(All scripture references are NASB and all references to “Law” are Torah (Mosaic law) unless otherwise noted. I usually capitalize “law”, only because I am using it as a proper noun, not as a special status.)
There is a song that was a “one hit wonder” in 1993 by an artist called Haddaway where the lyrics went “Oh, what is love, baby don't hurt me, baby don't hurt me, no more.”
I apologize if I either bring up bad or good memories of that song. I recall it being played so much on generic radio or in elevators etc. that it became annoying. I don't recommend it necessarily, but those lyrics will apply later in this article.
So…What is Love?
Well, in my last post I started with verses showing that the cross reflects God's love. Christ foreshadowed this with His statement in John 15:13 - “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
Yet, while the cross (dying for others) provides clear evidence of agape love, it doesn't really provide a definition. It may clarify the definition as we consider what attributes would lead to this kind of love.
Even scripture can only put this into human words, and that is certainly not enough to understand agape. The passage we will look at today affirms this. Yet, there is no better passage to study that attempts to define agape than 1 Corinthians 13.
A 1 Corinthians 13 Message
For those who prefer to listen over reading, I will link an Andrew Farley message upfront.
I realize we all have our favorite teachers, and I hesitate to continue to only go to a single source, yet I have listened to hundreds of different teachers, and I guess I’m just getting too old to waste my time.
I'm happy to find the meat and throw out the bones in any teaching, yet, sometimes it feels like mostly bones. And it takes a lot of time and effort to pick through them.
Perhaps there are others who are similarly scripturally accurate that I haven't heard, but so far, I haven't found them. So, until then, I beg your patience with continuing to go back to a source I have found to be good gospel food compared to many others.
In any case, here is a message on 1 Corinthians 13 within an entire 1 Corinthians series. I'm sure some of what I will cover could be in this message too, but I will certainly have my own perspectives.
Still, even just this message is worthy of your time, whether you ready thoughts or not.
God's Big Fat Greek Wedding - Part 10
1 Corinthians 13
So, without further ado, let's jump in. I will not take the space here to quote each verse, so, again, as I have previously emphasized, you should follow along in scripture.
13:1
In some spiritual communities, this verse is used as an indication that there is an “angel language” and that we should speak it. That is some majorly over the top extrapolation from a single verse.
I believe Paul was simply using hypothetical hyperbole here. He is saying that were there an “angel language”, and one could speak it, if it was not done from a motivation of love, then it is just useless noise.
The point Paul is making is that agape should motivate everything we do. Great feats are useless without an agape motivation. He continues that theme in verse 2.
13:2
Again, Paul is being hyperbolic. There is not a single historical record of “mountain moving” even in scripture.
The interesting thing here though is Paul's transition to identity. He is no longer saying that the 'action' is useless, he is saying the actual person is useless if they do not possess agape. This is strong language.
Surprisingly, he contrasts this with faith and knowledge, and prophecy, which is a work within the church that he just commended in Chapter 11 (I won't get into what I think prophecy is here, but clearly he commended it far above tongues.)
What does it mean to possess agape? Well, I have already mentioned Romans 5:5 in previous posts. Clearly, this is possessing Christ through His Spirit within, our spirit joined in union with God. This is partaking in the divine nature of love. This is being born again: this is salvation.
Again, he is emphasizing motivation. It is a fascinating reverse build-up. In verse 1, he shows that even the most fantastic actions should be motivated by agape.
In verse 2, he shows that in order for any action, fantastic or not, to motivated by agape, we must possess it in our hearts. We must have a nature, an identity, of agape.
13:3
Now Paul is getting real. So far, he has been in the realm of hyperbole. No person other than God Himself has ever done the things in verses 1-2 to the extent Paul describes them.
Yet, people have done the items in verse 3. Some have given up all their wealth, and many have been burned. Yet, if they did not possess agape within, it was pointless.
Can Only Believers Be Persecuted or Martyrs?
