Chapter 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
The "tongues of men" was displayed in Acts 2. Peter and the apostles spoke in their own Galilean dialect and everyone heard the language of their birth. This was more of a miracle of hearing than it was of speaking.
The "tongues of angels" is an ancient mid-eastern metaphor for an eloquent speaker, which was highly valued in the Greek and Roman cultures. People would fill stadiums to hear the debates of eloquent speakers. Greek and Roman culture was built around the theater, where eloquence of words was displayed throughout the Roman world.
The Greek word for "love" is ἀγάπη (agape), meaning divine love. Divine love can only come from believers who are grounded deeply in Bible doctrine.
Noisy gongs, clanging symbols, and trumpets were beaten together at pagan temples in order to get the attention of so-called gods, such as Cybele, Bacchus, and Dionysius. If the Corinthians all spoke in tongues, but did not have divine agape love, then these tongues would be nothing but noisy gongs, symbols, and trumpets used to call pagan deities that do not exist, except in demon masquerade.
2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Even the gift of prophecy, which Paul described in the next chapter as the greatest gift, was a useless gift without love. Prophecy is the greatest gift, because it reveals direct communication from God.
Many of the pagan cults claimed to possess spiritual mysteries that only the elite could receive and understand. These mystery religions were demonic and prevalent throughout the Greek and Roman cultures. There were also mysteries (or new revelations from God that were not mentioned in the New Testament) that were revealed by Paul in the New Testament. He recorded at least thirteen of these mysteries in his epistles.
Some believers were given the gift of faith, more than that of the average person. This gift was nothing without divine agape love.
3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
If a believer gives away everything that he owns, including his life, in order to boast, then he does not have divine agape love. Agape love comes from understanding the entire counsel of the Word of God and applying its principles. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." His commandments are Bible doctrine. One cannot keep them unless they know them. One does not know Christ unless he knows Scripture. One who loves Christ will study the Scriptures at the deepest level and apply what he has learned. This is the definition of agape love. One must apply the Scriptures from the entire counsel of the Word of God.
Often immature Christians will use this verse against mature believers. Mature believers know the schemes of the devil, because they have a deep knowledge of Scripture. They will expose evil when they see it, as according to Ephesians 5. They will expose false doctrine, even if it is inside other churches. Satan is alive and well and he is inside every local church trying to cause division, especially if the church is faithfully teaching the Word of God. Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jude, and John all warned about false teachers and false doctrine seeping into the churches. Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets were not silent in the face of evil. They exposed it and warned those whom they loved. Mature believers will do the same, even if immature believers complain and misuse the agape love argument.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.
The Greek word for "love" is ἀγάπη (agape), meaning divine love. Divine love can only come from believers who are grounded deeply in bible doctrine. Paul is now going to give the Corinthians a definition of divine love.
The Greek word for "patient" is μακροθυμέω (makrothmeo), meaning slow-tempered enough to not retaliate when angered. When Jesus was abused verbally and physically, he was μακροθυμέω (makrothmeo), refusing to retaliate against his oppressors. Many of the Corinthians were quick-tempered and wanted to retaliate against their oppressors.
The Greek word for "kind" is χρηστεύομαι (krasteuomai), meaning kind, compassionate, gentle, and full of service. Jesus was χρηστεύομαι (krasteuomai), because as deity, he was willing to become a man and go through the painful ordeal of the crucifixion. The Corinthians were cruel, arrogant, and boastful.
The Greek word for "envious" is ζηλόω (aloe), meaning to bubble over with hot water or to burn with jealousy. John the Baptist was not jealous of Jesus, as he said, "I must decrease and he must increase." Many of the Corinthians were boiling hot with jealousy, because some people had gifts that they desired.
The Greek word for "brag" is περπερεύομαι (perpereuomai), meaning to be a show-off or a braggart. The Apostle Paul did not boast about his apostleship position. He declared himself as a murderer and not deserving of apostleship. The Corinthians were boasting about their spiritual gifts being better than others.
The Greek word for "puffed up" is φυσιόω (phusioe), meaning to inflate by blowing. Jonathan was not inflated by his position as the prince of King Saul. Instead, he was willing to allow his friend David to rule in his place, because this was God's will. Many of the Corinthians had inflated their position, because they felt like their spiritual gifts were more important than others.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, and it is not easily angered or resentful.
The Greek word for "rude" is ἀσχημονέω (aschamoneo), meaning to act with dishonor. Agape love does not act dishonorably, yet the Corinthians were acting in dishonorable ways.
The Greek word for "self-serving" is ζητέω τὰ ἑαυτῆς (zateo ta eautas), meaning to seek and demand what is best for one's self, but not for others. Agape love is not selfish, but the Corinthians were biblically immature and very selfish.
