Lessons #467 and 468
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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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Permanence of Love (1 Cor 13:8-13)
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of love in the functioning of the local church of Christ. In the introduction of this subject of love in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, we indicated that the Lord Jesus conveyed that love would be the hallmark of His disciples. Without love believers would not function in a manner that will be pleasing to the Lord of the church. Consequently, the Holy Spirit continued to emphasize the necessity of genuine or sincere love among believers. We can see that the Holy Spirit wants us to have genuine love for each other because of how He directed the apostles to instruct believers about genuine or sincere love. The Holy Spirit directed Apostle Paul to convey to us that the love we have for each other must be genuine or sincere as we read in Romans 12:9:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
To the Corinthians, Apostle Paul wrote of the necessity of proving the genuineness of their love to each other in 2 Corinthians 8:8:
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
It is not only through Apostle Paul that the Holy Spirit underscores the point that love should be genuine, but He also did the same through Apostle Peter. Thus, Apostle Peter instructs believers to have genuine or sincere love that stems from the whole person as we read in 1 Peter 1:22:
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
The command requires that believers be completely sincere with their love for each other, and such love must involve the total person in that there should not be a difference in how you show your love for other believers. I mean that your love must function in the same way whether you are in public or behind closed doors. You cannot bifurcate your affection for your fellow believer in that you seem to be affectionate to them when in public but when you go behind closed doors or in the company of others, you become different. No! Love must involve the whole person so that you are the same in your warm regard for your fellow believer. Of course, it is to help us test the sincerity or genuineness of our love that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul gave us the fifteen characteristics of love in the preceding section of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. The point is that we should have genuine love for each other.
Why should the love believers have for each other be genuine? There are at least two reasons. We humans are prone to faking things. We are good in faking affection for others depending on what the situation is. The Christian life is a life that is led under the light of the Holy Spirit so a believer cannot afford to be false in dealing with a fellow believer by giving a false impression of what is not there. You see, a believer who thinks another believer loves the individual would be willing to open up self to the other believer about whatever the individual is facing with the belief that the other believer loves the individual. But if the love is not genuine then there is the possibility of betraying another believer. So, it is important to be true or genuine in your love to another believer as not to mislead another believer to trust you when indeed you cannot be trusted because you are faking your love.
Another reason love among believers must be genuine or sincere is because of existence of diversity in the body of Christ. We have noted that God created diversity in the world of mankind and in the church of Christ through diverse spiritual gifts. If we are going to function by disregarding the diversity in the church of Christ, we must operate in love that is genuine. In other words, we must love each other genuinely or sincerely. It seems to me that one of the reasons God created diversity is to test the genuineness of our love to each other in the body of Christ. I am saying that the Holy Spirit wants us to cherish diversity in the body of Christ because God created it for His purpose. One of His purposes, as I have stated, is to provide us the means of testing how truly we believe Him as the creator of diversity. If God is the creator of all things, then He created diversity in all its forms. Therefore, one of the tests of genuine love and so of the spiritual love is the ability to cherish diversity in the church of Christ. God knows all of us. He knows if we are truly accepting one another despite any differences that might exist. Thus, you cannot claim to be a spiritual giant if you secretly do not genuinely accept diversity in the church of Christ. So, it is important that our love for each other be genuine.
Anyway, the Holy Spirit through the apostle had presented positively and negatively fifteen characteristics of love in the previous section. In the section before us, the apostle was concerned about the permanency of love. He conveyed this by stating the supremacy of love over prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. This he treated in verses 8 to 10. He made two comparisons. The first is between his childhood and adulthood. The second is between the time of “the perfect” and “now”. Both comparisons, he discussed in verses 11 to12. He ended by stating the supremacy of love over faith and hope in verse 13. Based on the summary we have given; we derive a message we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you. This message is: The permanency of love is the primary reason for its supremacy over gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge and over faith and hope. This message would become clearer as we expound on the passage before us.
Apostle Paul begins his exposition on the permanency of love with what in effect could be considered the sixteenth description of love. This sixteenth description could have been grouped with the previous section of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 where the apostle described the characteristics of the love that is his concern for the church in Corinth and so for the church of Christ at large. However, it is most fitting that this sixteenth description of love be given in verse 8 as an introduction to the concept of the permanency of love.
