I Corinthians 13: 8-13
Love never fails;
Love is God, He has given us His Love, now we are to love others with His Love.
but if there are gifts of prophesy, they will be done away;
All prophesies will be fulfilled, everything that has been foretold will come to pass, and it will all eventually be history.
if there are tongues, they will cease;
The languages we speak to communicate with one another are for this Earth time. I don't know what language they speak in Heaven, or even if they speak at all. We may just think to one another! I don't know! But our languages will not be needed after we leave this World.
if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
All knowledge, all science, all empirical experiences in this World will be useless when this Earth is no more. Everything we know here depends on our environment where we live. When our Earth explodes and our Universe implodes, to be re-done as a New Heaven and a New Earth, it will be completely different from the World we know now. All true science is a search for how God designed this creation to work. When everything becomes New, then all this Earthly knowledge will be obsolete.
For we know in part
Our body of science continually grows, because we still don't know it all, and we never will. Our eternal Creator has,
Set eternity in their heart, so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
So no matter how much we learn, we still will only know part of all God has done already. Just in this World.
and we prophesy in part;
Everything God has had His prophets write about are all the things we need to look for to happen, but He has not given every detail of every event that will come to pass. We cannot even take in everything He has told us, and yet there is so much more that we will just have to experience when it happens.
but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away.
When all God has planned is complete, and finished, and done; and we have entered into the Eternity of the never-ending expansion of the Kingdom of God; then we won't need all this temporal knowledge any more, we'll be learning whole New Universes, that we will take part in helping King Jesus to rule.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
Our childhoods are spent growing up. We progress from childish language, childish ways of thinking, and childish processes of reasoning, when we mature into more adult ways. Or we should do so. When we grow into more sophisticated ways of seeing our world and responding to it, then we don't need the simplistic, childish ways any more.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face;
It's like we're seeing things as a distorted reflection now; but when we "graduate" this "school" of life, and see Jesus face-to-face, then we will be able to see clearly.
now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
Just as God knows each one of us intimately, down to the molecule, and Loves us anyway; so He will show us His full reality of all that we are and have done.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
So now our faith sustains us, until we will be able to see.
Our hope is our longing to have what God has promised, until we are ready to receive it all.
But our love for God and for one another will never fade, but only grow wider and deeper and stronger and more passionate throughout all Eternity!
O my Father, You are so great! You are so good! You are so much more than I can ever imagine! And I can imagine a lot!
You have told us everything we need to know, in order to live together in this World, to relate to one another in positive and productive ways. You have told us who we are to You, and given us Your Love, so now we can love one another with Your Love!
Father, You have told us what to look for and expect to happen in coming days, so that we will be prepared to face and conquer what we will encounter, and You have told us the "last chapter" in our story, to give us the encouragement to know that we win!
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Lord God Almighty and Sovereign King, to the glory of Almighty God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 13: 4-7
We learned how important it is to love one another, now we're going to see what that love looks like.
Love is patient,
It "suffers long." This is makrothymeō in the Greek. It means to be "long-spirited;" to have "long patience, to patiently endure." Never give up.
love is kind
The Greek word is chrēsteuomai which is translated as "to show oneself useful, or act benevolently; to be kind."
and is not envious;
This word is zēloō in the Greek, which means, "to covet earnestly; to move with envy." When we love someone, we're not going to scheme to take from him what he has for ourselves.
love does not brag
"Vaunteth not itself," essentially, to not be a braggart.
and is not arrogant,
Not haughty, does not "puff up" himself with pride. The Greek word here,
physioō, gives the idea of "inflating by blowing" it up, like a balloon.
does not act unbecomingly;
"Unseemly," aschēmoneō, in an inappropriate way; not in keeping with established standards of taste or proper form. When we love one another, we would not want to embarrass one another with indecorous behavior.
it does not seek its own,
This is zēteō, "to seek," as to worship God, or negatively, to plot against a life. A very strong word; we are not to go after what would be for our own selves, to worship ourselves by putting our own benefit primary in life, rather than what would help the one loved.
is not provoked,
This is, paroxynō, to not easily get exasperated or stirred up.
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
King James Version says, thinketh no evil, so this would be to put a positive frame around what was a negative occurrence. To rethink a slight or an insult, as Joseph told his brothers that he knew that they meant to harm him, but God meant it to save all their lives.
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
"Rejoice," chairō, means to be happy about, cheerful, as a greeting. We are not to happily welcome into our lives what is adikia, "legal injustice; or wrongfulness of character, life, or act." We are doing no favor to anyone to allow ourselves to give an "atta-boy" to someone who has an immoral lifestyle. It's unhealthy and hurtful to oneself and the whole society he lives in.
but rejoices with the truth;
But we are to sygchairō, "congratulate, to gladly sympathize" with alētheia, "truth, verity." What is in alignment with how God designed this environment to work, and how we can cooperate with it is the truth of any situation.
