Lessons #455 and 456
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Excellency of love in church of Christ (1 Cor 13:1-3)
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is concerned with the subject of love since the Greek word translated “love” that we will deal with later appears 9 times in it. The fact that the thirteenth chapter is concerned with the subject of love makes it one of the best-known chapters in the NT. One reason that accounts for this fact is probably that it is often assumed by many to be concerned with guidance on how husbands and wives are to relate with each other in love in their marriage. Thus, many who perform wedding under the umbrella of Christianity read it. There is no gainsaying that the passage has application to marriage relationships, but such reading is not only limiting but it is not in keeping with the purpose of this thirteenth chapter in its context. We are saying that to take the passage as primarily concerned with providing guidance and insight into marriage relationship is to do violence to the context of the subject of love in this chapter. It is one thing to apply a passage, but it is another matter to interpret it within its context.
Another fact about the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians that is concerned with love is that it creates a problem that is of great concern for scholars. This problem has to do with the proper placement of the treatment of the subject of love in this first epistle to the Corinthians. Some commentators take the view that the subject of love in this thirteenth chapter should actually be placed after chapter 8 because of reference to love in it. Some scholars accept that it is properly placed although some of those with this view think the apostle composed it for another occasion and purpose but inserted it here. Worst yet, there are those who even deny the apostle’s authorship although majority of our commentators regard this passage as genuinely from the apostle.
Still another fact that the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is concerned with love is that it is the most detailed treatment of the subject of love in the epistles of Apostle Paul or for that matter, any other epistle of the NT. The apostle considered love an indispensable virtue of the Christian way of life. Thus, in several of his epistles he instructs concerning believers loving each other. For example, in his epistle to the Ephesians, he commands believers to live a life that is characterized by love as we read in Ephesians 5:2:
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Writing to believers in Rome, the apostle conveyed that when love is present a believer becomes conscious of harming a fellow believer spiritually because of food or what one drinks as he penned in Romans 14:15:
If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
The apostle sees love as that which sums up the Law as we read in Romans 13:8–9:
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Right after stating that the love sums up the Law, the apostle goes on to convey that love is characterized by not harming another and so a reason for saying that love fulfills the Law as we read in Romans 13:10:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Of course, he has already conveyed to the Corinthians something positive about love in helping to build others up spiritually or otherwise as we read in 1 Corinthians 8:1:
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The point is that the apostle, no doubt, made references to love in many of his epistles but in no other place did he celebrate and elaborate on love as in this thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
All the same, there is a sense that the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is parenthetical but in the sense that what is discussed in it is related to what preceded and what followed. In effect, the parenthetical treatment of love is essential to understanding the use of spiritual gifts in worship situation of the church of Christ, which has been the concern of the apostle since verse 2 of the eleventh chapter of this epistle that he dealt with the matter of head covering. It is as we understand that “love” in the context is concerned with worship situation that we will recognize that the apostle is focused on how believers should interact with each other especially in worship situation and beyond. That aside, we still insist that there is a sense that the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is parenthetical in the sense we explained. This is because the apostle introduced the subject of spiritual gifts in the twelfth chapter and expounded on them to some extent, expounding on the diversity and unity regarding spiritual gifts in the church of Christ. Then he focused on the subject of love in the thirteenth chapter only to return in the fourteenth chapter to problems associated with a specific spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. Hence, it is proper to consider chapter thirteen as parenthetical to the subject of spiritual gifts that occupied the apostle’s thought beginning in the twelfth chapter and ended in the fourteenth chapter. As we have said, taking the thirteenth chapter as parenthetical is not entirely a situation where there is no reference to what is treated in the topic of digression in relation to what preceded or what follow since the thirteenth chapter still referenced the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and prophecy. However, the topic of love that is the concern of the thirteenth chapter is to be expected.
