Reading: 1 Corinthians 13-14, Psalm 147

Here we go. From Paul talking about head coverings and haircuts to one of the most famous writings on love in human history. Verses 4 through 6 are often used as the definition of love on cheerful and heartfelt knick knacks given for weddings or anniversaries. It’s not a bad use of Paul’s words, but I do think it reduces their value to just being nice to other people. I think Paul has a lot more to say here than that.

Let’s remember where we’ve been. Paul has called out the Corinthians for their libertine activities in regards to sex, food, and money. He has told them to stop worrying about getting their rights as free people and to look back at their example: Jesus. Paul himself is attempting to set a Christ-like example for them, but ultimately says only to imitate him in the ways he imitates Jesus.

Okay, so assume that the Corinthians get everything Paul is saying, and decide to do away with their selfish takes on sex, food, and money. They come together as a church body with the intent to help one another. They all have ideas about how to do that. One starts telling them his idea. So does everyone else. Someone thinks they should all sing together. Another says it is time to pray. Someone starts speaking a language no one else knows. It is chaos. Paul anticipates this problem as he leads up to chapter 13. He knows that even people who are trying to be helpful are going to cause chaos if they all do it their own way. He lets them all know that he gets it: not everyone has the same gifting. People have different strengths and weaknesses. That is real and well and good, but it is not enough for this new Kingdom that they have sworn allegiance to. There is a more excellent way.

That was is love. Paul starts off by saying that love is more important than all the miraculous gifting in the world. Prophecy, tongues, understands, faith that moves mountains, generosity and sacrifice- it all means nothing without love. Then he defines, not love itself, but its outcomes. Patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness- these are what a person with love give out. They are not rude, envious, arrogant. They do not insist on doing their thing to the exclusion of others. They rejoice in truth, not wickedness.

So what is this thing Paul is calling love. You are probably aware that the word “love” has meant a wide variety of things in different cultures throughout human history. Even in my lifetime I sometimes think the word’s meaning has shifted significantly. When I was younger, I think love still carried an element of loyalty in it that popular culture has largely dropped. Now we use it more for affection and connection, and it bears basically no meaning of obligation. To be fair this shift had been going on for decades before I was born, but I’m old enough now to see how it has accelerated. Anyway, that is just dealing with the English word “love” and how we use it over a period of 40 years or so. Paul was writing in the Greco-Roman context from a Jewish background. There are multiple books to be written, and that have been written, on what all that meant. I don’t think trying to dig all that out right now will be helpful.

Instead, I’m going to cut to the chase: I think Paul is getting at the idea of a new heart. He doesn’t use the words here, but it seems clear that he is talking about a change in the fundamental motivations of the human person. He is telling the Corinthians that a human can be the most impressive and pious person ever, but without a new heart, they are nothing. Because man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. He pulls together the whole previous twelves chapters of the letter here as he says: pursue love. Pursue the new heart ahead of even the greatest and most impressive gifts of God. When you do, they all find their proper place. They build up others. They bear witness to the truth of the gospel. When as unbeliever sees a person with a new heart prophesying, they are convicted rather than crushed or offended. When a person with a new heart speaks in foreign tongues, it is for the good of the community, not for their own self aggrandizement. When a community of people with new hearts come together, they are a community that deals with all matters together. They speak such that they can be heart. They fall silent when they should. They share the stage. God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Paul circles back to liberty with his comment on women speaking in the gatherings. I am pretty egalitarian, and I don’t think what Paul is saying on the surface here is to be universally applied, but I do think the greater lesson is of great importance: don’t let your desires trump the good of the community. Women speaking in public worship would have been disruptive. It was a battle not to be fought then and there. I think the greater witness of Scripture is to the equality and power of the Spirit to use all people- male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free- but to place the right to do so above the witness of the gospel is not evidence of a new heart.