And God is Love, so how He wants us to relate with one another is also with love, with wanting the very best for the other, regardless of what it costs us.
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The "all things" is pas, which includes "all, every, the whole, whatsoever, whosoever." The whole ball of wax.
"Bears" is stegō, "to roof over, to cover with silence, to endure patiently." All things.
"Believes" is pisteuō, "to trust completely, implicitly, without reservation." All things.
"Hopes" is elpizō, "to anticipate with pleasure, expectation with confidence." All things.
"Endures" is hypomenō, "to stay under (behind), to bear with (trials), have fortitude, persevere, endure, take patiently." All things.
No matter what happens, no matter what people do to us, no matter how they may mistreat us and slander us and use and abuse us; if we love them with God's Love, then it will make no difference in how we treat them.
We tend to treat those who love us much better than we treat those who don't like us. Or those we think don't like us.
But if we love people as God Loves people, and is good to us and gives His own Best and most Precious for us while we're still sinners, then that will take God's Holy Spirit in us loving them through us.
Love never fails.
This is why Love never fails, God's Love. That's why we need God's Spirit in us to love others as He Loves us. This is not in us naturally, it is not mere human love; it is God Loving others through us.
O my Father, You have Loved us with such an expansive, glorious, unlimited, extreme Love! Please teach us Your children how to love one another as You Love us. Show us how to display Your Spirit of Love even in the face of insults and betrayals and abuse.
Father, show us how to respect the temple we are, while remaining true to Your Truth, and to love the perpetrators even as we call them out on their unrighteousness.
Father, what goes against how You made us and our Earth actually hurts us and our World. We have destroyed so much of our environment, and so much of our own health and well-being, in turning to man for what is processed and artificial instead of what You have generously provided for us right here.
And, Father, how we treat one another in our cities and neighborhoods and online is so harmful to ourselves and one another. Please grant us healing and compassion for one another. Teach us how to apply these concepts You have given us in these verses. This is the only way we will be able to do right by one another and ourselves and where we live.
Cause our love for one another to show the World around us that Jesus really did come to be one of us, to be our Savior and Redeemer and King. And also our Judge.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus of Nazareth is our Lord God Almighty, our Sovereign King, to the glory of Almighty God the Father, forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 13: 1-3
Here is the "more excellent way"--the way of Love.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
No matter what flowery language I use, my words will convey no more value than just meaningless noise, if I don't love my hearers.
If I have the gift of prophesy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
No matter what I know, no matter what I've learned from God, and no matter if my faith can terraform the surface of this Earth, I'm still nobody if I don't love the people that God loves.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Even if I give away a fortune, leaving nothing for myself, and willingly face martyrdom, it still wouldn't be worth anything if I don't love the people around me and treat them with the consideration God gives us all.
This is how important it is for us to love others, even our enemies, the way Jesus has loved us, even when we were His enemies.
And the following verses describe what this love looks like.
O my Father, please open our minds and hearts to not just understand what these concepts are, but to cut us deeply to actually love one another graciously and compassionately and sacrificially, no matter what it will take from us.
Father, You gave us Your very Best, most Precious! Teach us how to do the same for one another. Break our hearts for what breaks Your heart, Father, and strengthen us with Your boldness and faithfulness and energy to go out, to do, to say, to write, to be the witnesses You mean for us to be, to those in each of our little worlds, to build up and help and teach and show Your Love to one another.
And send more workers into Your mission fields, Father, to find those who are looking for You, to rescue the perishing from every evil deed and out of this present evil age, into the safety and rest of Your fold, that there be Your One Fold with One Shepherd.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim in every language that Jesus is Lord God Almighty, our sovereign King, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 12: 27-31
Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.
Because we are all one body, we need to cooperate with one another for the body to operate effectively.
So the order of authority that God put into all of His creation also applies to the church.
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles,
The apostles were the men who laid the groundwork on the foundation of Christ for the building of the church, so they came first. Now that part is finished. Beware of anyone calling himself an apostle today, because the framework for the church has already been laid.
second prophets,
Next came those who would speak God's words to the people, explaining how we are to live now according to this New Covenant, instead of the Old Covenant.
third teachers,
Then the teachers would teach what the prophets had received from God, to disseminate the new ways of thinking throughout the whole church.
then miracles,
These were supernatural confirmation of all this new way of thinking and living and relating.
then gifts of healings,
This related to the physical health of those who were ill or disabled or demon-possessed.
helps,
The note on this refers to Numbers 11:17 when God put the Spirit Moses had on some 70 elders of the Hebrew people to help him carry the load of all the people so he wouldn't have to bear this great burden alone.
administrations,
These were political abilities to govern the church.
various kinds of tongues.