"Why is that?" you may ask. First, it is because the apostle had previously introduced the concept of love in the eighth chapter as in the passage we have previously cited, but repeat here, that is, 1 Corinthians 8:1:
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The problem associated with food sacrificed to idols concerned those who possess knowledge but forgot that it is important to temper knowledge with love in dealing with debatable matters. We have noted that there is a spiritual gift associated with knowledge. It is possible that those who consider themselves elite in spiritual life were recipients of the special gift of knowledge that they misapplied or did not recognize. So, if the apostle was directed by the Holy Spirit to introduce the subject of love before dealing with the problem associated with food offered to idols, it makes sense that before the apostle deals with a burning issue of speaking in tongues in Corinth that he would return to the concept of love, only this time he goes into greater details regarding it. You see, if love exists, it is much easier to deal with a problem than when there is no love. I am saying that if we have love for others then when there is a misunderstanding between us and them, we will handle it differently than if there is no love. This being the case, it is quite fitting that the apostle before he dealt with the problem of speaking in tongues that he digressed to deal with the matter of love. Second, the apostle had stated he wanted to introduce what is more important in the spiritual life of believers in the church of Christ as he ended his discussion on the concept of diversity in unity as it pertains to spiritual gifts. The apostle indicated that he wanted to show the Corinthians a more beneficial aspect of spiritual life as it definitely affects the life of the church. This, he did in the last verse of the last chapter, that is, 1 Corinthians 12: 31:
But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
When the apostle wrote I will show you the most excellent way, it is important that he should immediately discuss the excellent way that he was eager to show the Corinthians, and so to all believers, before he continued with the problems associated with speaking in tongues. It is for this reason that we would expect the apostle to launch a dissertation on the subject of love.
Be that as it may, as we have stated previously, the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is concerned with the subject of love. Therefore, we have a simple message that we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you that governs the exposition of the thirteenth chapter of this first epistle of the apostle to the Corinthians. The message is this: A life characterized by love is more important in the church of Christ than temporary exercise of spiritual gifts. Before we begin our exposition of the message, we should note that the reason we included the phrase “church of Christ” is because the epistle we are considering is written to the Corinthians and so to the universal church of Christ to help us interact properly with each other both in and outside a local assembly. Therefore, it is important we recognize that the apostle states what is important in the life of the church. This is, of course, in keeping with the instruction of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, and so to the church at large, before He died on the cross as we read in John 13:34–35:
34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
In any case, the message we have stated is to be expounded through three assertions of the apostle that conveyed the importance of love.
The first assertion derived from the section of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is that the exercise of the gift of speaking in tongues without a life characterized by love is meaningless in that it gives a confusing message. This assertion is derived from the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Apostle Paul begins by stating something that its occurrence is not highly likely but could occur. We say this because the word “if” that begins the verse is translated from a Greek particle (ean) that may be used as a marker of condition of a reduced likelihood of occurrence of an activity referenced with the meaning “if.” It can also mean “when” as a marker of point of time which is somewhat conditional and simultaneous with another point of time. In our passage, it is used to introduce a condition that must occur or be met for the rest of what the apostle states to take place. The apostle is not saying that what he says in the clause introduced with the word “if” will occur, but it could. However, its occurrence is assumed for the apostle‘s declaration to be true.
The condition that the apostle assumes to be true for his point to stand concerns the exercise of the gift of speaking in tongues as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels. The apostle could have used a general statement in the sense of “if one speaks in tongues” but he did not. He probably used himself since he indeed has the gift of speaking in tongues as implied in 1 Corinthians 14:18:
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
There is probably another reason the apostle used himself in what he was about to teach regarding speaking in tongues and love. It is that the apostle had already set himself up as an example that believers in Corinth should imitate in the spiritual life as he was their spiritual father as he had previously stated in 1 Corinthians 4:16:
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
We are saying that the apostle because he considered himself the spiritual father of the Corinthians that he probably thought best to use himself instead of another person to set up the condition he stated in 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels.
The word “speak” is translated from a Greek verb (laleō) that may mean “to make a sound” by inanimate objects, as it is used for the blood of Jesus Christ that speaks more effectively than that of Abel in Hebrews 12:24:
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Literal blood does not speak, so the sense here is that blood communicates or makes a sound. Of course, the human author of Hebrews indicates that the death of Christ communicates truth that is more effective than the death of Abel. The word may mean “to speak” with various nuances but let us consider few of these. To speak may mean “to express oneself” as that is the sense of the word in the instruction regarding women in church meeting given in 1 Corinthians 14:34:
women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.
The standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG suggests that the sentence They are not allowed to speak may be translated they are not permitted to express themselves. To speak in some context may mean “to preach” as the word is used by Apostle Paul in describing the effort of the Jews to keep him and others from preaching the gospel to the Gentiles as he stated in 1 Thessalonians 2:16:
in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
Speaking to the Gentiles is not merely chattering with them but presenting the gospel to them so it may mean “to preach.” Thus, our Greek word is used for communication of God’s word but in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1, it means “to speak,” that is, to express in speech. The Greek used the present tense that here implies a repeated action. In other words, the speaking involved in the context we are considering is that which occurs at regular interval when a person exercises the gift associated with speaking in our passage although in the context the apostle used himself as the one that possibly speaks. The thing expressed in speech is describe in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 in the tongues of men and of angels.
