1 Corinthians 13:3

And if. bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if. give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

'bestow all my goods to feed the poor' -'Even if. give away all that. have to feed the hungry.' (Beck)

'all' -the highest degree of benevolence. For after you have given all 'your goods', you have nothing left to give (you can't give something to the poor that doesn't belong to you.) 'The verb is aorist; hence, the idea is that of one great act of benevolence in which. man sells everything he owns to assist the ones in need.' (Willis p. 451)

'Those who make sacrifices to benefit others without love, must have some hidden selfish recompense that they count upon.' (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 898)

Points to Note:

1. People can sacrifice without love. They can fanatically give without love! Remember Ananias and Sapphira. (Acts 5:1)

2. Loveless giving does exist.

'There is nothing in this world more humiliating than this so-called charity without love. To give as. grim duty, to give with. certain contempt, to stand on one's own little eminence and to throw scraps of charity as to. dog..' (Barclay p. 132)

In. sense we could say, 'charity is no substitute for charity (love).'

3. If the "good deeds" that Christians do (without love), are vain in the sight of God. Then there should be no problem in realizing that the "good deeds" performed by religious people outside of Christ, don't count either. (Matthew 15:9; 2 John 1:9)

'and if. give my body to be burned' -'death at the stake might be faced in mere fanaticism, in ambition for. reputed sainthood, in stubbornness, or in pride.' (Erdman p. 132)

'If the motive which makes. man even give his life for Christ is the motive of pride and self-display and self-glory, then even martyrdom becomes valueless. It is not cynical to remember that many. deed which looks sacrificial has been the product of pride and not of devotion and of love....There is hardly any passage in scripture which demands such self-examination from the good man as this passage does.' (Barclay p. 132)

'it profiteth me nothing' -'I am not in the least benefited.' (Ber), i.e. benefited spiritually, in the sight of God. 'Lit.,. am helped nothing.' (Robertson p. 177)

Points to Note:

1. Nothing can avail in the sight of God without the attitude that Paul will describe in verses 4-8.

2. Dying for Christ, didn't necessarily mean that you were right with God.

'Martyrdom for the sake of ambition was. fact of early occurrence in the Church, if not in Paul's day...some of the confessors who were puffed up with vanity and pride, and seemed to think that the blood of martyrdom would avail them to wash away the stains of flagrant and even recent immoralities..' (Vincent pp. 263-264)

'Willingness to fight and die for Christianity will not take the place of loving obedience to Christ.' (McGarvey p. 129)

3. Often members of the Church of Christ are hit with the argument that such and such. person was. good person, and they did so much for God or their fellowman..surely they must be saved, even though they never were baptized. But the same argument could be used for the religious person that doesn't serve God out of love. It wasn't Paul's fault that the Corinthians weren't exercising the gifts in an unloving manner and he didn't feel guilty for not justifying them. Neither should we feel guilty nor should we attempt to justify the religious person that refuses to be baptized.

4. The same truth, applies to the use of our talents. No talent can be properly used by an unloving person.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LOVE:

'It has been noted by numerous writers how Paul describes love with the church of Corinth and its shortcomings as. background. Where they (we) are impatient and hurtful, love is longsuffering and kind. Where they (we) are wickedly jealous, boastful and arrogant, love is happy for others, self-effacing and humble. Where they..are rude, selfish and irritable, love is courteous, unselfish and emotionally in control. Where they..are CPA's of wrongs they suffer, love dismisses injuries from the mind. Where they..smile at wickedness and are resentful when chastened, love is delighted with truth and hurt at wickedness. Where they..openly scorn another's weakness, love covers it....Where they..are suspicious, disgruntled and quick to flare up, love trusts, continues to optimistically look forward and bears with. grin what comes its way.' [Note:. McGuiggan pp. 174-175]

Before we move on, Phillips rendering of these verses is worth quoting:

'This love of which. speak is slow to lose patience--it looks for. way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil nor gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of it's hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.'

We need to remember, that these verses were not primarily penned for the relationship between husbands and wives (though it certainly applies). Rather this is the type of love that is supposed to be exercised between Christians.