“LOVE IS THE PRINCIPAL THING”
I CORINTHIANS
13:1-13-FEBRUARY 22.
“Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;-but the greatest of these is
love.”
IN THE preceding
chapter the Apostle has recount-ed the various “gifts” of the holy spirit
conferred upon the early Church for its establishment and development. He
closes the chapter with the exhorta-tion that while esteeming all of these
gifts, each mem-ber of the Church should covet earnestly the superior ones; and
then he adds, “Yet show I unto you a more excellent way”-something still better
than any of those gifts of the holy spirit. Our lesson pertains to this more
excellent ambition which should actuate every child of God; viz., the
acquisition and development of the spirit of love, the spirit of the Lord. In
proportion as we have the mind of Christ, in proportion as the holy spirit
dwells in us and abounds, in that same propor-tion our love abounds.
There are different kinds of love, however, and the Apostle is here not
speaking of general love, but of one particular kind, which belongs to God, and
to the New Creation begotten of him. There is an animal love, such as the
brute creation exercises toward its young, a love which frequently leads to the
sacrifice of life in its devotion. This same kind of love inheres in the
na-tural man, even in his fallen condition. It is all more or less selfish
love,-ready, perhaps, at times to rob others that it might lavish good things
upon those it favors. This is not the love which the Apostle de-scribes, nor
is he addressing his language to the natural man. He addresses the New
Creation, informing them that the natural man will not be able to receive, to
ap-preciate, to comply with, that which he presents. In order to a clear
comprehension of this love, and a hearty acceptance of it as the rule of life,
it is appar-ently necessary that we be “begotten” from above.
It seems impossible to describe love itself; the
best we can do is to describe its conduct. Those who possess a love with such
characteristics are able to appreciate it, but not able otherwise to explain
it-it is of God, god-likeness in the heart, in the tongue, in the hands, in the
thoughts-supervising all the human attributes and seeking fully to control them.
Before describing the operation of love the Apostle impresses upon us
its importance, assuring us that if we possess the very choicest of the “gifts”
already ex-plained, and do not have therewith love, we will still lack the
evidence of our being New Creatures in Christ Je-sus. We should be merely
“sounding brass or cym-bal”-making a noise, but having no acceptable feeling or
virtue in ourselves in connection with our words. He assures us thus that
ability to speak fluently on gospel themes, even, might not be a proof
of our relationship to the Lord as New Creatures. The Apostle’s declara-tion
is introduced with an “if” which might be chal-lenged, to a certain extent, by
the assertion that no one could speak forth with power, with force, the gospel
of God’s dear Son unless he possessed the spirit of love. Although we have all
met public speakers who could deliver very beautiful essays, we have generally
per-ceived a hollowness in their teaching unless they spoke from the heart,
prompted by love of the truth,-not by love of applause, nor for love of money.
Amongst the gifts, prophecy or oratory was one which the Apostle commended.
Knowledge of mys-teries of God is also commended, and large faith is reckoned
amongst the chief of the Christian require-ments; yet the Apostle declares that
if he possessed all of these in their fullest measure, and love were absent, he
would be nothing,-a mere cipher-not a member of the New Creation at all, since
love is the very spirit of the begetting to the new nature. What a wonderful
test this is! let us each apply it to himself. Whether
I am something or nothing in God’s estimation is to be measured by my love
for him, for his brethren, for his cause, for the world in general, and even
for my ene-mies,-rather than by my knowledge or fame or ora-tory. Yet
we are not to understand that one could have knowledge of the deep mysteries of
God without having been begotten by the holy spirit of love; for the deep
things of God knoweth no man, but by the spirit of God; but one might lose the
spirit before losing the knowledge it brought him. In
the measurement of char-acter, therefore, we are to put love first, and to
consider it the chief test of our nearness and acceptance to the Lord.
The Apostle next takes another line of argument: his hearers already
understood benevolence, alms-giv-ing to the needy, to be commendable; and to
impress upon them the importance of having love as the control-ling principle
of their hearts, the Apostle declares that if he should give all of his goods
to feed the poor-keep-ing nothing back-and yet do this without proper love as
the mainspring to the conduct, it would profit him nothing. He goes still
further and declares, that even if he should become a martyr, and be burned at
the stake, it would not bring him the blessed reward sought, unless that
martyrdom were prompted, impulsed, by love.
