God’s Love is Eternal
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Truth Taught- Spiritual gifts will pass away so, pursue love because it is eternal.
Last time we learned what God’s love looks like and how we are to extend that same love to others. We saw how He withholds wrath for a time to extend grace to those who believe. We saw how Paul highlights the fact that love is patient and kind which is a very good picture of God’s love toward His people.
Love is patient…God’s love does not exact payment for wrongs but will delay judgement for a time.
Love is kind…God’s love will show those who repent grace and mercy.
Today, Paul teaches us that Love is the picture of true spirituality not the gifts. His point is that the gifts are for this world and they will all pass away but love is eternal. In other words, based on the permanence of love it is to be primary over all spiritual gifts because they are temporary and love is eternal.
That’s why in 14:1 he writes first and foremost we are to pursue love over and above Spiritual Gifts.
His logic goes like this…transfer all your zeal from the pursuit of the charismata to pursuing love because Spiritual Gifts are for a time while Love lasts forever.
Gifts are given for a purpose and once that purpose has passed so will they.
He’s not downplaying Spiritual Gifts but seeking to revitalize them in their proper context and use, making sure that they are not promoting the person but others.
Pursue the eternal not the temporary.
1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (ESV)
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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. 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.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1. Gifts are Imperfect and Will Pass Away While Love Will Endure (13:8)
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
We begin this section with the short declaration of truth that… Love never ends.
This statement drives all of what Paul teaches us in the following verses. Love never ends. What does it mean that love never ends? Love is that overarching attribute of God. It is who God is and we as His people enter into the saving relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, that attribute of love, His love which will never end with God also will never end in us. When we receive our glorified and sinless bodies, this great attribute of love will be perfect and full part of us. Until then, as the Apostle tells the Corinthians, it must be pursued and coupled with the gifts.
It’s important to see the contrast here…Love never ends while gifts will end.
He uses language that is strictly eschatological. He uses pass away which is a word in Greek that means for a specific time then after that time has passed so too will it pass away. For this current time or more specifically in this present age and for the good of the Church, gifts are given and they are to be fueled by the love of others within the body of the Church. There is coming a time when those gifts will pass away and be replaced by a sinless Church, if you will. In that day perfect love in a perfect place while living with a perfect Savior will rule the day.
2. Imperfect Gifts Will Pass Away When the Perfect Comes (13:9-11)
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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.
All the gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit to edify the Church in this present age are but a small foretaste or partial or not complete or imperfect. When at the return and revealing of Christ, this age passes away so will the need for Spiritual Gifts. At best we are now living in the imperfect and partial, then when the Perfect is revealed all things imperfect will pass away.
We are not there yet. We are still in the Church age. We still are living in the imperfect age. Beloved, one day when Jesus comes, everything will be made new.
One scholar gives a wonderful analogy, When the sun rises all lights are extinguished. We need lights at night to see but when the sun rises you turn your lights off because their light which was useful for a time is no longer needed. The real thing has come.
There are many opinions out there concerning what the Apostle means by when the perfect comes. If you look at the context, what he is speaking about is the return of Christ and the setting up of His Kingdom. The Perfect Savior appears, the perfect Kingdom comes and we receive our perfect bodies. All this means that when this happens all lesser imperfect things pass away.
The second coming of Jesus Christ is the personal (he won’t send an angel in his place), visible (every eye will see him), physical (he will come in the body in which he was crucified, raised, and glorified) return of Jesus to this earth to consummate the salvation of his people (Phil. 3:20-21; Heb. 9:28; 1 John 3:1-3), to be glorified in them (2 Thess. 1:10), and to inflict vengeance on those who have defied him and the gospel of grace (2 Thess. 1:8). At his first coming Jesus came as a suffering servant, a sacrificial lamb, “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26), and to inaugurate the kingdom rule of God. We read in Hebrews 9:28 that he “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” and to consummate the kingdom in its fullness.
While we are in this age we wait eagerly while waiting we are part of His people the Church and living with love toward one another. All this while good is imperfect. Listen beloved Jesus is coming again, the Perfect is coming and He will reign forever and we will also be made perfect.
What are we to be doing in this present age while we wait for Christ and the age to come?
Peter asks us “what sort of people” ought we to be “in lives of holiness and godliness,” given the reality of the impending return of Christ and the judgment that will befall his earth? (2 Pet. 3:11-13). And John obviously believed that “everyone who thus hopes in him [i.e., in Christ and his return] purifies himself” as Christ is pure (1 John 3:1-3). But perhaps the most explicit challenge to us in terms of the practical implications of Christ’s coming is found in 1 Peter 4:7-9. The “end of all things is at hand,” Peter says. But don’t quit your job or run to the mountains or abandon your family and church. Instead, “be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly” and “show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
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.
Here Paul gives us an illustration and what it means to live in two different ages. When Paul was a child he acted like a child. Children are to act like children. It is appropriate for children to behave like children. They are immature and should act immature. That’s who they are and the time in which they live.
We are currently living in the Church age so we must act like it and utilize our spiritual gifts with love. Live like you are living in the Church age.
Paul then writes, when he became a man, he did not act any longer like a child. For men to act like children is inappropriate. Men should behave as men. He put away childish ways.
Gifts will pass away one day when Christ returns.
3. The Partial Will Pass Away When Fullness Comes (13:12-13)
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.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
For now, in this present age, we see spiritual things dimly. The word translated dimly means in a riddle or in a figurative way. Now we see accurately but not completely. Even as we partake of Christ from His Word, we see Him accurately but yet not completely. One day we will no longer just read about Christ but we will see Him…face to face.
The City of Corinth had another claim to fame. It was well known for producing the best bronze mirrors in all the world. So, we can understand why Paul uses this next example of seeing things now in this present age. When we look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, we are still waiting to actually see Him. Paul’s analogy is it’s like looking at reality through a bronze mirror. It reflects the image but at best it is still a reflection and not the original. In their day this illustration is even more meaningful, they looked at a reflection in a bronze mirror which is a very dim and distorted reflection even in their best mirrors.
Not only do we only see in part in this age but we are told that our knowledge too is in part.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Here we see that in much the same way that God knows we too will have a fuller and more complete knowledge. As God knows us even before the beginning of time and now and forever, we too will possess a much greater knowledge than we do now. Our knowledge will never be that of God’s because He is the Creator and we will still be His creation but our knowledge will be greater in the age to come.
What they were so enthusiastic about…namely, prophetic words, tongues and knowledge Paul tells them that those things will pass away when Jesus returns. Pursue love.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
There are three motivating factors that will keep us from being self-focused and idle during the time in which we live. Paul adds to love two other things that point to the future when all things will come to pass and Jesus will be manifest and we will see Him face to face.
Faith, Hope and Love.
Faith is saving faith in all Jesus did for us in the past. How He died for our sin on the cross, how He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, how He ascended to the right hand of the Father and how He is currently making intersession for us. It’s also currently believing all the Bible reveals about our current age and the age to come. Faith is the gift of God that abides with us right now and into the future. One day faith will give way to sight.
Hope also abides with us right now. We have hope for the future as we believe in the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection means we too will one day rise and this gives us hope for the future. Church, trust in all things the Bible teaches and draw hope for the future from that truth.
Let’s understand what Paul is telling us.
All three will abide or remain.
But love as Paul says is the greatest. Even in the world to come it will be the fuel behind everything that is done
As you seek after your gift or gifts for the common good of the Church, strive mostly for faith, hope and love. These three are eternal. Use these to fuel your gift and everything will remain in the right balance.
Exalt Christ
Resources Used:
1 Corinthians by Gordon Fee
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