This gift of languages is mentioned last in this particular list.
All are not apostles, are they?
The answer here is, "No," of course not.
All are not prophets, are they?
Again, of course not.
All are not teachers, are they?
Same answer, "No."
All are not workers of miracles, are they?
Again, "No."
All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
No, no, and no. No one gift is given to everyone, other than the Holy Spirit, himself, manifested in all the different gifts given to all the people.
But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
These Corinthians seemed to be fixated on the particular gift of tongues, which Paul will deal with a little later. It happens to be a lesser gift, that has less of an impact on building up Christ's church. Paul wants them to focus more on the more powerful and efficacious gifts rather than the showy ones.
And I show you a still more excellent way.
This leads into Chapter Thirteen, the Love Chapter.
O my Father, please help us to have a clear understanding of how You have designed Your church to operate. Teach us to submit to one another, and to obey You in following the directives of our leaders. Lead our church leaders into Your righteous paths so they will lead us aright.
Father, help us to be Your church, following You, according to Your ways; with the humility to recognize our own positions in Your order of authority, those higher on the ladder submitting to the rest, offering their hand of help in compassion and graciousness.
And help us all as Your children, to see one another as You see us, treating each other with kindness and gentleness especially when our rough edges rub.
And send us out into Your fields that are white to harvest. Use us to find every lost lamb that is caught in thickets or lost in crags, so that all Your sheep will be drawn into the safety of the fold, and there will be One Fold with One Shepherd.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 12: 12-27
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
All the members of the church make up one body, with Christ as the head. The one Spirit in all of us makes us one body.
My physical body is alive with a spirit of life in it. Your body is also alive with a spirit of life in it, but not the same as my spirit of life, because you have a different body than I have.
God's Spirit is in all of us, one Spirit, making us all one body, spiritually.
For the body is not one member, but many.
Just as your physical body is made up of many different body-parts, so is Christ's spiritual, mystical body.
If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
Hands are very handy, and someone who is not handy may think that they don't have a place because they aren't handy. But feet are needed, too, to go somewhere.
And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
An ear cannot see, so it may think it's useless. But we also need to hear the beautiful music.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
We all need different sensibilities, and when we look at one another and envy the ability someone else has, then we are ignoring our own ability, robbing the body of the sense God gave us. So our local body ends up blind or deaf.
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
God has decided which people would be in which congregation, using our own desires and personalities to round out the characters of our churches. We need to follow His leading in joining the local church which suits us.
If they were all one member, where would the body be?
If everybody were the same in a congregation, it would not be a healthy body.
But now they are many members, but one body.
So we are to have many different people in each local church, to round out the good spiritual health of the body, and to do all the things God means for the church to accomplish for His Kingdom.
And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you;" or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
So one member of a church should never say to another, "You don't fit in here," because maybe that particular congregation needs that one there.
I think that our different congregations have different "personalities" because we are too particular about the kind of people we want to associate with in our churches. This is not right. God places the members into the body, and we are not to override His choices.
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,
whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
All our differences can be irritating to one another, but if we allow those irritations to become divisions, then we are outside God's will for us.
We are to love one another with a sacrificial love. We don't necessarily have to like one another. But when we see one another with the acceptance and compassion of Christ's Love for us, and act accordingly, then we will find ourselves coming to like them, too. Our feelings will always eventually catch up to our wills, when we decide to do what is right, even when it's uncomfortable.
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
If you stub your toe, you are miserable until it heals. And when you get new glasses, you revel in all the clarity you can see now. One toe or one sense of sight affects our whole disposition.
The body of Christ is no different. When we are behaving ourselves, seeing the way God sees, and understanding with His mind, this will cause our spiritual health as His body to be vibrant, and we will do His will in fulfilling His plan.
Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.
We need to remember this, and keep it in mind in all of our interactions with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
O my Father, thank You for Your wisdom and compassion in putting us into the congregations where we are needed to provide the hands and feet and eyes and ears and hearts and spleens and all the other body parts each local church needs to be spiritually healthy, to accomplish everything You have planned for each one to fulfill.
Father, our cities are too populated to have only one local church, but we have so many congregations that some are at an extreme without realizing that they are blind or deaf or without the ability to do something that You have determined is necessary. They are spiritually inept or ill in some way or other. Father, show the leadership of these churches what needs to be healed, so that they will seek Your ministrations as their Great Physician.
Father, may all Your children seek Your face and Your ways, daily, and even moment-to-moment. We desperately need You for healing in so many ways.
Father, strengthen each of us individually, and our congregations corporately, so that we will be prepared to face all that You have told us is to precede the coming of our Lord and King; which I believe will be very soon, sooner than we expect.