But it may be inquired, How could anyone practice such self-denial, such
sacrifice, such faith, etc., and yet be without love? It is not our
thought that they could practice these and be devoid of love; that there must
be some measure of love. We understand the Apostle to make this strong
statement of the case in order to show us that our almsgiving, our sacrifices,
our knowledge, our teaching, are acceptable to the Lord and appreciated by him,
only to the extent that they have love behind them. If love enters
slightly into them, then they are slightly appreciated; if love enters largely
into them, then God appreciates them largely. If they are prompted wholly by
love, then God accepts them fully. If love be only a part of the motive power
behind our conduct as New Creatures, it implies that other motives are
active in us, tending to neutralize in the Lord’s esteem even services and
sacri-fices performed in his name and upon worthy objects. Let us be on guard
against these neutralizing influences, and earnestly seek to be whole-hearted,
full of love;-that our every service of the Lord and of the brethren and of the
truth be from a pure heart, free from per-sonal ambition, pride, etc.
Having given us such a conception of the impor-tance of love, the Apostle
proceeds to describe what it is and what it is not-how it operates, and how it
does not operate or conduct itself. Let us each make a practical application
of this matter to himself, and in-quire within: Have I such a love, especially
for the household of faith, as leads me to suffer considerable and for a long
time, and yet to be kind? How quickly do I get offended? If very quickly it
surely indicates that I have very little of the spirit of the Lord,-love. If I
am disposed to resent the trifling wrongs of life,--if I have the spirit of
resentment, am disposed to ren-der evil for evil, and railing for railing,-it
marks my deficiency in this greatest of all the graces, so essential to my
ultimate passing, as an overcomer, the divine inspection.
Of our heavenly Father it is said that “he is kind to the unthankful,” Have I
this spirit of kindness--his spirit? Am I kind to my friends? gentle?
cour-teous? Have I this mark of love pervading my actions and words and
thoughts-that I think of and am con-siderate of others? that I feel and
manifest kindness toward them in word, in look, in act? A Christian, above all
others, should be kind, courteous, gentle, in his home, in his place of
business, in the Church-everywhere. With the child of God this patience and
kindness are not merely put on as grapes might be tied to a thorn-bush, but, on
the contrary, they are the fruits of the spirit-growths from or results
of having come into fellowship with God, learned of him, re-ceived of his
spirit of holiness, spirit of love.
Have I the love that envieth not, so that I can see others prosper and rejoice
in their prosperity, even if for the time my own affairs be not so prosperous?
This is generosity, the very opposite of jealousy and envy. The root of envy
is selfishness: envy will not grow upon the root of love. Love envies not, but
re-joices in the prosperity of all that is good.
Have I the love that vaunteth not itself?-the love that tends to humility, that
is not boastful, not puffed up? Some one has truly said, that “love
saves a man from making a fool of himself by consequential conduct, and by
thrusting himself into positions which betray his incompetence.” Boasting-over
self-esteem-has led many a man not only into folly, but some-times into gross
sins, in his endeavor to make good his boasts. The spirit of the Lord is a
spirit of a sound mind, which not only seeks generously to esteem oth-ers, but
also soberly to estimate oneself, and not to be puffed up.
Have I the love which does not behave itself un-seemly-discourteously,
impolitely? Politeness has been defined as love in trifles. Courtesy is
said to be love in little things. The secret of politeness is either a surface
polishing or love in the heart. As Christians we are to have the heart-love,
which will prompt us to acts of kindness and courtesy, not only in the
house-hold of faith, but in our homes and in our dealings with the world.
Have I the love that seeketh not her own merely?-that might even be willing to
let some of her own rights be sacrificed in the interests of others?-or have I
the selfishness which not only demands my own rights on every occasion, but
which demands those rights re-gardless of the convenience, comfort and rights
of oth-ers? To have love in this particular means that we will be on guard
against taking any unjust advantage of others, and to prefer rather to suffer a
wrong than to do a wrong,-to suffer an injustice than to do injus-tice.
Have I the love which is not easily provoked? Indeed, the original omits the
word “easily,” and gives rather the thought that love does not become
irritated, roused to anger. Love enables its possessor to see both sides of a
question; it makes of him a ver-itable philosopher; it gives him the spirit of
a sound mind. He perceives that exasperation and violent anger are unbecoming
and worse than that, injurious, not only toward those against whom they may be
di-rected, but injurious in their effect also upon his own heart and body.
There may be times when love will need to be firm, almost to sternness and
inflexibility, where principles are involved, where valuable lessons are to be
inculcated; and this might come under the head of anger, using that word in a
proper sense in regard to a righteous indignation, exercised for a loving
purpose, for doing good-but then only for a time. If justly angry we
should see to it that we sin not, even with our lips or in our hearts, in which
at no time may we entertain any but loving and generous sentiments toward those
who are our enemies, or toward those of our friends whom we would assist or
instruct or cor-rect.
To be easily provoked is to have a bad temper, to get worked up into a passion,
where evil looks and evil words and angry sentiments are involved.
This is wholly contrary to the spirit of love, and whoever is on the Lord’s
side and seeking to be pleasing to him and to attain to an overcomer’s position
should jealously guard himself against this general besetment of our day. Those begotten of the holy spirit should all be good
tempered. In no way can we better show forth the praises of him who hath
called us out of darkness into his marvelous light than by the exhibition of
the spirit of love in the daily affairs of life.