The sixteenth description of love is given negatively in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. This sentence is indeed a first reason for the supremacy of love over the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge. It is possible to consider this description as similar to the fifteen previous descriptions, but it is not quite the same. No doubt that there is a connection between this sentence and the preceding section since there is no connective used in the Greek to link verse 8 to the preceding, implying that the apostle was still bent on describing love although in a different manner than the preceding section. The previous descriptions involve attitudes or actions associated with love unlike our present description. Thus, the sixteenth description is in a class by itself, serving to transit from descriptions that are clearly characteristics of love to a description about love that does not involve discernible action or attitude on the part of love. You see, the previous descriptions have implied objects of the verbs used in their description but not the sixteenth description since there is no implied object that is the recipient of love. It is for this reason that we contend that the sixteenth description of love is in a class by itself since the nature of the verb used in it is different from the previous descriptions, involving no action or attitude directed towards another by the believer that has love for others. If anything, this sixteenth description introduced the concept of permanency of love although that is not easy to perceive.
We asserted that it is not easy to perceive that the sixteenth description of love is concerned with the permanency of love because of the word “fails” in the NIV and in many of our English versions. The English verb “fail” may mean “to be unsuccessful in an undertaking” or “to neglect to do something” or “to stop working properly.” It is difficult to understand what it means for love “to be unsuccessful in an undertaking” or “to neglect to do something” or “to stop working properly.” This being the case, it is necessary to examine the Greek word that is translated “fails” in the NIV to see if there is another meaning that would be easier to understand within the context.
The word “fails” is translated from a Greek word (piptō) that may mean “to fall.” “To fall” may mean “to move with relative rapidity in a downward direction as it is used to describe the fall of Eutychus from third story of a building when he fell asleep while Apostle Paul was teaching late into the night as described in Acts 20:9:
Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.
“To fall” may mean “to experience loss of status or condition” as it is used to appeal to the church in Ephesus to repent from its failure as we read in Revelation 2:5:
Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
The word may be used figuratively to mean “to become invalid, come to an end, fail” as the word is used to indicate that none of God’s word will come to an end or become invalid in the declaration of the Lord Jesus recorded in Luke 16:17:
It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
The sentence the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law may alternatively be translated as one stroke of a letter of the law to become invalid. The context of the usage of our Greek word helps to determine its figurative meanings. For example, the word may refer to end of life, that is, “to die” as this is the sense of the word in describing the fate of some of the Israelites in the desert as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:8:
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
The sentence twenty-three thousand of them died is literally twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Clearly, the literal translation has the sense of the number of people who died on one day so that it is proper to use the word “to die” to translate the Greek word that means “to fall.” Consider another example where our Greek word although translated with the meaning “to fall” has the sense of “to collapse” as it is used in the description of the destruction of Jericho in Hebrews 11:30:
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
It is true that our English versions used the meaning “to fall” to translate our Greek word in this passage but the sense is that of “to collapse” of walls as that is a meaning suggested in the UBS handbook of this passage. Of course, the meaning “to collapse” is used by the translators of the NIV to translate our Greek word in the description of the fall of the city where the two witnesses described in Revelation carried out their ministry as we read in in Revelation 11:13:
At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The sentence the city collapsed is literally the city fell but what is meant is that the city collapsed due to earthquake. That aside, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the word is used in the sense “to come to an end.” Interestingly, the AMP version used the word “fails” to translate our Greek word but as it is often the case with this English version, it added in bracket “[never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].” Anyway, we contend that because of the context, the meaning of the Greek word used in the sentence of the NIV should be “to come an end” or simply “to end.” The context suggests this meaning so does the word “remain” used in verse 13 of the passage we are studying as it relates to love.
The meaning “to end” of the Greek word we adopted implies that instead of the translation of the NIV and many other English versions of 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails the Greek may better be translated Love never ends as reflected in such English versions as the ESV and the NET, among others. The use of the word “never” here has the sense of “at no time in the past (or future).” This being the case, the apostle introduced the concept of the permanency of love in the sixteenth description of love. We can say that the apostle wants us to recognize the eternal nature of love.
Why is the apostle concerned to state that love never ends or that it is eternal in nature? It is primarily to convey to the church that there is nothing as important in the interaction of believers as love. In effect, he wants us to recognize that there is never a time when it would be proper to function without love. It is absence of love that creates problems in the local church that is evident in partisanship or in looking down on others or not being concerned about the welfare of other believers as demonstrated by the behavior of the Corinthians in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. As we have already indicated, if believers are going to function in their relationship with each other, love is something that they cannot afford to be absent in their midst. There is perhaps another reason the apostle introduced the concept of the permanency of love or its eternal nature; it is to remind us that love is associated with God and since God is eternal, love must be eternal in nature. What this means is that we should recognize that love is not only something that will exist on this planet but beyond. Love exists eternally between the members of the Godhead and so heaven will be characterized by love. Our love for each other will be more fully manifested in heaven. No matter how we try on this planet, we will not rival the love that will exist between believers in the eternal state since we still live in an environment where sin still reigns. Still another reason the apostle addressed the permanency of love is because of the distorted view many in Corinth have regarding the nature of the spiritual gifts some of them have. Their distorted view needs to be corrected and so it is important to describe not only the supremacy of love but also its permanency.
