just had three other visitors,” said the dying man, “and with two of them I parted; but the third I shall keep forever.” “Who were they?” this visitor asked. “The first was Faith, and I said: ‘Good-bye, Faith! I thank God fqr your company ever since I first trust ed Christ; but now I am going where faith is lost in sight.’ Then came Hope. ‘Farewell, Hope!’ I cried, ' ‘you have helped me in many an hour of bat tle and distress, but now I shall not need you, for I am going where hope passes into ffuition.’ Last of all came Love. ‘Love,’ said I, ‘you have indeed been my friend. You have linked me with God and with my fellowmen. You have comforted and gladdened all my pilgrimage. But I cannot leave you behind. You must come with me through the gates, into the city of God, for love is perfected in heaven.’ ’’—The Sunday School Chronicle. Thank-You Gifts A c ts 18:1-18; 1 C o r in t h ia n s 13 MEMORY VERSE: “Bring thank of ferings into the house of the Lfird” (2 Chron. 29:31). AIM: To show how we can thank the Lord Jesus for our salvation. A P P R O A C H : Golden Text Illustration 1 C orinth ians 13:13
1. "Because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought" (Acts 18:3). In order that no opportunity could be offered to charge Christianity with being a commercial enterprise, Paul decided it would be best at this time for him to support himself with his old trade of tent making. Corinth was pre-eminently a commercial city. It would have been quite natural for men of the world to have charged Christianity with being just another commercial enterprise if the servants of the Lord had received support from the church. To obviate the possibility of such a charge, Paul engaged in tentmaking. No universal principle is laid down here for the support of the Lord’s servants. Paul at a later time in writing to these same Corinthians said, “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Cor. -9:14). Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Himself, said, “ the laborer is worthy of his hire” (Lk. 10:7). 2. The "love" of 1 Corinthians 13. It is significant that the word for “love” in this chapter in the Greek is agape. This is the highest type of love revealed in the New Testament. It is divine love, all-absorbing love, such love as only the born-again individ ual can experience. Another word for love in the New Testament is phileo which means friendliness or a kindly feeling toward another. "This word is not strong enough for this chapter. Still another word used in classical' Greek is eros which represented love between the sexes such as that of sweethearts or husbands and wives. This word had come into such degrad ed usage that the Holy Spirit did not use it at all in the New Testament. 3. Christ, the only fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 13. It would be difficult to
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