Have I the spirit of love which thinketh no evil?-which is guileless,
not suspicious of evil or looking for faults in others, or attributing to them
evil motives? It is an old adage that “faults are thick where love is thin.”
The Revised Version presents a slightly different thought here-“Taketh not
account of evil”-does not charge up the wrong against the evil-doer, as if
waiting for an apology or a restitution or an opportun-ity to “get even.” But
while love passes over offenses and takes no account of them, holding no
grudges, this would not mean that love would necessarily treat evil-doers in
precisely the same manner that it would treat its friends. It might be proper
or necessary, even, to take some notice of the offenses to the extent of not
manifesting the same cordiality as before, but no hatred, malice or strife
should be manifested-nothing but kindness and gentleness, leaving the door of
oppor-tunity open for a full reconciliation as soon as possible; doing all that
could be done to promote a reconciliation and evincing a willingness to forgive
and forget the wrong.
Have I the love which rejoices not in iniquity (in-equity) but rejoices in the
truth? Are the principles of right and wrong so firmly
fixed in my mind, and am I so thoroughly in accord with the right and so
opposed to the wrong that I would not encourage the wrong, but must condemn it,
even if it brought advantage to me? Am I so in accord with right, with truth,
that I could not avoid rejoicing in the truth and in its pros-perity, even to
the upsetting of some of my precon-ceived opinions, or to the disadvantage of
some of my earthly interests? The love of God which the Apostle is here
describing as the spirit of the Lord’s people, is a love which is far above all
selfishness, and is based upon fixed principles which should, day by day, be
more and more distinctly discerned, and always firmly adhered to at any cost.
Have I the love that beareth all things?-that is impregnable against the
assaults of evil? that resists evil, impurity, sin and everything contrary to
love? Have I the love that believeth all things? that is unwilling to impute
evil to another unless forced so to do, by in-disputable evidences?-that would
rather believe good than evil about everybody?-that would take no pleas-ure in
hearing evil, but would be disposed to resent it? Have I the love that hopeth
all things, that per-severes under unfavorable conditions, and continues to
hope for and to labor for those who need my assist-ance? Have I the love that
endureth all things?-that is, that continues to hope for the best in regard to
all and to strive for the best, and that with persever-ance-not easily
discouraged?
As disciples or pupils of Christ, we are in his
school, and the great lesson which he is teaching us day by day, and the lesson
which we must learn thor-oughly if we would attain the mark of the prize of our
high calling in all its various features and ramifications, is the lesson of
Love. It takes hold upon and relates to all the words and thoughts and doings
of our daily lives. As the poet has said,
style='font-family:Verdana;
color:blue'>“As every lovely hue is light,-so every grace is love.”
Next the
Apostle points out that as love is the most excellent
thing, so is it the most enduring. The gift of prophecy would pass
away; the value and ne-cessity for speaking with other tongues would cease; and
all knowledge of the present time, imperfect as it is, must surely cease to be
valuable when the perfections of the new dispensation are fully ushered in.
The very best informed now know only in part; but when perfection shall be
attained in the Kingdom, and under its ministration, all the partial and
imperfect conditions of the present time will have been superse-ded, and only
the one thing may surely be said to en-dure and be everlasting,-and that one
thing is Love.
An illustration of the growth which we must ex-pect as between the present
knowledge and attainments and those of the future, is of the child and the
growth to manhood. Another illustration is seeing obscurely in one of the
old-time mirrors, which gave but imper-fect reflections. With the perfections
of the new con-dition we will see perfectly, know perfectly, understand
perfectly. Just so the gifts which were in the early Church were very suitable
to it, as fitted to its infantile condition; but as it would develop to
maturity the value of those “gifts” would diminish, and they would be no more;
but higher developments of divine favor were to be expected, faith, hope and
love. All three of these the Church of God is to cultivate, and to esteem as
fruits of the spirit, far above the gifts of the spirit,--and the
greatest of these three is Love.
Love also is the most enduring; for will not faith
practically come to an end when we shall see and know thoroughly? And will not
hope practically be at an end when we shall reach the fruition of all our hopes
and be possessors of the fullness of our heavenly Father’s promises? Love,
however, will never fail, even as it had no beginning. God is love, and since
he was with-out beginning, so love was without beginning; because it is his
character, his disposition; and as he endureth forever, so love will endure
forever. Whoever, there-fore, learns thoroughly the lessons of this
present time in the school of Christ, and thus becomes well stocked with this
wonderful grace of love, lays up treasures which may be his to all eternity-a
great blessing to himself and to all with whom he comes in contact now; and a
blessing to the world to which he will be permitted to minister during the
Millennium;-a blessing everlasting, because it is a seal of divine approval.