FRAMEWORKS:
1 Corinthians 13
In
this ‘Framework' we use our usual text PLUS comment style to enable
you, as simply as possible, to catch the sense of his writing.
FRAMEWORKS:
1 Corinthians 13: Love
v.1-3
Without Love – Nothing
v.4-8
The Nature of Love
v.9-13
It is Love that will endure
[Chapter
Synopsis: Spiritual
gifts, according to Paul in the previous chapter, are to be eagerly
desired but there is something better to be considered to ensure
they are used properly – love. Love has many facets and perhaps
the most important is that when all else passes away (including
the need for the gifts) love will still be there. After all, God
IS love – 1 Jn 4:8,16]
v.1-3
Without Love – Nothing
v.1
(speaking
in tongues is great [see next chapter] but without love they are
mere words) If
I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
v.2
(prophecy
and revelation are wonderful but without love are nothing)
If I have the
gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have
love, I am nothing.
v.3
(being
generous or zealous are great but without love are nothing)
If I give all
I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I
may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
[Passage
Synopsis: The use
of tongues and prophecy is great but without love they are nothing.]
v.4-8
The Nature of Love
v.4,5
(love
is expressed in positive and negative ways in respect of others)
Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs .
v.6
(love
flees from evil but embraces truth) Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth.
v.7
(is
always positive) It
always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
v.8
(will
always keep on even when other gifts cease being needed)
Love never
fails . But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is
knowledge, it will pass away.
[Passage
Synopsis: The individual
characteristics of love are worth pondering upon]
v.9-13
It is Love that will endure
v.9,10
(we
need gifts at the present time but in the new world they will
not be needed) For
we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness
comes, what is in part disappears.
v.11
(as
a child I was immature, as an adult I lost those ways) When
I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me.
v.12
(now
it's all a bit indistinct, in the new world all will be clear)
For now we
see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to
face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am
fully known.
v.13
(so
some things will pass but love will always remain) And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest
of these is love.
[Passage
Synopsis: The transient
nature of the present sinful and uncertain world means we need
Jesus' gifts but there will come a time, when the new heaven and
new earth (Rev 21:1) come when they will no longer be needed,
but even when they pass, love will still continue. That's how
important it is!]