The More Excellent Way - Part 1: 1 Cor 13:1-3

Richard C. Church

In these opening verses of Chapter 13, the Apostle Paul begins to describe "a more excellent way" of charity. The last chapter ended by telling the Corinthians that they should desire the best gifts of prophecy and teaching, but that Paul was going to show them an altogether "more excellent way" than the gifts. In this chapter, he opens by showing why "charity" is more excellent than the gifts.

"Charity" is a translation of the Greek word "agape", often translated as love. It is often said that there is no way to accurately translate this word into English because of the imprecision of our language. Whereas we have the word "love" which can have many meanings, agape is a specific kind of love. It is often used in the Bible to express the love that God has for man:

John 15:9 As the Father hath loved (Gr. agapao) me, so have I loved (Gr. agapao) you: continue ye in my love (Gr. agape).

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love (Gr. agape) toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Agape is a "graceful" love, in that it is unconditional. When Christ did for sinners, He did not die for only those who were worthy, because no such man existed (Rom 3:10-12). Rather, Christ died for all sinners without exception. Agape loves the child molester in prison and the drunken bum on the street as well as the university professor, housewife or preacher. It is a love that is not based on circumstances.

Agape differs from love of family, which is expressed by the word phileo in the Greek. Although parents' love of their own children should be unconditional in a certain sense, it is conditional upon them actually being their children. They love their children in a way that they don't love those who are not their children. Likewise, God has a certain love for those who are His children by faith that He does not have for the unbeliever. But He also loves the unbeliever with agape love and desires that he would become one of His children.

God Shows His Love Through Believers

As believers, it is our job to demonstrate this agape love to the world around us. In fact, the word agape is used much more often in the Bible to describe the love that believers should have than it is to describe God's love for the world. The word agape appears 116 times in 106 verses in the New Testament. Of these, only 36 verses (34%) are about the love of God and the remainder are about God's love being demonstrated through believers.

A quick scan of your concordance will show that agape love is emphasized in the Pauline Epistles. 71 of the verses that mention agape (or 67%) are found in Paul's epistles. The word is only used 8 times in the four gospels and 27 times in the Hebrew Christian epistles (Heb-Rev). The cause of this disparity is that agape is closely associated with grace and it was to the Apostle Paul that the dispensation of grace was committed. In the four gospels, the dispensation of grace had not yet been revealed. In the Hebrew Christian epistles, although salvation by grace through the shed blood of Christ had been made clear, these saints were still under the law. Although the responsibility to show agape is not unique to the dispensation of grace, it is certainly emphasized more in this dispensation than any other. Grace places a greater responsibility on the believer to show God's love through their day-to-day activities.

While no English word may contain all of the meaning of the Greek word agape, both "love" and "charity" can be said to be accurate translations of the word. Among the various dictionary definitions of the word "love", we find:

Benevolence; good will
Webster's 1828 Dictionary

Affectionate concern for the well-being of others
Dictionary.com Unabridged

And for charity, we find:

In a general sense, love, benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary

Benevolence or generosity toward others or toward humanity.
American Heritage Dictionary

The word "charity" is especially fitting as a translation of the word agape, because of the close connection between agape and grace. In fact, the word "charity" actually comes from the Greek word charis, or grace. Unfortunately, the word "charity" has come to mean helping the poor, which used to be referred to as "almsgiving". This certainly can be an act of agape but, as we will see in the passage, is not always so. In the 1800's, the primary meaning of charity was the one given above from the Webster's 1828. Almsgiving was a less common meaning. Today, almsgiving has become the primary meaning. In fact, the word "charity" now often has a negative connotation. Nobody wants to be described as a "charity case."

Charity and the Gifts

In the previous chapter, Paul listed many of the spiritual gifts which were in effect at the time. Among these were tongues, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, giving, etc. Now He will use these gifts to demonstrate why they are pointless without charity. Remember that one of the purposes of the gifts was to bring the body of Christ to a point of maturity where they would no longer need them.

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love (Gr. agape), may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love (Gr. agape).

You see from these verses that the end goal of the gifts was for the body to be able to edify itself, or build itself up, with agape love. If the gifts were being practiced without charity, then there was no point to the gifts. As Paul discusses each gift, he uses hyperbole, or exaggeration, to emphasize the point. He points out that even if he himself had the ultimate measure of each gift, but not charity, the gift would be pointless.

"Tongues of Men and of Angels"

He begins with the gift of tongues. Due to the amount of time that Paul spends talking about this gift in the book of 1 Corinthians, it can be safely concluded that much importance was placed on speaking in tongues at Corinth. And much abuse of the gift had occurred, as well. It must be understood that a "tongue" is simply a language.

The first place the word "tongue" is used in the Bible is in Genesis 10:5:

"By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations."

This is talking about what happened after the tower of Babel when God confounded the languages. The Gentile nations were divided into different lands after their own "tongues."

