4.4

The Hymn to Love

1 CORINTHIANS 12:31–14:1

IN MANY CHURCHES THE “love chapter” is read only at weddings. Naturally, it is fully appropriate for wedding ceremonies and is a matchless guide for Christian marriage, but Paul clearly intended this hymn to love [see fig. 4.4(1)] to be a model for all of life. In this fourth essay (chapters 11–14) he places a discussion of love at the center of six homilies that focus on Christian worship. He thereby commends love as a source of healing for the various problems set out in the essay.1 Before savoring the delights of the text, a brief introduction may be helpful.

The verb Paul uses for love is agapao. The Greek language of his day had two primary words for love. The first was eros, which had to do with passionate love, either religious or sexual. The second was phileo, which was used to describe love between friends and the kind of love that is shared in a healthy family. But neither of these words was adequate for what Paul and the other writers of the New Testament wanted to describe. Moving to a higher level of love they wanted and selected a new word, the term agapao.

In the Greek Old Testament agape, as a noun, appears only in the Song of Songs. It is rare in classical Greek, and when used it has to do with “inclining toward” something. Paul and his friends selected this word that had no clear footprint in the Greek language, and filled it with new meaning. Five things can be said about agape as it appears in the New Testament generally and in this text in particular.

1.

12:31And continue in zeal for the highest spiritual gifts [Charismata].

    And in addition, I will give directions for a journey over a mountain pass [huperbolen hodon].


2.

13:1If I speak in the tongues of men

LOVE AND

  and of angels,

Tongues

  but have not love,

Prophecy

  I am banging brass or a clanging cymbal.

Knowledge

3.

2And if I have prophetic powers

and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,


4.

and if I have all faith

LOVE AND THE

so as to remove mountains,

Spiritual Gifts

but have not love,

I am nothing.

5.

3And if I dole out all my possessions,

LOVE AND

and if I surrender my body so that I may boast,

Faith

but have not love,

Hope

I gain nothing.


6.

4Love is patient.

LOVE DEFINED

LOVE AND

Kind is love:

Positively

Knowledge

??

7.

not jealous,

??

not boastful,

5not arrogant,

not rude,

8.

not seeking what is for itself,

LOVE DEFINED

9.

not quick to anger,

Negatively

not recording wrongs,2

6not rejoicing in unrighteousness

but rejoicing in community when truth prevails,

LOVE AND

10.

7covers all, believes all,

LOVE DEFINED

Faith

 hopes all, patiently endures all.

Positively

Hope


11.

8Love never falls.

LOVE AND

 As for prophecy, it will be discarded;

Prophecy

 as for tongues, they will cease;

Tongues

 as for knowledge, it will be discarded.

Knowledge

(- Three Discarded)

12.

9For our knowledge is imperfect

and our prophecy is imperfect.

- Imperfect

10But when the perfect comes,

+ Perfect

the imperfect will be discarded.

13.

11When I was a child,

PARABLE

I spoke like a child,

LOVE AND THE

Child and

I thought like a child,

Spiritual Gifts

Man

I reasoned like a child.

(Maturation

When I became a man

and Discard)

I discarded my childish ways.

14.

12For now we see in a mirror dimly,

- Imperfect

then face to face.

+ Perfect

Now my knowledge is imperfect,

then I shall know fully as I am fully known.

15.

13And thus there abides

LOVE AND:

faith, hope and love,

Faith

these three;

Hope

 

but the highest of these is love.

(+ Three Abide)

 


16.

14:1 Run after love

ZEAL FOR THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS (Strive for Love)

  and continue in zeal for the spiritual gifts (pneumatika)

Figure 4.4(1). The hymn to love (1 Cor 12:31–14:1)

First, it is universal. This is a love that reaches out to everyone. Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 is a primary example. Within this form of love there is “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). Even the enemy is to be loved (Mt 5:44). The German Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer discusses this latter text and writes, “By our enemies Jesus means those who are quite intractable and utterly unresponsive to our love, who forgive us nothing when we forgive them all, who requite our love with hatred and our service with derision.”3

Bonhoeffer’s point is that the enemy is not the person who is softened by love and becomes a friend. Instead he or she is the person who refuses the offered love and remains stubbornly opposed to the one extending the love.

Second, agape (love) is the new “royal law,” which directs all believers to love God and one’s neighbor. As early as 7:19 Paul wrote that circumcision was nothing, and what mattered was “keeping the commandments of God.” Certainly at the top of that mysterious list was the commandment to love. In 9:21 Paul referred to “the law of Christ.” At the end of this essay, in 14:37, he urges his readers to accept the “commandment of the Lord.” That commandment is to love God and one other. All of these references look to the “royal law” of love.

Third, the model for this love is the life of Christ. They are to love one another, “as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).

Fourth, as shown in this hymn, love is the indispensable ingredient for each of the gifts. Without love none of them is of any value. At the same time, by the end of the hymn, love stands on its own and becomes the highest of all the gifts. The Corinthians had many gifts (1:7), but they were critically lacking in love. That omission left every other gift deeply flawed.