I believe something about the epistle of Hebrews that many find controversial. I believe, at least chapters 1-12, are primarily written to evangelize unbelieving Jews who are still clinging to the old covenant and have not accepted the new covenant yet.
(Not the entirety of every verse, I said 'primarily'. And even evangelical passages describe the gospel, so believers gain value from all of scripture, even if it is not pointed directly at them.)
These unbelieving Jews are in the church because they are interested in or curious about the gospel, but clearly the author is concerned that they truly don't understand it enough to be saved by it.
I have many reasons for this, and it would take pages and pages to exegete them. But in discussions with various folks about this, a few things come up.
One is the author's use of 'brothers'. In context, this is often used (and clearly delineated in a couple verses in Hebrews) to mean fellow Jewish brothers. Sometimes in scripture, brothers is used to indicate the brotherhood of humanity.
So, just because the author uses this term, it does not always mean fellow believing brothers and sister.
One argument I heard was that only a believer would endure the persecution described in Hebrews 10:32-34.
Yet, history belies this logic. Many unbelievers of many religious stripes throughout history have been persecuted and martyred for their faith. Islam, Mormon, and certainly the Jews themselves are all examples.
Martyrdom is useless without Agape
My point is that Paul is indicating here that being martyred for a faith that has not filled your heart with agape is pointless.
I'm certain, with great sadness in my heart, that this has happened many times throughout history.
What Paul is getting at here is the exceedingly tragic fact that one who dies without Christ is hopelessly lost, even if they died in an act of self-sacrifice for their faith or belief system.
I do not have to be happy about this to acknowledge the truth of what Paul is writing. As Paul was willing to give up his own salvation for others, I'm certain he felt the same way. Yet, truth is truth.
Social Justice (Wokeness) without Love
I do not want to neglect the fact that Paul goes after “social justice” here too. He indicates that without agape, your social justice cause is useless. It is just performative moralism, there simply is no spiritual benefit to it.
How clear this has become in modern society where the most vehement hatred is spewed from the mouths (and keyboards) of those who condemn others for not agreeing with or participating enough in their specific causes.
You cannot fight hate with hate, and so this reveals that the true motivation is something altogether different than what they often want to portray. And again, as unbelievers, even the most generous offering of charity is as filthy rags.
Social justice without agape will never achieve the goals it theoretically claims to want to achieve.
13:4
Ok, so now Paul attempts to define agape.
The first thing I want to point out that I think many people miss is that it is God's love being described here. These are all aspects of God's nature since “God is love (agape)”. As we study this, keep this in mind, as this will impact your understanding of God's nature.
Paul is describing God here. Remember from my last post, this revelation of God supercedes any ideas about God that we may have had from previous revelation. Again, important to keep in mind.
I often hear this passage taught in a condemning way towards believers where you are just not loving enough. This often pushes people into trying to love or create these elements of love within their lives from a place of flesh powered willful self-effort.
These are descriptions of God's love that we already possess as a gift, not prescriptions for something we need to gin up.
But, I do agree this passage describes what it will look like when we get out of the way of agape within us by eschewing our own self-effort, and allow it to shine from the inside out. We will love effortlessly in this case.
However, consider that God does not expect us to behave better then He does! None of the descriptions of agape in this passage apply any more to us than to God Himself, as they are describing Him.
He is the perfect source of agape, so clearly He would emulate these things in a perfect way.
Love is Patient
This one is non-controversial. I mean, God is described throughout scripture as long-suffering and patient. 2 Peter 3:9 confirms this, as He is patiently waiting on humanity to get a clue and accept Christ for life.
This is the same Greek root word used in Galatians 5 to describe the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is yet another evidence that this a God like quality - we have been gifted it through the indwelling Spirit and can bear it as fruit.
Yet, again, this fruit is not ours nor does it take effort on our part. It is the Spirit's fruit, gifted to us, we simply bear it, we don't produce it. When we bear it, it may produce effort in our lives, however using effort to try and produce it will never work.
