Correcting Corinthian Context

The context of I Corinthians 13 leads me to believe that this discourse about love (which is not, in my opinion, the definitive discourse about love) is given primarily to govern and guide the community of believers in their actions and existence with each other.

I Corinthians 13 is part of a larger passage which we have canonized as chapters 12 – 14. The subject is that of spiritual gifts in the community of believers. I will not press into a detailed discussion of the problems of the Corinthian community, but suffice it to say by way of summation that they were a dysfunctional family. They were not, as Paul taught by illustration, acting as a cohesive body but rather as separate pieces of a body. In the middle of instruction about gifts is set forth the passage under consideration upon the topic of love.

Viewed in this context, and confirmed by remarks immediately preceding and following the passage, this teaching about love is insightful instruction as to how we are to relate to other believers in order to function in community – to be a part of the larger body. If we accept that a partial definition of “church” is the assembly of believers for the purpose of manifestation and administration of spiritual gifts, then it is clear that love is, if you will, the sinews and tendons which hold the various members together and allow the body to function as a larger entity.

With that in mind, I offer the following comments on I Corinthians 13, to wit:

1. If you are desire to advance in stature as a believer by pursuit of your giftedness, then you are in error and there is a superior way to be revealed to you (12:31).
2. Gifts and works without love do not further or validate one’s spiritual stature (13:1-3).
3. Love expresses itself in certain actions, listed as sixteen separate items (to be considered in more detail at another time) which offer practical insight on how to live in community with other believers (13:4-8a).
4. Love has a permanence in its practice and its results whereas spiritual gifts will become irrelevant when Christ returns and, further, love is fully revealed to us now whereas spiritual gifts are only revealed to us in part (13:8b-12).
5. Love is more important than faith and hope (13:13).
6. Love is the pursuit when you desire giftedness (14:1).

Further assistance in the understanding of love may be drawn from other passages, but it remains the context of this passage to assist us in living in community with other believers. I believe that the economy of God is revealed in this passage in some ways that may sound alarming. For instance, in God’s economy, love is what validates the exercise of a spiritual gift. Thus a seemingly gifted individual who does not live out the actions of love may and should be properly regarded as having nothing to contribute to the body of believers. Similarly, in God’s economy, spiritual gifts are a transitory, partial and occasional currency, while the worth of faith, hope and love are abiding, total and permanent. From this we may fairly “rank” the priorities of our communal function. Further insight is gained from the revelation that love is more important than faith and hope. Thus loving our fellow believers in actions aspiring to the standards of I Corinthians 13 should be more highly valued and regarded as more indicative of spiritual stature than any evidences of faith or hope, which are in turn far more favorable than any spiritual gift however manifested.

Having thus clarified the contextual position of I Corinthians 13, we can now bridge toward the examination of the sixteen listed actions of love contained in verses 4 – 8a. That is for another time.