Fifth, the source of this love is the indwelling Spirit of God that makes possible the flow of the love of Christ into the life of the believer. Without that Spirit, this agape love is impossible. “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). We love God and then our neighbor.

With these general characteristics in mind the interpreter must first decide where the hymn opens and where it closes. This cannot be determined without observing the “wheels within wheels,” which come to a climax in this homily.

THE RHETORIC

The outer wheel is the entire essay. The homily on love appears in the center of an essay (chaps. 11–14) composed of seven sections. By way of review, these are:

1.

Men and Women Leading in Worship: Prophets and How They Dress (11:2-16)

2.

Order in Worship: Sacrament—The Lord’s Supper (11:17-34)

3.

Gifts and the Nature of the Body (12:1-30)

4.

The Hymn to Love (12:31–14:1)

5.

Spiritual Gifts and the Upbuilding of the Body (14:1-25)

6.

Order in Worship: Word—Prophets and Speakers in Tongues (14:26-33a)

7.

Women and Men Worshiping: No Chatting in Church (14:33b-36)

Within this larger seven-part prophetic rhetorical template the hymn to love participates in a second ring composition, which is as follows:

1.

The spiritual gifts (12:1-31)

2.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:1-3)

3.

Love defined (13:4-7)

4.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:8-13)

5.

The spiritual gifts (14:1-25)

This ring composition highlights the fact that the hymn to love (chap. 13) is integrally woven together with what precedes and with what follows. The spiritual gifts are the threads that do this weaving. Within this second ring is yet a third ring composed of seven distinct parts. Summarized, this is:

1.

Continue in zeal for the higher gifts and I will show the way (12:31)

2.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:1-3)

3.

Love defined positively (13:4a)

4.

Love defined negatively (13:4b-6)

5.

Love defined positively (13:7)

6.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:8-13)4

7.

Continue in zeal for the gifts and run after love (14:1)

These seven sections create yet another example of the prophetic rhetorical template. Paul’s definitions of love in 13:4-7 are the center of the center of the center of the essay.

COMMENTARY

Reflection on this homily must begin by examining its outer frame. The problem is that for a very long time 12:31 and 14:1 have been partially or entirely separated from chapter 13, and some reflection on the connections that tie those two verses to the hymn to love is essential.5 We begin with 12:31, a verse that raises some important questions. These include:

1. Do the two sentences in verse 12:31 form a single connected idea, or should they be divided? Some versions and commentators have divided them, placing the first sentence at the end of chapter 12 and the second at the beginning of chapter 13. These versions stretch from the Latin Vulgate to the RSV. Others see the two sentences as a unit. The fifth-century Syriac Peshitta reads, “But if you are searching for the greater gifts, I will show you a more excellent way.”6 Bishr ibn al-Sari endorsed this reading and translated 12:31 as, “If you are earnestly seeking the greatest gifts, then I will also guide you to the superior way.”7 Bishr then comments,

He [Paul] demonstrated here that they were wrangling, seeking the praise of men. He says, “If you desire the superior gifts, then why do you not prize that which is better and more beneficial and good for yourselves. It is this matter which I point out to you.” He means love.8

Both the original Arabic text and the comment by Bishr ibn al-Sari join the two phrases in 12:31 into a single unified sentence. Other early Arabic versions reinforce the connection between the two sentences in 12:31 by repeating the term more excellent in the translation. This results in some form of “If you desire the more excellent gifts, then I will show you a more excellent way” (italics added).9 Granted, this is an interpretive translation in that Paul uses two different words. At the same time, the two words are both related to height. The first of them urges the readers to be zealous for the higher gifts. The second points to the high road over a mountain pass. By uniting the two sentences Bishr Ibn al-Sari is emphasizing an aspect of the text that is indeed present in it. In modern times both the Jerusalem Bible and the French Segond Version (1962) do the same. I am convinced that they should be read together.

2. A second decision that needs to be made has to do with grammar. Do we read the verb zeloute as an imperative and translate it as, “Continue in zeal for the higher gifts”? Or should the verb be seen as an indicative and read, “you are zealous for the higher gifts, and in addition [eti]10 I will show you…” This latter option is reflected in the Syriac Peshitta, which translates “you are searching for” and in the tenth-century Sinai Arabic Gospels 310 that reads, “In that you have been zealous and envious for the greater gifts, I will show you the more excellent way.” The traditional reading of the text as an imperative appears to be the better option because two imperatives conclude the homily in the matching verse at the end (14:1).11

3. The third question has to do with placement. Should we see these two sentences exclusively as a conclusion to chapter 12? Or, as is common in this epistle, did Paul compose a hinge verse? Specifically, did he intend the reader to see 12:31 as the conclusion to chapter 12 and at the same time as an introduction to chapter 13? A similar hinge appears in 15:58 and joins chapter 15 to chapter 16. Seeing 12:31 as a hinge verse between the two chapters appears to be the best option because verse 31 does indeed conclude chapter 12 and at the same time it provides an important introduction to chapter 13.12 Accordingly 12:31 needs to be examined and compared to 14:1.

These two verses are tied together with a number of threads. First are the texts themselves. When placed together these two verses say,

1.