Now, as I studied this word in Greek, something profound was revealed. The more modern translations use 'patient', yet that word does not really fully capture the meaning.
Long-Suffering is a Better Translation
Long-suffering or perseverance are better words. The implication is not a matter of simply waiting around with a good attitude, it is waiting while enduring something unpleasant or harmful. It is patience while suffering.
This is a person who endures injustice and suffering from others without returning it in kind. This goes beyond simply being willing to wait. It is waiting well while suffering.
This is clearly not an attitude that naturally flows from the unregenerate human spirit. This is a supernatural 'patience' that flows from God and through a person who is joined to God and knows it.
The implications for humanity are obvious, yet consider the implications for God.
When scripture says God is persevering because He doesn't want any to perish, the implication here is that He is suffering during this time of patience.
“Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” - Romans 2:4
What Causes God to Suffer?
So, what is causing this suffering? If God is suffering while He is patiently waiting for the body of Christ to be completed, what is causing His suffering?
The Greek word for 'suffering' implies more of an emotional suffering vs. a physical.
Consider a perfect Being of light and holiness that is faced with darkness and impurity. Would this not cause intrinsic emotional suffering? There is a cosmic conflict there where light and darkness cannot mix. That conflict constitutes suffering.
Clearly, there is much language in scripture concerning the suffering Christ went through because of sin. And of course, He paid the ultimate sacrifice through His suffering to deal with sin as an entity and break it's power.
Yet, clearly sin still exists for now, even if it's power has been broken for those who believe.
Yet, despite the ultimate suffering Christ went through to deal with sin's power, the continued existence of sin causes ongoing suffering for the triune God.
What love! Every moment that God does not use His unlimited power to destroy sin completely and eliminate it from existence, He continues to suffer. Do you get that? Have you ever considered how sin makes God suffer by it's very existence?
Yet, clearly, this Greek word meaning long-suffering shows that God is enduring suffering while waiting for the body of Christ to be completed. Is this not profound?
By the way, I do not want to neglect the fact that those of us who have been birthed by the Spirit of Christ and are joined to Christ in spirit, also suffer in the same way because of sin, darkness, and fallenness.
We may not realize this and thus continue to submit our members to sin and cause suffering to ourselves and others, yet intrinsically we are children of Light, and this the darkness causes us suffering.
Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit
That is enough profundity for now, so looks like I will make it through 3.3 verses. But I have one final point on God's long-suffering.
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” - Ephesians 4:30
The Greek word for 'grieve' is also used to describe the pain of child birth in scripture.
This is a “deep pain”. And this verse indicates that even as believers, we can cause this suffering for the Spirit.
When I mentioned that when we submit to sin it causes suffering for us and others, one of those 'others' is God Himself. How can He not suffer along with us as He is joined to us?
Anytime His beloved children suffer, He suffers. This is why He offers life as a gift, to keep us from the corruption of sin. He cannot bear those He loves to suffer from self-inflicted or inter-family harm.
This is in context of the previous verse, Ephesians 4:29. This verse does not mean what most people says it means, as they do not account for the word translated 'word'.
But I will have to pause this study and cover that in a separate article as it is important to this discussion.
For now, I will leave off with gratefulness to God for His loving persevering nature. Even when I cause Him suffering akin to the pain of child birth by grieving Him, He continues to love me. For that I am eternally grateful.
I hope and pray this has given you new insight into what the long-suffering nature of God's love means. Consider this carefully. We have an amazing God.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39
Have a great week! Set your mind on the awesome long-suffering love of our Lord.
I will cover Ephesians 4:30 in my next article as this gives us even more insight into what causes God pain and how His love continues to show long-suffering towards humanity in general and especially His children.
Ok, so the song reference, almost forgot. I know it is nebulous to compare to the song, but when we hurt God in this way by our sinning, we are clearly not reflecting His love.
So, perhaps the song writer had just a little bit of truth somewhere in there.