Chapter Thirteen

Do spiritual gifts have any significance without love? (1–3). The exalted nature of love (4–7). The eternal, unchanging existence of love, and of love alone (8–13)

1 Cor 13:1-3. Without love, even the highest spiritual gifts bring no benefit to the one who possesses them.

1 Corinthians 13:1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. The Ap. places the gift of tongues first, because he proceeds from the least valued to the most useful. — “In the tongues of men and of angels,” i.e., whether I praise God in ordinary human speech or, in doing so, rise to angelic praise... The latter must of course be understood as “spiritual” praise, since angels are spirits and have no bodily tongue (blessed Theodoret, Theophylact). — “Love.” In Greek there are two words to designate the concept of “love”: αγάπη and έρως. The latter denotes a passionate love that seeks its satisfaction in the beloved. The former, by contrast, denotes a love far more selfless than the first, striving to give happiness to the beloved. In the Apostle Paul here, αγάπη denotes chiefly love for one’s neighbor, but since the basis of this love lies in love for God, love for one’s neighbor also takes on the character of selflessness, purity, and freedom — qualities proper to love for God. — Is it possible to have the gift of tongues and at the same time not have love? It is. Even now it happens that a person who has set out on the path of faith soon closes in upon himself, gives himself over to mystical contemplations, growing cool toward the duties of active Christian love. He falls into a peculiar sentimentality, speaks much of the greatness of Christianity like a true poet, and at the same time proves completely indifferent to the sufferings of his unfortunate brothers. Such a person gradually regresses spiritually and comes to resemble a piece of “bronze” that when struck emits a ringing noise, or a “cymbal” — a simple bronze cup sometimes used in the East as a musical instrument. There is no soul in bronze or cymbal!

1 Corinthians 13:2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. The Ap. moves from one gift to another, to a higher one. — “Prophecy” — see 1 Cor 12:10. — “I understand all mysteries.” This is an explanation of the expression “prophetic powers.” The prophet knew the mysteries of God’s dispensation for our salvation, but of course not all of them. The Ap. now envisions the possibility of a prophet who knows “all” mysteries. And such a person, in his view, would be “nothing” without love! — “I have all knowledge.” This is the gift of “knowledge” — see 1 Cor 12:8. If someone had this gift in its “full” extent but had not love, then again such a person would be “nothing.” — “And all faith” — this is the gift of miracle-working faith. See 1 Cor 12:9. — “To move mountains” — i.e., to remove all obstacles standing in the way, however great they might be. — Thus a person may be able to say everything, know everything, do everything, but all this brings him personally no benefit if he has not love within him. For the Church, for the community of believers, these gifts are useful, but they do not save those who possess them (cf. Matt 7:22).

1 Corinthians 13:3. And if I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. The Ap. moves on to actions that appear to be based on love. — “Give away all I have” — this is the “gift of helping” (see 1 Cor 12:28) in its highest manifestation. — “Give my body to be burned,” i.e., go to martyrdom for Christ. — The possibility of such acts is attested by the history of Christianity. For example, the “Lives of the Saints” report of one presbyter that, as he was going to martyrdom for Christ, he refused to forgive an enemy who asked him for forgiveness. It is clear that such a person had no “love” within him and may, for this very reason, have failed the trial and renounced Christ just before being led to the scaffold. — “I gain nothing.” In the eyes of God, such actions have no worth, for the one who performs them thinks only of himself and seeks glory from other people. 1 Cor 13:4-7. So, love is the best path because without it even the highest gifts bring no benefit to the one who possesses them. Now the Ap. proves the supreme excellence of love by the reverse approach. Love — he says — without which everything else is nothing, brings with it all that makes a person virtuous. It is the mother of all virtues.

1 Corinthians 13:4. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy; love does not boast, is not arrogant, “Love is patient.” The Ap. enumerates fifteen properties of love. “Patience” is shown in relation to various offenses caused to a person by his neighbors. — “Is kind” (χρηστεύεται), i.e., constantly strives to render service to one’s neighbor. — “Love does not envy.” Here begins the enumeration of eight negative characterizations of love (up to the expression in v. 6: “but rejoices with the truth”). These characterizations unfold the content of the concept of “patience” and are closely connected with one another. For example, one who envies the advantages possessed by another will boast, speaking of his own merits, will be arrogant, i.e., filled completely with self-satisfaction, and will despise others (cf. 1 Cor 4:6).