We are sure that the apostle introduced the permanency of love because he begins the next clause of 1 Corinthians 13:8 with the conjunction “but” that is translated from a Greek particle (de) that may be used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation but in certain occurrences the marker may be left untranslated. Although it is often translated “but” in the English when there is a perceived contrast between two clauses, it has other meanings such as “now,” “then,” “and,” “so” when it is used to link segments of a narrative. It can also be used to indicate transition to something new or even to provide explanation to what precedes its use. Nonetheless, in our verse, the Greek conjunction is used as a marker of contrast to indicate that what follow are contrasted with what precedes that asserts love never ends or asserts the permanency of love. It is proper to assert that the contrast the apostle wants to convey is really between the permanency of love and the temporariness of spiritual gifts. The apostle having signaled that he was about to contrast the permanency of love and the temporariness of spiritual gifts, began with first of the three spiritual gifts he wanted to draw the attention of the Corinthians.
The first spiritual gift the apostle used to contrast the permanency of love to temporariness of spiritual gifts is the gift of prophecy. It is this that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 13:8 where there are prophecies, they will cease.
The word “prophecies” is translated from a Greek word (prophēteia) that may mean “the capacity or ability to utter inspired message” or “gift of prophesying,” that is, to have the ability to declare divine will as the word is used by Apostle Paul in Romans 12:6:
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
The clause If a man’s gift is prophesying is more literally if it is prophecy. The word may mean “prophecy,” that is, an utterance inspired by God as in Apostle Paul’s description regarding Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18:
Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
The word may mean “prophetic activity” as the word is used to describe an activity of the two-witness described in the eleventh chapter of Revelation, specifically in Revelation 11:6:
These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
The clause during the time they are prophesying of the NIV is more literally during the days of their prophecy. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the word is used with the sense of a representative declaration of the mind, will, or knowledge of God. The declaration involved concerns past, present, or future manifestations of the outworking of God’s will or other events. The record of prophecy as an activity is featured more in the OT than in the NT. Nevertheless, it is an activity that is associated with the gift of prophecy as the apostle had already communicated as we read, for example, in 1 Corinthians 12:10:
to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
Prophetic activities referenced in the NT and the gift associated with it are to be temporary in nature as implied in sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 they will cease. The word “cease” is translated from a Greek word (katargeō) that has several meanings. It may mean “to use up, to waste” as it is used to describe the uselessness of the unproductive fig tree that use up the soil in Luke 13:7:
So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
The Greek word may mean to cause the release of someone from an obligation hence “to be released, to be discharged” as in the release of a woman from marriage bond at the death of the husband in Romans 7:2:
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
It may mean to cause something to lose its power or effectiveness, that is, “to invalidate, make powerless” as it is used to indicate that the law did not invalidate God’s covenant with Abraham in Galatians 3:17:
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
The expression does not set aside may be translated does not invalidate. The Greek word may mean “to abolish, wipe out, set aside” as in Galatians 5:11:
Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the sense of the word is “to cause something to come to an end or to be no longer in existence” and because a passive voice is used in the Greek, it means “to cease, pass away.” There are those who suggest that the meaning in our passage is that of “to be inactivated,” that is, “to be or become idle, inactive, inoperative, or useless.” This later meaning suggests that there is a time when prophetic activity would be reactivated after it has been inactive. That does not seem to be the point of the apostle since there is no indication by the apostle that something will occur later in church history that would necessitate reactivation of gift of prophecy. We know that historically for almost four hundred years after the time of Prophet Malachi that prophetic activity was lacking until the time of John the Baptist and in the beginning of the church. The apostle is not anticipating such a situation as to think that prophecy will be inactive for some time only to be restored at a future time. Therefore, we contend that the Greek word the apostle used has the meaning of “to cease, to pass away.” The implication is that there is a time when the activity associated with prophecy will no longer be operational or needed.
The second spiritual gift the apostle used to contrast the permanency of love to temporariness of spiritual gifts is the gift of speaking in tongues. It is this that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 13:8 where there are tongues, they will be stilled.
The word “tongues” is translated from a Greek word (glōssa) that means “tongue.” 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” that 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.