Help us all to be looking for Your coming, and working toward the Day when every person alive will have heard Your Good News and made an informed decision whether to accept or reject Your gracious offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim the Lordship and Kingship of Jesus the Son, to the glory of God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 12: 4-11
Now Paul is getting into the gifts themselves.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
There are diversities of effects and operations, but it is the same God who works all things in all persons.
He says that there are many different gifts and ministries and programs that the church is to engage in, but it's all the same Spirit, the same Lord Jesus, and the same God the Father who are working it all out for everybody. He is still in charge.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
And whatever the Spirit gives to each person, it is for the benefit of everyone, not just himself or his little group.
Now he's going to name some of the gifts.
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,
One person will be given the ability to see how all the parts fit together to make the right decision.
and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
Another person will be able to understand the facts according to God's Word to ascertain what God is saying to the church.
to another faith by the same Spirit,
This faith is an extraordinary trust in God to do extraordinary things, without wavering.
and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
To lay on hands or speak a word, or otherwise effect the healing of sickness and disease by supernatural means.
and to another the working of miracles,
Doing supernatural things that draw attention to God and His Love.
and to another prophecy,
This can be foretelling future events before they happen, or giving a divinely inspired instruction or exhortation.
and to another the discerning of spirits,
This is judicial estimation of spirits, whether they are good or evil.
to another various kinds of tongues,
Another person would receive the ability to speak in languages they have never learned; the way Paul was able to preach to people everywhere in the World, no matter what language they spoke.
and to another the interpretation of tongues.
And another person would be able to translate these foreign languages into the tongue of the people present in the church service.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
God's Spirit gives whatever gifts He determines each person needs to have to perform the work He planned for him to do for the furtherance of the Gospel. Each believer receives a spiritual gift when God saves him, and everyone gets their own gifts. No one gift is given to everyone indiscriminately.
Each child of God is given at least one spiritual gift to use to bless and help one another. The gifts are for the betterment of the whole church, not just the one who has the gift. We are to build up the church, and let those in the church build one another up. We are not to build ourselves up with God's spiritual gifts.
O my Father, please help Your children to understand about the gifts You give to each of us. Teach us how to use these gifts to build up and benefit others of our sisters and brothers in the Lord.
Father, please banish the controversies concerning Your gifts of Your Spirit, so that we will not argue or debate the practice of these abilities You give us.
Teach us how to use these abilities so that we will practice them in helping one another according to Your will, Father, Your plan that You are fulfilling in and through us as Your agents, Your witnesses, Your family.
Strengthen us to accomplish all You have desired, and take pleasure in our work for You. That every living person will be able to hear Your Good News with sufficient understanding to make an informed decision to accept or reject Your gracious Love.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Corinthians 12: 1-3
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.
Paul is going to talk about spiritual gifts, but he prefaces that discussion with this:
You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.
These people were saved out of a culture that recognized many gods, and worshiped them as idols or statues. Statues have no life, but demons can be behind these statues, to answer prayers or do miracles. So they had been led to honor and adore these idols.
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed;"
Jesus took upon Himself the curse God had put on Mankind, and the Scripture says,
If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that same day; (for he who is hanged is cursed of God;) that your land be not defiled, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
That's why they had to take Him down off the Cross before nightfall. But even though Jesus took our curse upon Himself, He was not cursed.
and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
When we say that Jesus is our Lord, we're considering Him to be the Boss who tells us what to do. These are not just words, they mean that we are obeying His rules, because we are thinking His thoughts and adopting His attitudes toward life. The only way we can do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
This is Paul's introduction to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why he would cover this first is probably to differentiate between the power of demons through the idols and God's true power through His Holy Spirit in us through His spiritual gifts.
O my Father, thank You for all Your goodness to all of us every day. You have known us, and even though we are Your enemies who have rebelled against You, You have still Loved us more than we can imagine, sending Your own Son to be our Savior from the power of sin over us. And Redeeming us out of the slave-market of sin to give us New Life in Your own Holy Spirit, causing us to be born spiritually, comparable to how we were born physically.
And You have equipped us to do Your work, Father; to accomplish Your plans for all of us, for each of us to play our part. You have planned out the whole panoply of existence, before You made any of it. And You have placed us where and when You have for us to play out all You want done.
Teach us, Father, how to use all the gifts You have given us, along with all our natural abilities You caused us to be born with, with all the different personalities You gave us, from all the experiences we have lived through so far. And You have given to each one of us a heart to love and enjoy and desire what You are pleased to grant us.
Help us all, my Father, as Your children, to display Your sterling character in each of our relationships, and to use all the tools at our disposal to accomplish with skill all You want done to prepare for the coming of Your Son, our King.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
