First Corinthians 13:4-7 is probably the world’s most cross-stitched
passage of Scripture. The poetic beauty of its truth is celebrated and
admired. It’s also the Scripture that is most used on greeting cards
that are given to newlyweds. However, there is nothing in the context
that hints that marital love is what the apostle Paul had in mind when
he wrote his words. Certainly they apply to marriage, but they also
apply to any horizontal, human relationship. Most clearly, what the
apostle had in mind is the relationship of believers to one
another—brothers and sisters in the family of God.
The Priority of Love
Chapter 13, is of course, nestled between chapters 12 and 14. Chapter
12 gives instruction concerning the sovereign will of the Holy Spirit
in dispensing gifts for the edification of the entire body. Some
believers in Corinth viewed themselves as less-gifted because they did
not possess the spectacular gifts. Others–those who did possess the
miraculous gifts of that age–were tempted to think they did not need the
lesser members of the church. Both groups lacked biblical love.
Chapter 14, of course, follows chapter 13, the “love chapter.”
Chapter 14 is corrective in nature. It is a rebuke of the immature
believers’ misuse of the miraculous gifts that were given to the church
for its infantile stage. Tongues, in particular, were being used not for
edification, but for self-glory. These believers had the same problem—a
love problem. Therefore, they were commanded to “pursue love” (1 Cor
14:1). Continue at Paul Tautges
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