The word “tongues” is translated from a Greek noun (glōssa) that means “tongue.” The “tongue” may refer literally to a body part as an organ of speech as what was loosed to enable Zechariah to speak just before the naming of his son, John the Baptist, as we read in Luke 1:64:
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Figuratively, “tongue” is used for split flames in Acts 2:3:
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
The word may mean “language” unique to a people as it is used by those from other nations that were present on the Day of Pentecost to acknowledge hearing the disciples speak in their various languages the great things God has done when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place as we read in Acts 2:11:
(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
To remove any misunderstanding of what tongues means in this passage, some of our modern English versions rendered the phrase our own tongues as our own languages as we find, for example, in the NET among others. It is in the sense of “language” that “tongue” is used to describe different peoples of the nations that are redeemed as we read in Revelation 5:9:
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
The English versions that are prone to literal translation such as the Authorized Version (KJV) or the NASB translated the word “tongue” instead of “language” in this passage in Revelation. The Greek word may mean “ecstatic language”, that is, “an utterance outside the normal patterns of intelligible speech and therefore requiring special interpretation” as the word is used to describe those who received the Holy Spirit when Apostle Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and those assembled in his house as we read in Acts 10:46:
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,
It is in the sense of “ecstatic language” the word is used to describe one of the activities of those in Ephesus that received the Holy Spirit when Apostle Paul placed his hand on them as stated in Acts 19:6:
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1, the Greek word means “language,” that is, any language but often referring to a language one has never studied and a supernatural ability to speak (or be understood) in it. Of course, it refers to strange speech of individuals in religious ecstasy that must be interpreted to help others understand what is uttered.
The language spoken, described with the word “tongues” refers first to human languages. This is because the phrase the tongues of men. The word “men” is translated from a Greek word (anthrōpos) that means “a human being” without regard to gender, as Apostle Paul used it to describe the fate of evil doers in Romans 2:9:
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
The word may mean “man” as male person as the apostle used it to describe Jesus Christ in His humanity in Romans 5:15:
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
The word may mean “self” as it is used in the instruction of Romans 6:6:
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
The phrase old self is literally old man. The word may mean “person” as that is the way the word is used when the concern is to be inclusive of men and women, as in the doctrine of justification by faith the apostle stated in Galatians 2:16:
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Justification is for both men and women so that the phrase a man is to be understood as “a person,” hence the NRSV simply used the phrase a person. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1, it is used in the sense of “human being.” Hence, the apostle assumes that a person may speak in any human language the individual has not learned as well as angelic language because of the phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 in the tongues of men and of angels.
The word “angels” is translated from a Greek word (angelos) that basically means “messenger.” It can refer to a human messenger serving as an envoy hence “an envoy, one who is sent or messenger” as it is used to describe those the Lord Jesus sent ahead of Him to Samaria as He was on His way to Jerusalem for the final time as reported in Luke 9:52:
And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him.
The messenger may be a supernatural being who is sent by God to carry out specific mission or task, hence means “angel, messenger” as the being sent to rescue the apostles from jail, as recorded in Acts 5:19:
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
The word can refer to fallen angels as in 2 Peter 2:4:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1, the word is used to describe a supernatural being created by God to serve Him, that is, an angel as a messenger of God.
The phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 in the tongues of men and of angels imply that angels have a language by which they communicate within themselves and also with God. We do not know what angelic language is despite various speculations. Some think that it could be a reference to what Apostle Paul heard when he was transported to heaven as we read in 2 Corinthians 12:4:
was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
We cannot be certain that what the apostle heard was angelic language. One thing we know is that the idea of angelic language is recognized elsewhere. The Old Testament pseudepigrapha of the Testament of Job refers to such in describing the one called Hemera in Testament of Job 48.3:
3* but she spoke ecstatically in the angelic dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic style of the angels. And as she spoke ecstatically, she allowed “The Spirit” to be inscribed on her garment1
That aside, what we know is that the communication of angels recorded in Scripture usually involves the use of human language of the person with whom an angel communicates since angels in such cases take on human appearance. Thus, when the two angels came to Sodom to destroy it, they communicated with Lot in the language he spoke as implied in the interaction between him, and the angels as recorded in Genesis 19:1–2:
1The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
When Angel Gabriel announced to Mary the virgin pregnancy and so the virgin birth of Jesus, he communicated to her in a human language (presumably in Aramaic) that Mary knew as we read in Luke 1:30–31:
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Even when angels communicated with each other in the hearing of humans, they communicated in the human language of the one who hears them. This, we gather from the communication between angels in Zechariah’s vision according to Zechariah 2:3–4:
3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.