The passages we have cited imply that in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the Greek word translated “tongues” could mean either “ecstatic language,” that is, “an utterance having the form of language but requiring an inspired interpreter for an understanding of the content” or “any language but often referring to a language one has never studied and a supernatural ability to speak (or be understood) in it.” Thus, speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift that the apostle mentioned among other spiritual gifts in a passage we cited previously, that is, 1 Corinthians 12:10:
to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
The gift of speaking in tongues is also temporary in nature as conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 they will be stilled. The expression “be stilled” is translated from a Greek verb (pauō) that means to cease doing something or activity in which one is engaged and so means “to stop, to cease” as it is used in Paul’s apostolic prayer as stated in Ephesians 1:16:
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
The word may mean “to finish” regarding a speech as it is used to describe what happened before the Lord Jesus instructed Peter what to do about catching fish after he and his partners labored all night without catching any fish as stated in Luke 5:4:
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the Greek word has the sense of “to end.” Thus, Apostle Paul indicates that there is a time when the exercise of the gift of tongue will end.
The third spiritual gift the apostle used to contrast the permanency of love to temporariness of spiritual gifts is the gift of knowledge. It is this that is given in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
The word “knowledge” is translated from a Greek word (gnōsis) that may mean “the content of what is known,” as the word is used to describe the content of the message of the gospel Apostle Paul and others proclaimed as we may gather from 2 Corinthians 2:14:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
The word may mean “knowledge” in the sense of comprehension or intellectual grasp of something as the word is used 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 word may mean “understanding” as it is used by Apostle Paul to convey that he and his team functioned in such a way not to discredit the ministry of God’s word in 2 Corinthians 6:6:
in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;
The word understanding is literally in knowledge. The word may mean “consideration” so that the adjective “considerate” is used in the NIV to translate our Greek word in describing what is required of husbands towards their wives in 1 Peter 3:7:
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
The instruction in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives is more literally in the same way live with your wives according to knowledge. The NET reads, treat your wives with consideration. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8, the Greek word means “knowledge,” in the sense of a special kind of comprehension or intellectual grasp of something or information endowed by God as part of spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8:
To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
This knowledge the apostle referenced in 1 Corinthians 13 is one that results from the gift of prophecy as implied by the fact he associates it with revelation or prophecy when he argues that prophecy is more beneficial than speaking in tongues without an interpreter in 1 Corinthians 14:6:
Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?
The special knowledge that the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:8 may be a result of the gift of prophecy since knowledge is associated with prophecy as implied in what the apostle asserted as he referenced knowledge to OT prophets in Romans 16:25–26:
25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—
The verbal phrase of Romans 16:26 made known through the prophetic writings indicates knowledge that the prophets received as a result of the gift of prophecy. In any event, the “knowledge” used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:8 is not merely “the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning” but the special comprehension or grasp of something that is given by God to an individual that may be associated with prophecy.
The temporary nature of this knowledge is conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 it will pass away. The expression “pass away” is translated from the same Greek word (katargeō) we previously indicated has several meanings, but we indicated it has the meaning “to end” when it is applied to prophecies in the verse we are considering. It is the same meaning “to end” that is used in our passage of study with respect to the special knowledge the apostle mentioned. In other words, this special knowledge and not any other kind of knowledge will end.
We have considered the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:8 in relationship to love and spiritual gifts mentioned in the verse but there are four observations we should make. A first observation is that before each of the three mentioned or implied spiritual gifts, Apostle Paul used a Greek particle (eite) that literally means “if” as reflected in some of our English versions. I mean that we have three phrases in the Greek with the word “if.” In other words, we have literal phrases, if prophecies, if tongues, and if knowledge. The use of the Greek particle that literal means “if” does not mean that the apostle doubts the existence of the three spiritual gifts mentioned. If anything, the apostle assumes their reality or their existence in the church of Corinth. For example, it is because he assumed the reality of speaking in tongues that when he finished his treatment of gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues he gave the instruction recorded in 1 Corinthians 14:39:
Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Similarly, it is because he assumed the reality of prophecy that he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:20:
do not treat prophecies with contempt.
That aside, some of our English versions captured this fact that the apostle assumed the existence of the spiritual gifts he mentioned as he continued with his teaching of the permanency of love in comparison to the temporariness of the spiritual gifts mentioned. One way some of our English versions captured this reality is the use of the phrase “as for” as we find in the ESV, the NRSV, among others.” Others, such as the NCV and the TEV, simply used the expression “there are” to convey the reality of the existence of the spiritual gifts in question. Of course, the translators of the NIV conveyed the same with their use of the expression where there are. The point we are emphasizing is that the use of “if” in some English versions should not be taken to mean that the apostle doubts the existence of prophecies or tongues in the local church in Corinth or any other local church for that matter.