The Greek word for "easily angered" is παροξύνω (parasuno), meaning to cut someone with a sharp edge in order to provoke them emotionally. Agape love does not provoke others to anger, but the immature Corinthian believers often provoked others to anger .
The Greek word for "resentful" is λογίζεται τὸ κακόν (logizatai to kakon), meaning to compute the evil malice of the person's interior motives. Agape love does not always desire to bring out the evil in others in order to destroy them, but the Corinthians did not ind destroying others.
6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.
Agape love does not rejoice in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. Mature believers are not glad, but sad, when their enemy suffers. Divine agape love is sad, not happy.
7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The Greek word for "bears" is στέγω (stego), meaning to be shielded by the Lord's protection. Divine agape love is shielded and protected by the Lord.
The Greek word for "believes" is πιστεύω (pisteo), meaning to be persuaded. Divine agape love persuades believers to trust in all of God's promises.
The Greek word for "hopes" is ἐλπίζω (elpizo), meaning to wait for the assurance of God's fulfillments. Divine agape love is waiting for all of the hopes that God has promised.
The Greek word for "endures" is ὑπομένω (hupomeno), meaning or remain under a heavy load. God's power gives believers the ability to remain under the heavy load of the satanic world system until all of the promises that God has made will be fulfilled.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.
Love is eternal, but the spiritual gifts are not. The purpose of the spiritual gifts was to build up the church. Some of the spiritual gifts were temporary, such as prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. They will disappear. Some of the other spiritual gifts will be with the church until the church is made perfect, or complete.
The Greek word for "set aside" is καταργέω (katargeo), meaning to be abolished, inactive, or done away with. Prophecies will be abolished when they are fulfilled. Knowledge will vanish away. The science and technology that many learned in school has been abolished and replaced with new and improved science.
Tongues uses a different Greek verb. The Greek verb for “cease” is παύω (pauo), meaning to stop. Tongues were predicted to come to a complete stop.
Dr. A. T. Robertson wrote, “Tongues seem to have ceased first of all the gifts.” Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers of the third or fourth century, said: “This whole passage is very obscure; but the obscurity arises from our ignorance of the facts described, which, though familiar to those to whom the apostle wrote, have ceased to occur.” Jesus never spoke in tongues. There is no scripture written of the apostles speaking in tongues after the Pentecost miracle. We have no recordings of Paul speaking in tongues, but we know he did, because he admits to do so in the next chapter. Paul needed this gift, because he walked across the vast Roman Empire, hundreds of miles with many different languages and dialects. How did Paul communicate in all of these different languages? He spoke like Peter on the Day of Pentecost. Paul simply spoke in his own language, and everyone heard in the language of their birth. This was a miracle. They knew that Paul's message as from God."
Paul was pulled up into the third heaven to hear unspeakable words. These were not tongues, as many Charismatics claim. These unspeakable words were events that Jesus showed Paul that he was not to reveal through his teaching ministry.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,
The church is imperfect living in an imperfect world. The church does not have perfect knowledge as of yet, but it eventually will.
10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside.
The Greek word for "perfect" is τέλειος (telios), meaning completion of the desired goal. Many charismatics claim that τέλειος (telios) is Jesus, but this cannot be, because the Greek noun is in the neuter tense and not the masculine tense. Many commentaries claim that τέλειος (telios) is the completion of New Testament. This cannot be true either, because the church did not receive perfect knowledge when the New Testament was completed.
The church is currently incomplete and growing towards maturity. The goal of Christ is to mature the church to complete knowledge, but this will not happen until the eternal state. The church will not have complete knowledge at the completion of the New Testament, the Rapture, the Second Coming, or during the Millennial Kingdom. Believers will still be observing and learning during these different dispensations. They will not have complete knowledge until the Eternal State. Therefore, τέλειος (telios) is the eternal state, the time following all dispensations.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.
During the apostolic stage, the church was an infant with little maturity. The early church needed miraculous sign gifts to help them grow and develop. However, as the church matured, the signs gifts were no longer needed. Just as child puts away his toys, the infant church would eventually put away the sign gifts. As the church matured and became an adults, the sign gifts were no longer needed. Instead of sign gifts, mature adults were to study the entire counsel of the Word of God, including the completed New Testament.
12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.
Corinth was famous for its construction and marketing of bronze mirrors. These ancient mirrors gave a dim reflection of a person's individual facial features. Just as the Corinthians saw only a dim reflection in their bronze mirrors, so do believers only see a dim reflection of the eternal age to come.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The object of faith and hope is in Christ, so when he appears, believers will no longer need faith and hope. Divine agape love will remain with believers, even throughout the eternal state. Therefore, love is the greatest gift, because it expressed God and Calvary.