1 Corinthians 13:5. it is not rude, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable, does not keep a record of wrongs, “Is not rude.” By “rudeness” (ασχημοσύνη) one should understand a lack of courtesy and civility, which was observed in some Corinthians — for example, in that they sometimes would not let speak at worship assemblies those who possessed gifts more useful to the Church, continuously speaking themselves. And in general, the four characterizations of love just mentioned have in view the abuse of spiritual gifts. The following four relate more generally to Christian life. — “Does not insist on its own way.” Each of us has our own rights, but the one who loves his neighbor forgets completely about these rights and cares only that others are satisfied. Happiness consists in giving and in serving (Drummond. The Greatest Thing in the World, p. 21). Some Corinthians thought otherwise (see ch. 6 and 8). “Is not irritable.” We are inclined to view a hot-tempered, irritable disposition as an innocent weakness... Yet this seemingly innocent weakness occupies a central place in the Apostle Paul’s analysis of love. And this is understandable: nothing can so embitter life, sow enmity, destroy the most sacred family bonds, rob men of their manly calm dignity, women of true femininity, children of warm-hearted openness, as the so-called character flaws — a sullen, hot-tempered, irritable disposition (Drummond). — “Does not keep a record of wrongs,” i.e., does not impute to others the wrongs done to it. Underlying such an attitude toward one’s neighbors is the conviction that no one deliberately intends to harm anyone; love trusts other people.

1 Corinthians 13:6. it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. “Does not rejoice in wrongdoing.” It happens that people of a faction hostile to ours commit certain blunders that cast a shadow on them. A Christian does not rejoice when he notices such blunders in others. — “But rejoices with the truth.” Here begins the enumeration of five positive properties of love. Truth here, like love, is personified. They are like sisters; when truth triumphs, love rejoices with it. Even when this truth conflicts with our cherished opinions, love welcomes it.

1 Corinthians 13:7. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. “Bears all things,” i.e., excuses everything, covering with its cloak all the shortcomings of one’s neighbor. But of course, in the name of justice, love in necessary cases takes upon itself all the unpleasant consequences that may arise from such an attitude toward people’s failings. — “Believes all things,” i.e., always trusts people, hoping that the best feelings in no one can ever completely die out. This trust is what underlies the covering of another’s shortcomings and vices. — “Hopes all things.” It happens that there is no longer room in the soul of the one who loves for faith in a person’s improvement: the sad reality destroys that faith. But even then, with the fall of faith or certainty in the neighbor’s reformation, the heart of the one who loves is not abandoned by hope that good must in the end prevail. — “Endures all things.” Love, in this hope of human betterment, does not grow weary and patiently endures all afflictions. 1 Cor 13:8-13. Spiritual gifts pass away, but love remains forever — that is the main idea of this section. Even the most important virtues after love — faith and hope — will undergo certain changes, and only love will always remain unchanged.

1 Corinthians 13:8. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 12:10. “Love never ends.” These words contain the theme of the following section. — “Prophecies will pass away.” Here, of course, the “gift of prophecy” is meant, which many Christians of the first and second centuries possessed (1 Cor. 12:10 and “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”). Since then this gift in its original form no longer exists and, one may say, has transformed into “the gift of preaching.” In the future, specifically with the coming of the kingdom of glory, it will prove superfluous even in this last form. Who, indeed, will need preaching in the future life? The good will already have attained blessedness, while the wicked will have lost the capacity for improvement. — “Tongues will cease” — more precisely: “will be stilled.” That state of feverish excitement, which seemed so attractive to the Corinthian Christians, will come to an end. One may suppose that the gift of tongues was soon transformed into religious poetry and music, but even these arts will have no place in the glorious kingdom of the Messiah. — “Knowledge will pass away,” i.e., knowledge as a special gift received only by certain persons will cease to exist, because, as the prophet says (Jer 31:34), all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. 1 Corinthians 13:9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; The Ap. gives the reason why the gifts mentioned must come to an end. Prophecy could reveal only particular features of the picture of the future, just as those who had the gift of knowledge could understand only particular aspects of the history of God’s dispensation for our salvation. Yet in order to understand well some particular point, one must have a clear perception of the whole: only complete knowledge is true knowledge, and such complete knowledge a person cannot attain in this present life. — Regarding the gift of tongues: the Ap. does not speak here of its cessation, since its presupposition — the ecstatic state — cannot, for him, even be a subject of question. One who truly abides constantly in God, lives in God — as all believers will live in the kingdom of glory, and some already live now — has no need of this special means, represented by ecstasy, in order to enter periodically into communion with God.

