Another Look at 1 Corinthians 13

This is the love passage. The part of the Bible often read at weddings. This passage about love has been used in the context of romantic love.
But, Paul was addressing a church community about how to get along with each other. He didn’t write this for a couple getting married, though it would be some good advice for that occasion too.

No, Paul had written this letter known as 1 Corinthians to a group of Christians that were really having trouble getting along with each other. They were having problems with sexual immorality, lawsuits among members, arguments over theology and pastoral leadership, and disputes over how to conduct worship services and communion, and trouble with the rich looking down on the poor. So, in the Corinthian church there was a real need for some teaching to bring things more into line with the way of God’s peace and love in Jesus.

Paul writes: “I will show you a still more excellent way (to get along with each other).” And, that way is love.

. . . but if I have not love, then I am nothing. It is important to note what Greek word Paul uses for love. And, that word is Agape. You see, in Greek, they have a word for friendship love, romantic love, and then this other kind of love that seems the foundation of all love: Agape.

And, it is not the word for romantic love, eros that Paul uses here. It is not the word for friendship love, philos, that Paul uses here. It is the word, Agape, which is so often used in the New Testament to speak of the Love of God.

Romantic love has a lot to do with the one you love, and your attraction to the one you love. It is force that draws you and holds you.

The love between friends, is a different kind of love than romantic, but it does have to do with an attraction of a less intense sort to the friend. It has to do with really liking and being liked, really respecting and being respected.

But, Agape, this kind of love, is not restricted to friends or lovers, but has to do with what’s inside of you. It is a condition of the soul that allows you to “love” stranger or friend, lover or even enemy. It is a condition of the soul which is of God, and formed by the grace of God in your soul. Agape. This is the love Paul speaks of.

And, listen to how he describes it. “Love is patient and kind. It is not boastful or irritable or arrogant or rude or proud. It does not seek its own way, but the way of the other. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Remember, he is telling this to church people who are fighting with each other about what is moral, about what is true, about which way to worship, about who’s the best preacher, about who ought to speak out in services. And, they are fighting with each other about who owes who money, etc, and there are threats of lawsuits. Those who have a lot are not showing much concern for those who don't.

So, it seems to me that Paul is talking about love to help these people think differently and act differently towards those they don’t love. In fact, he is counseling them to show love towards those they don’t even like.

And, Paul clearly puts the emphasis on inner change. That is, this love he is talking about is a condition and a reality of our souls. My neighbor does not have to change before I can love him. Demanding that others change and conform to your wishes is a way of being arrogant, irritable, rude and conceited. Looking for change within yourself takes the pressure off of others. Like the church sign I saw said: “Lord, I’ve got a problem – me.”

The love between friends and couples is an attraction. In some ways it is the experience of being drawn to someone. In that sense it is somewhat passive. You don’t sit down and intentionally decide very often who will be your friend or your mate. It happens.

But, this love that Paul talks about here seems more deliberate, more intentional, more a matter of the will at the start. Patience, seeing things from the perspective of the other, encouragement of another, endurance. These things are matters of the will. This Agape love is fired by the experience of grace, but it is characterized by a strong will and making some real decisions on how to act towards others.

If you carry yourself in such a way that it irritates me, I need to look inward. Because that irritation is first of all my responsibility to handle. Once I get that log out of my eye, then I can turn and help you get the speck out of your eye. Am I impatient, ill-tempered, rude towards people? If so, I need to look inward, into my own soul first, for I am responsible for the condition of my soul.
That is a primary responsibility. To look within and seek God’s help and open our souls to the coming of God’s healing and redeeming grace and wisdom. And, that’s how this love starts. That’s how this love of God in our hearts is received,discovered and renewed.

And, this divine love poured out through the Spirit can take up residence in your soul. There is a holy place within you in which the Spirit of Christ can dwell. When that Spirit has room in you, it awakens your spirit to true life and to love.
This love is strong. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. As for prophecies, they shall fail; as for knowledge, it will pass away. Three things remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

Love is a condition of the heart and soul and mind; it is internal and it is always reaching out, going out to meet others. That’s what it means to be a loving person. It means that your heart is renewed by God’s peace and kindness and that your heart goes out towards others showing understanding and peace and concern.
I am working on this sermon very early in the morning. I will be going to work in around three hours. I will get some phone calls pretty soon after I get to work. Then, I will decide what cases I am going to work on, which people I will call up, what research I’ll do, and in the middle of that, I will get some more calls from people wanting to know something about their case. And, I will also be interacting with my co-workers at the Public Defender’s Office. And, I will speak with a person or two in church by phone, and probably communicate by email with at least two or three people in church. I will either talk to or email the architect and contractor.

All in all, I will have the chance to encounter and deal with a number of people and consider a number of people as I decide what to do today.
And, I wonder right now: how will I do? How is the condition of my soul as I approach this day? Paul would show me a better way to do things. A way he calls love.

It is not arrogant or boastful or rude. It is patient and kind. It hopes for the best for others. It endures.

Is that spirit of love in me? Is that the condition of my heart? O, Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high. O, Lord, help us to be children of quietness and heirs of peace. O, Lord, fill my anxiety with your peace; replace my criticism with your acceptance; replace my anger with your love; replace my hurry and worry with your patience and trust; replace, O Lord, my heart with your heart, so that I may dwell in your presence, and under the guidance of your living Spirit. Make my heart one with your heart; my desires one with your desires; my love one with your love.

Break down every wall within me, every barrier within me that keeps me from loving my neighbor as myself.

Amen.