The Worth of Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

 

To preach on this chapter is to run the grave risk of wrecking it, like studying a flower by taking it apart. The word ‘love’ (agape) is found nine times in this chapter. Karl Barth suggested that the reader should substitute the word ‘Christ’ for ‘love’.

  1. Love is greater than speaking in tongues.
    • 13:1. Paul could speak in tongues more than the Corinthians could – 14:18. Angelic language may indicate something like Rev.14:1-3.
    • Luke 10:26-28; Gal.5:6.
  2. Love is greater than great faith.
    • 13:2. Paul as an apostle is a prophet who performed miracles. Note Jonah 4:1-3, 10-11. There will be preachers who do prophetic and miraculous things, who are all gifts, no grace – Matt.7:21-23.
    • Faith to move mountains echoes a figure of speech used by Jesus – Mark 11:23. Judas was given remarkable powers – Matt.10:1, 7, 8a.
  3. Love is greater than self-sacrificing deeds.
    • 13:3. We may do wonderful works of charity yet have no love, like Dickens’ Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House.
    • some texts read ‘that I may boast’ rather than ‘that I be burned’. In Greek the two words look and sound alike, but the ESV has ‘burned’. See Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – Dan.3:15.
    • We can speak in tongues, utter prophecies, perform miraculous acts of faith, undertake acts of self-sacrifice, and suffer martyrdom – and still miss the point. Let me finish with two verses that we need to connect – 1 John 4:8 and Col.3:14.