1 Corinthians 13:10. but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. The cessation of gifts does not entail a diminishment of the Church’s spiritual life. On the contrary, the Church will attain perfection in all things. Future knowledge will differ from the “gift of knowledge” both in its breadth and in the ease of its acquisition, for we will see everything as if from a central vantage point from which the whole subject, in its entirety, is clearly visible.

1 Corinthians 13:11. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. The Ap. clarifies by means of a comparison why the imperfect must yield to the perfect. Just as a person grows, so does the Church grow. In both cases the same law of development and transformation operates. As soon as capacities for a higher form of activity develop, the former falls away of itself. In the expressions “I spoke, I thought” and “I reasoned,” the Ap. alludes to the three gifts mentioned above — “the gift of tongues” (I spoke), “the gift of prophecy” (I thought — more precisely: I felt, I aspired (φρονεῖν)) and “the gift of knowledge” (I reasoned). The gift of tongues is compared to the first babbling of an infant who expresses his joy at the feeling of being alive. The gift of prophecy, which gazes toward a distant future, corresponds to the ardent aspiration of a youth who dreams of the future as a time of joy and happiness. Finally, the gift of knowledge, which seeks to know divine truth, corresponds to the naive conceptions of a child about the external world. — “I gave up childish ways.” Just as a young man with some pride renounces his childish views, so with a feeling of inner satisfaction the mature person renounces the dreams of his childhood and youth in order to fulfill the task of life he has set for himself. Christians will likewise look upon spiritual gifts when the glorious period of reigning with Christ arrives for them.

1 Corinthians 13:12. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Explaining the comparison he used in v. 11, the Ap. says that in the present life we comprehend the divine only in its reflection, as we see our own face in a mirror. But our mirrors reflect faces well, while in antiquity they gave no clear reflection, being made of metal (“through a glass darkly” — the translation is inaccurate; the expression δι εσόπτρου means: by means of a mirror, in a mirror). — “Dimly” (εν αινίγματι), i.e., in dark, unclear outlines that give only an approximate conception of things. This characterization relates most closely to the gift of prophecy. The Spirit of God called forth in the prophet’s soul such images and pictures as expressed the divine thought. In order to understand these images, the prophet had to direct upon them the full force of his attention (cf. 1 Pet 1:10 and following). This explanation is confirmed by the similarity of the expression used by the Apostle with the expression in the book of Numbers about Moses, to whom God gave sight of Himself plainly (έν ειδει), and not in an unclear outline (not dimly — δι αινιγμάτων — Num 12:6-8). “Now I know in part.” These words relate most directly to the “gift of knowledge.” Instead of “I know” one should say “I am coming to know” (γινώσκω), which denotes the gradualness and difficulty of attaining knowledge of divine things. — “Then I shall know fully.” The verb used here (επιγνώσωμαι) denotes knowledge as already fully acquired. — “Even as I have been fully known.” The Ap. even equates this future knowledge of God with that which God has of us: it will have the character of immediacy and full clarity. Of course, complete identity between our knowledge and God’s cannot exist (St. Chrysostom).

1 Corinthians 13:13. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. “So now abide.” Previously the Ap. was saying that spiritual gifts must in time cease to exist. Now he points to what will never be destroyed and toward the acquisition of which, consequently, it is worth striving. These are the three most important virtues of Christianity — faith, hope, and love. These three virtues (“these three”), and not those three gifts — of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge — have eternal existence. Of course, “faith” and “hope” cannot remain forever in the same state: the first will pass into sight (2 Cor 5:7), and the second into possession (Rom 8:24). But in any case the spiritual development of the human person, even in the state of glorification, cannot be conceived as completely finished — it will continue “from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18), and for this both faith and hope are necessary, and these transitions from faith to sight will recur many times in the future life. — “But the greatest of these is love,” i.e., love is highest of all in this triad of virtues precisely because it is itself divine. Of God one cannot say that He believes and hopes, but one can say that He loves. Love belongs to His very being. Love is the goal, while faith and hope are the means leading to the attainment of this goal. “Love — says Schlatter (Der Glaube im N. T. 3. S. 373) — is greater than faith, because it stands in relation to it as the whole to the part, as completion to beginning, as fruit to root.” * * * The Apostle’s speech in ch. 13 frequently takes on the character of a hymn in honor of Christian love and assumes a rhythmic quality, but it is a hymn entirely original, sharing nothing with the works of sacred Hebrew and pagan literature. Cf. Prof. Muretov. “The New Testament Song of Love Compared with Plato’s ‘Symposium’ and Solomon’s ‘Song of Songs’” (“Theological Messenger” 1903).