August 17
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LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part and prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
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In this letter, Paul highlights what is the greatest of all the gifts: Love. The Corinthian church was so much fascinated by spiritual gifts that Paul had to draw their attention out of it to what is more important than all of these gifts. In verses 8-10, he compares the gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge that are all fleeting whereas love is eternal and perfect.
We know that in 1 John 4:16 that God is love. As John gets this revelation from the Holy Spirit, Paul reiterates this truth in this letter. God is love and love is God, therefore, God is Supreme of all these gifts. He created them all and above all of it. The purpose of these gifts is to edify Love who is Himself. When Paul mentions in verse 10, “when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away” he speaks of the fact that all these gifts will be surpassed by the perfect one, who is God himself. He means that since we are still in this world, we will not fully know God but when we are in heaven or when we see Jesus in his second coming, our knowledge of God (Love) will be complete. 1 John 3:2 tells us that when we get to heaven, we will be able to fully see Him as He is and have no more hindrance to our intimacy with Him. Spurgeon comments that “If we knew more of our own sinfulness, we might be driven to despair; if we knew more of God’s glory, we might die of terror; if we had more understanding, unless we had equivalent capacity to employ it, we might be filled with conceit and tormented with ambition. But up there, we shall have our minds and our systems strengthened to receive more, without the damage that would come to us here from overleaping the boundaries of order, supremely appointed and divinely regulated. In verse 13, Paul is saying that faith and hope is only needed in our earthly life. These two are not attributes of God but love is, and so it is the greatest of all.
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REFLECTION
• Why does Paul over-emphasizes in this letter the greatest of all the gifts?