The language of love
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1).
1 Corinthians 13 describes love in the most profound and beautiful terms. It has been described as a “hymn of love”. It is also a parenthesis, because it comes amid Paul’s teaching on the spiritual gifts which so occupied the Corinthian Christians. The beauty of its language has a tremendous impression on everyone who reads it. It is regarded as one of the most outstanding pieces of literature in any language. But the chapter is one of the most challenging passages in the Bible. And its teaching should reach into our hearts and souls and transform our lives.
The Bible teaches that God is love. 1 Corinthians 13 expounds the reality of that love. In doing so, it cuts through the unclear and sentimental approach we sometimes have to this vital subject. The chapter begins strikingly and directly. Paul says it doesn’t matter how eloquent and beautiful our words are; unless they are spoken in love, they are empty. Like most introductions, we can skip over the words we read without thinking too deeply about them. But as I reread these well-known verses, I had to stop and reflect. We can preach, minister, pray and worship using lovely expressions. But do I always serve the Lord, His people and my neighbours in love? How quickly do words spoken to heaven change to words of criticism, irritation, impatience or anger on earth?
Love is always active and ever serves, but not always audibly. In Luke 7 Jesus describes the worshipping woman as loving much because she was forgiven much (see v. 47). She never spoke a word. Love speaks in simplicity through selflessness and sacrifice. And as the Spirit of God teaches us about the character of love, He wants us to look at the One who perfectly expressed God’s heart of love, the Lord Jesus. Today’s chapter describes the love we see in Jesus, but it starts by challenging what we say and what we do, and asks, Is it said and done in love?
In Hebrews 4:12 we read, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (NIV). In 1 Corinthians Paul is ministering in love to a large but disorderly church. Paul does not disown the saints at Corinth, nor does he simply judge them. In love, by the Holy Spirit, he exposes the reality of their need and clears the ground so that God can pour His love into their hearts.
Love is a gift. Throughout our lives we need to remember that God is the source of everything we have and are. God is love, and He expressed this by giving: “God so loved that He gave His only begotten son”; “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her”; “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.” Because “He first loved us”, we love. It is in appreciating the love of God for us that His love is manifested through us. We read in Romans 5:5: “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” To pour out such love, the Lord Jesus “poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12).