A second observation is that the three spiritual gifts in the mind of the apostle as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:8 should be recognized as representative of all the spiritual gifts the apostle had mentioned in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians, specifically in 1 Corinthians 12:8–11:
8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
If the three mentioned spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 13:8 are temporary in nature so does each of the spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8–11and more. I am saying that we cannot argue that only the three spiritual gifts or ones related to them such as gifts associated with miracles are to be considered temporary. There are other gifts such as the gift of teaching that should also be considered temporary as far the functioning of the church is concerned. Of course, a person may argue that if the apostle meant that other spiritual gifts necessary for the functioning of the church are temporary, he should have also listed them here. That sounds reasonable except that such listing would be cumbersome and distract from the apostle’s focus on the permanency of love. Furthermore, the apostle in the partial list he gave in the twelfth chapter, he made the point that the church has several gifted individuals as we read in 1 Corinthians 12:28–30:
28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Hence it is not necessary for the apostle to list all of the spiritual gifts to make his point about the permanency of love over other spiritual gifts. The more important question is really why the apostle should have mentioned only these three gifts. The simplest answer is that it is because these three gifts and their associated activities are the ones that caused more problem for the Corinthians than the rest of spiritual gifts. There are those who boasted of special knowledge they possess that warranted what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:1–3:
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.
Prophecy was problematic also as we may deduce from the space the apostle devoted to dealing with prophecy in the fourteenth chapter. The same deduction could be made about the gift of speaking in tongues because the apostle kept bringing it up, especially as he communicated the superiority of prophecy over speaking in tongues, where there is no interpreter of tongues, as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:4–5:
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
A third observation is that the apostle emphasized that he was more concerned about the gift of speaking in tongues as he wrote the section of 1 Corinthians 13 that we are considering. This observation is only possible to an individual that studies verse 8 in the Greek. A person who reads the verse in the English may deduce that the apostle used two different Greek verbs in verse 8 if he compared different English versions that are often literal in their translation. Take for example, the NASB used the expression “done away” twice while the ESV used the expression “pass away” twice in verse 8 in relation to the words “prophecy” and “knowledge.” Both used the word “cease” as it relates to “tongues” so one may get the idea that there are two different Greek words used. Indeed, the apostle used two different Greek words as we have already noted that in the final analysis have similar meaning. We have already noted that one of the Greek words used means “to end” or “to stop.” There is no difference in the English that is perceivable between “to cease” and “to stop.” A person who uses the English versions in the study of this verse could possibly recognize that there must be a reason the apostle did not use the same Greek word for describing the temporary nature of the three gifts he mentioned but would not be able to provide an adequate reason for such a use. However, a careful Greek student of the NT would note that the apostle used a passive voice for the Greek word that he used twice while he used the middle voice for the Greek word associated with tongues. The question would then be to understand why the apostle used the middle voice. Scholars are of divided opinion as to the reason. Some contend that the middle rather than passive voice implies the tongues will come to an end on their own before the time when prophecies and knowledge will cease. Others reject this interpretation but advances an interpretation that implies that the apostle is being stylistic in both the second verb and its Greek form that he used. It seems to me that both interpretations probably missed the apostle’s point. Generally, when a middle voice is used in the Greek, the idea is that the subject acts in such a way to benefit self while in the passive someone acts on the subject. This understanding is not useful here because it is God that will ultimately act in such a way to end the spiritual gifts mentioned. However, according to the Greek Grammar of AT Robertson (p.408) the only difference between the active and middle voices is that the middle calls especial attention to the subject. Thus, when the apostle used the middle in the verb associated with tongues, his intention was to emphasize or to bring special attention to the gift of tongues probably because it is one spiritual gift that has caused so much problem in the church in Corinth. He wanted to convey that it is a temporary gift that could not be compared to love that is permanent in its nature.
A fourth observation is 1 Corinthians 13:8 does not prove that speaking in tongue has ceased. In fact, the passage cannot be used to convincingly support the idea of cessation of spiritual gifts. We will say more when we get to verse 10 that makes it difficult to use our passage to support the cessation view of spiritual gifts.
In any case, a first reason for the supremacy of love over the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge is that it will never end while these other spiritual gifts will come to an end as far as their usefulness to the church of Christ. Love will certainly remain supreme in the family of God in the eternal state.
11/11//22