XIII. (1) THOUGH I SPEAK... — The more excellent way is “Love.” Without it all moral and intellectual gifts are valueless. If there be love — the love of God, and the love of our brethren — in our hearts, all will be well. This hymn of praise in honour of love is remarkable. (1) as coming from St.... [ Continue Reading ]
PROPHECY. — The Apostle valued the gift of prophecy — _i.e.,_ preaching — more highly than the gift of tongues, which stood first in Corinthian estimation. He therefore naturally selects it as coming into the same condemnation, if unaccompanied by love. All the secrets of God’s providence and comple... [ Continue Reading ]
BESTOW ALL MY GOODS. — The Greek word literally means to feed others by giving them morsels of food, and so we have the thought of a charity extensive in its diffusion, as well as complete in its self-sacrifice. The whole of the bestower’s property given in charity, and so divided as to reach the la... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARITY SUFFERETH LONG. — Better, _Love is long-suffering._ Here follows a description of love. Descriptions of positive characteristics and negations of evil qualities are now employed by the Apostle in what he would have us believe to be his impossible task of adequately describing true love.... [ Continue Reading ]
THINKETH NO EVIL. — That is, does not dwell upon the evil done to her.... [ Continue Reading ]
REJOICETH NOT IN INIQUITY. — The attitude of our mind towards sin is a great test of the truth of our religious feeling.... [ Continue Reading ]
BEARETH ALL THINGS. — The full thought of the original here is that love silently endures whatever it has to suffer.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARITY NEVER FAILETH. — From the positive and negative qualities of love described and enumerated in the preceding passage, the Apostle now turns to contrast the imperishable character of love and other graces with the ephemeral nature of gifts. The Corinthians held an exaggerated estimate of the v... [ Continue Reading ]
WE KNOW IN PART. — Knowledge and preaching are incomplete; therefore, when this dispensation ends, and the complete dispensation is brought in, these imperfect gifts shall cease. Gifts are but the implements of the divine husbandry; graces are the seeds themselves. When the great harvest-time comes,... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH IS PERFECT. — This verse shows, by the emphatic “then,” that the time when the gifts shall cease is the end of this dispensation. The imperfect shall not cease until the perfect is brought in. (See Ephesians 4:11.)... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I WAS A CHILD. — The natural childhood and manhood of this life are analogous to the spiritual childhood of this life and the spiritual manhood of the life to come. I UNDERSTOOD AS A CHILD, I THOUGHT AS A CHILD. — The first word expresses mere simple apprehension, the second word implies activ... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR NOW — _i.e.,_ in this earthly life, the “for” connecting the previous statement with that which it illustrates. THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY. — Better, _through a mirror in a dark saying._ The illustration here is from a mirror when the image appears far behind the mirror itself. If we remember the i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW ABIDETH... — Better, _Thus there abide_... The “now” is not here temporal, but logical. It is not “now” (_i.e.,_ this present life) contrasted with the future, but it is the conclusion of the whole argument. From all that has been urged in the previous verses it follows that these three grac... [ Continue Reading ]