This notwithstanding, the fact is that angels have the language through which they communicate to one another and to God. That they have a language by which they communicate with God is implied in the fact they are to praise God as the Holy Spirit declared through the instruction of the psalmist given in Psalm 103:20:
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
It is this language that the apostle meant in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 in the tongues of men and of angels. Hence, he implies that it is possible but less likely that a person could speak in the language of angels and not know what the person is saying.
It is interesting that the apostle referenced the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues first as he begins to deal with the subject of love. One wonders why that is the case. It is probably because that was the spiritual gift that caused more problems in Corinth than others as evident from the fact the apostle devoted greater time in this epistle addressing the problem of tongues than any other spiritual gift that he mentioned in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
The apostle grants the possibility that a person could speak in either human or angelic language so he could make his point that such exercise of the gift of speaking in tongues sends a meaningless and so confusing message unless what he wrote is realized. The thing the apostle is concerned with is introduced with the word but in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 but have not love. The conjunction but is used to contrast two things the apostle assumed to be true for the sake of his assertion in the verse we are considering.
The thing the apostle contrasts with what he assumed to be possible in the sense of speaking of human or angelic language in the exercise of spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is introduced in the NIV with the word have as in the verbal phrase but have not love. The word “have” is translated from a Greek word (echō) that means “to have” in the sense of “to possess or own something” as the Lord Jesus used to rebuke the Jews that did not believe in Him although they studied the Scripture as a way to obtain eternal life as we read in John 5:39:
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.
The word may mean “to have on, wear” of clothes as it is used in the Lord Jesus’ parable of Wedding Banquet to describe a person who came without wearing the wedding dress as we read in Matthew 22:12:
‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
The word may mean “to need” as it is used by our Lord in response to Peter requesting Him not only to wash his feet but his entire body during His last supper with His disciples as we read in John 13:10:
Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
The word may mean “to enjoy” as it is used to describe the state of the church in Jerusalem after the conversion of Paul as we read in Acts 9:31:
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1, it means “to have,” in the sense of “to possess inwardly” or “to experience something.”
The apostle used the present tense in the Greek implying that what the apostle states one possesses inwardly, or experiences is that which occurs frequently at repeated intervals that it could be said to be habitual. In other words, the apostle is not concerned with something that happens once but what characterizes a person’s lifestyle. We are saying that the apostle envisions a lifestyle characterized by what he says a person does not possess inwardly or does not experience as in the verbal phrase but have not love. The apostle recognizes that it is possible for a person to possess what he is concerned about. He does not see that as something impossible or that does not ever happen because of the word not he used, is translated from a Greek particle (mē) that is a subjective negative instead of another Greek negative (ou) that is an objective negative, denying the reality of alleged fact fully and absolutely. The negative the apostle used implies that it is possible for a person to possess at an instant what he mentions but may not be that which characterizes the individual’s lifestyle.
The main concern of the apostle that a person who speaks in human or angelic language as part of the exercise of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues that may not have inwardly as a matter of lifestyle rather than a once in a while occurrence is described in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 but have not love.
The word “love” is translated from a specific Greek word (agapē) that appears nine times in this thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Because of its importance we need to examine the Greek word in a little more detail. You see, the recipients of the epistle were primarily Greek speaking so they would know there are other three Greek nouns for expressing the major senses of love. The first of these other words is a Greek noun (erōs) that refers to sexual love or passionate love. This is what most people in this culture understand love to mean as can be seen on what is portrayed on the TV as love. Erotic love needs no explanation, except to say that most problems attributed to love relationships could be traced to this kind of love. The believer should remember that this can form a part of love that is advocated in the clause we are considering under one condition only – marriage bond, understood as that unique bond between a man and a woman not what people here in the West now define as marriage. This Greek word does not appear in the NT and for a good reason since the NT is concerned much more with higher form of love. This is not to say that the concept of romantic love does not appear in the Bible or that there is anything wrong with romantic love under proper condition of marriage since this Greek word is used in the Septuagint for illicit sexual relationship in Proverbs 7:18:
Come, let’s drink deep of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
The word “love” appears twice in this verse of Proverbs 7. The first word “love” is translated from a third Greek word (philia) we will consider shortly while the second “love” is translated from the Greek word (erōs) we said pertains to sexual love. A second of the other Greek nouns for major expression of love is a Greek word (storgē) that the authorities tell us refers either to the tender feelings that parents naturally feel toward their children or children toward their siblings and parents, or to the bond that unites husband and wife. This word does not appear in our inspired word of God although it is found in the Apocryphal book of third and fourth Maccabees. A third of the other Greek nouns for major expression of love is a Greek word (philia) that again the authorities tell us is more concerned with friendship so is always characterized by a kindly attitude and goodwill. It is used in the Septuagint to contrast love and hatred in Proverbs 15:17:
Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
However, none of these three Greek words was used by the apostle; instead, he used a different Greek word that has some uniqueness to it.