We should expect no other meaning from this when the Bible speaks about the "gift of tongues." The gift of tongues is a gift that allows the recipient to speak in other languages. Nowhere in the Bible are tongues described as being a special prayer language.

No doubt Paul's words here were a stinging rebuke to many of the tongues-talkers at Corinth. Paul says that even if he were able to speak in every human language, as well as the languages of angels, if it wasn't accompanied by charity it was empty sound with no meaning. The brass that is mentioned here is not a trumpet on which a melody can be played, but a large brass gong that reverberates when it is struck. All it can do is make noise, but can't give any meaning to the sound. Shakespeare's Macbeth, in a moment of melancholy, said that life was "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Paul uses the same imagery here to describe the practice of the gifts without charity.

But tongues was one of the lesser gifts. It was listed dead last in the list in verse 28 of the previous chapter. What about the best gifts, like prophecy? He says that even if he had an ultimate measure of the gifts of prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, and working of miracles, if he did not have the requisite charity, he would be nothing. No doubt he might have great respect in the church, and even be able to impress an audience, but ultimately it would be worthless.

Faith to Move Mountains

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus told the disciples:

"[V]erily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

They had come to Christ at this point because of their inability to cast a devil out of a young boy. Christ told them that it was due to their lack of faith, but He promised them that with only a little faith they could do miraculous things. Notice that Christ did not say that they would need a great amount of faith. He said they would need faith "as a grain of mustard seed" which Mark 4:31 says is "less than all the seeds." But even here, the exercise of this miraculous power would be meaningless without charity.

The Mysteries of God

Note the use of the word "mysteries" in verse 2. The mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1), also referred to collectively as "the mystery," are those aspects of God's eternal purpose which He promised in Christ before the world began (1 Cor 2:7-8) but did not make known until after He raised up Paul to be the apostle of the Gentiles (Eph 3:1-9). At the time that Paul was writing 1 Corinthians, only part of the mystery had been revealed to him, but he says that even if all of it had been revealed but was without charity, his revelation would mean nothing.

True Charity

In verse 3, Paul says that even giving doesn't profit if not done out of charity. Usually, when we think of charity, we think of giving to the poor. And yet here it is possible for someone to give everything they have to the poor, but not have charity. In fact, most of what passes for charity today is not charity at all.

The late economist Milton Friedman was fond of saying that there are four ways to spend money.

1) You can spend your own money on yourself.
2) You can spend your own money on others.
3) You can spend someone else's money on yourself.
4) Or you can spend someone else's money on others.

Of these, the only one that can possibly be done out of charity is #2, spending your own money on others. Today it is not uncommon for people to view government welfare, grants and government-supported faith-based initiatives as charity, but in reality these consist of spending someone else's money on others. The people who earned the money have no choice in how it is spent. And it certainly doesn't show any charity on the part of the government to take by force from some in order to give to others.

However, even spending your own money on others does not necessarily constitute charity. People give to others for a variety of reasons. Some do it for tax purposes. Others give because of the reputation that it earns for them. Still others just do it for the good feeling that it gives them. None of these is true charity. True charity is given regardless of the expectation of something in return. How many people would give if they knew that they would get absolutely nothing back? Very few, but these would be the ones showing true charity.

It is always difficult to determine people's motives. Sometimes the best way to see if something is truly charity is to look at the results. One of the principles of true charity is found at the end of 1 Cor 8:1, "Charity edifieth." The result of true charity is that the recipient is built up. They aren't just given a handout which will meet their needs for a short period, but they actually become better people by having received the charity. This is how God's grace works and how true charity works.

"Though I Give My Body To Be Burned"

At the time that Paul was writing this letter, there was intense persecution against the church. Some were even being fed to animals in the coliseums and others were being burned to death. Nero, the Roman emperor who eventually beheaded Paul, blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome and burned them in return. It is said that he had the Christians tied to stakes and used their burning bodies to light his garden in the evenings.

Despite this persecution, the ranks of Christians were growing. In fact, many of the Roman soldiers assigned to murder these believers late became Christians themselves. What impressed them about the Christians was not their courage. Any soldier knows how to face death courageously. What impressed them was the charity of these believers: they actually loved the very men who were abusing them and putting them to death. The persecution could have brought the Christians to hate the Romans and withhold the gospel from them, and Christianity would have been quickly destroyed. Instead, the love of God shined out through these humble believers even in their deaths.

We so often lose focus of the things that are really important. We become like the Corinthians and focus on who is doing what, or who has what abilities. Or we work to make sure that others give us due credit for our accomplishments and abilities. Remember that Paul is still teaching them how to operate as a body, and the body only operates correctly when it edifies "itself in love." The most amazing miracles and displays of power are ultimately meaningless without charity. That also means that activities which might otherwise be insignificant, when done with charity become monumental.