The word “love” in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 but have not love is translated from a Greek word (agapē) that, as we have indicated, has several uniqueness from the other three Greek words for expressing major concept of love. It is unique in its usages both in the classical Greek and in Greek Bible. Scholars in the past have stated that it does not appear in classical Greek but there is at least one doubtful occurrence of the word in classical Greek that caused some to think that the word must have been used in classical Greek literature. Because the supposed occurrence is doubtful, we could say, for all practical purposes, that the scholars who state that the word is not used in classical Greek as a word for love may indeed be correct. The first appearance of our Greek word is in the Septuagint where it is used in at least three ways. It is used for “love” in the sense of human passion toward another of the type once possessed by those who have died that they no longer have towards those who are alive, as it is used in the Septuagint of Ecclesiastes 9:6:
Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
The word is used in the Septuagint to describe sexual love in Song of Solomon 3:5:
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
It is used only once in the Septuagint to describe human love for God, presented in the imagery of bride’s love for the husband in the Septuagint of Jeremiah 2:2:
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.
These usages in the Septuagint notwithstanding, the word is used more commonly in the NT in ways that are different from its usage in the Septuagint. We say this because except for our Greek word, the only other Greek noun of the Greek words for major concept of love that we mentioned found in the NT is the Greek word (philia) that means “friendship” and it appears only once in the NT as it is used in James 4:4:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
The Greek word (agapē) used in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 but have not love is used in distinctive ways in the NT. It is the Greek word that is used although in the plural to describe the common meal eaten by early church in connection with their worship, for the purpose of fostering and expressing mutual affection and concern and so means “fellowship meal, love-feast”, as it is used in Jude 12:
These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
Our Greek word is the only Greek noun of all the Greek nouns used to express the major concept of love in Greek that is used to describe the relationship between God the Father and God the Son using the word “love” in the English as it is used in the priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus, as recorded in John 17:26:
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
We should be careful to understand that we said that our word is the only noun that is used to express the relationship of the Father and the Son because there is a Greek verb (phileō) related to the Greek noun (philia) that is used once to describe that relationship in John 5:20:
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
Our Greek word (agapē) is used distinctively to express the redeeming love of God through Christ. Thus, Apostle Paul described God’s love that is demonstrated in Christ’s death for our sins using the Greek word agapē in Romans 5:8:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The apostle used the word to describe the love of God through or because of Christ that nothing can change in Romans 8:39:
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is the redeeming love of Christ that Apostle Paul conveyed in 2 Corinthians 5:14:
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
Another distinctiveness of our Greek word is for the uniqueness of the Christian life in relation to others. Thus, it is the word the apostle used most commonly to describe the expected relationship of believers with one another. Writing to the Corinthians, he used our word to describe his unique relationship with them in terms of love, as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:4:
For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
To the Galatians, he used our Greek word in encouraging them regarding serving one another, according to Galatians 5:13:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
The apostle used the word in his thanksgiving to God about the Ephesians for their love for one another, as we read in Ephesians 1:15:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
It is our Greek word that Apostle Paul used in his prayer for the Thessalonians to demonstrate their love for each other, as stated in his petition to the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 3:12:
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
The Lord answered this prayer because the Thessalonians demonstrated love fore each other as implied in the second letter of the apostle to them, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 1:3:
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.
Apostle Peter used our Greek word to describe the distinctive uniqueness of expression of love among believers through a special kind of kiss in 1 Peter 5:14:
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Another distinctiveness of our Greek word is that it is the word that is used most in the NT to describe the love that God the Holy Spirit produces in the believer. Hence, Apostle Paul referenced this love that Holy Spirit produces in Romans 5:5:
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Consequently, the apostle used our Greek word to describe love as an aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
The distinctiveness of the use of the Greek word in question helps to understand that the Greek word is used predominantly in the NT to refer to the quality of warm regard for and interest in another hence may mean “esteem, affection, regard, love.” So, the meaning “love” in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:1 has the sense of strong affection and interest in the affairs of another. With this meaning we are ready to consider what the apostle meant in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 13:1 but have not love but we are out of time so we will continue with this verbal phrase in our next study.
09/30//22
1 Charlesworth, J. H. (1983). The Old Testament pseudepigrapha (Vol. 1, p. 866). Yale University Press.