12:31And [de] continue in zeal for the higher spiritual gifts [kharismata].

 

    And in addition, I will give directions for a journey over a mountain pass.


16.

14:1Run after love,

 

    and continue in zeal for the spiritual gifts [pneumatika]

The traditional understanding of these two cameos is reflected in the RSV which reads,

1.

12:31But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

 

    And I will show you a still more excellent way.


16.

14:1Make love your aim,

 

    and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.

The understanding of the text that lies behind this translation is of great antiquity. The popular assumptions that have grown out of this reading are:

The Corinthians had been arguing and fighting over the spiritual gifts. Paul mentions “higher gifts” and then says, “I will show something still better—the way of love. Set aside the entire list of these troublesome spiritual gifts; all that really matters is the still more excellent way—the way of love.”

Supporting this view, in the Kittel article on huperbole, Gerhard Delling writes, “In an adjectival use [of υπερβολη] 1 C. 12:31b calls the mode of Christian life described in 13:1-7 one which ‘far surpasses’ (‘a much superior way’) the life controlled by charismata, 12:28-30.”13

But this view is flawed. The difficulty is that at the end of the hymn to love, Paul appears to reverse himself and tell his readers “continue in zeal for the spiritual gifts—especially that you may prophesy” (14:1). That is, on the one hand, in 12:31 Paul seems to tell his readers to set aside all these divisive gifts. On the other hand, in 14:1 he reintroduces spiritual gifts with a flair! This apparent disjointedness leads some to see “rough connectives” and even to suggest that the hymn to love is probably out of place. Should it not come at the end of chapter 14? In that way the two discussions on gifts (chaps. 12, 14) would be together. Paul would then be saying “Here are the spiritual gifts [chaps. 12, 14]. But I can point you to something far better than all of them: The way of love [chap. 13].” Are chapters 12-14 confused, or out of order, and what is the relationship between 12:31 and 14:1? What can be said?

1. Initially we observe that the word de opens cameo 1. This Greek particle translates the Hebrew wa which is a common connective. It can better be read as “and” rather than “but.” Paul is not offering a sharp contrast; instead he is presenting two lists of gifts. The first list, made up of “tongues, prophecy and knowledge” is a selection of important gifts that are needed by the church, and Christians should continue in zeal regarding them. The second list is composed of “the higher gifts” (faith, hope and love) which are more important than those noted in the first list. In the hymn to love Paul argues that both lists are significant, but the second list is permanent while the first is transitory. The verb zeloute as a present imperative (continue in zeal for) appears in each of the two verses under consideration (12:31 and 14:1). The word zealot comes from this verb. Paul’s readers are to be zealous in their engagement with each list even though the first will “pass away” while the second will “abide.” Noting the double use of the verb zeloute (continue in zeal for) encourages the reader to see 12:31 and 14:1 as the “bookends” that hold the hymn together.

2. A second thread that ties these two verses together is the fact that 12:31 refers to the kharismata (spiritual gifts) while 14:1 speaks of the pneumatika (spiritual gifts). The first emphasizes that all is because of grace (kharis). These gifts are not rewards for faithful service; they are gifts. The second focuses on the fact that they are not natural abilities or material possessions, but spiritual gifts. The two words form a complementary pair that also frames the hymn.

3. A more important consideration turns on the translation of the second sentence in 12:31b that has often been understood to mean “I will show you a more excellent way.” The word for “I will show you” means “I will describe a journey.” It does not explain the road but rather the journey on that road. What kind of a journey? Here the key phrase kath huperbolen hodon (along a huperbolen road) has usually been translated “a more excellent way.” But this translation has difficulties.

The word huperbolen produced the English word hyperbole, which like the Greek word is ethically neutral. In Greek, this word has to do with some form of excess, good or bad. It is a compound word made up of huper (over) and ballo (to throw). The root meaning has to do with “overshooting” and “throwing beyond.”14 Paul is the only New Testament author to use this word, and he does so (as a verb and as a noun) a total of twelve times. As a verb, Paul writes positively about “the transcendent power” (2 Cor 4:7), the “eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17) and the “abundance of revelation” (2 Cor 12:7). Negatively he uses this verb to refer to being “utterly crushed” (2 Cor 1:8) and being “sinful beyond measure” (Rom 7:13). As a noun (used as a kind of adjective) he writes positively about “immeasurable greatness” (Eph 1:19), “immeasurable riches of his grace” (Eph 2:7), “surpassing splendor” (2 Cor 3:10), “surpassing grace” (2 Cor 9:14) and “surpassing knowledge” (Eph 3:19). Negatively he remembers, “I violently tried to destroy [the church]” (Gal 1:13). In each of these cases something, positive or negative, is being intensified. But in the case of a “way,” you can start with “a crooked way,” add huperbole and have “a very crooked way.” Or, you can begin with “a straight way,” attach huperbole to the sentence and describe “an extremely straight way.” But you cannot make sense out of “an extremely way.” As noted, huperbole is morally neutral as is the word way. In summary, following Paul’s usage, grace is good and thus he can add huperbole to grace and speak of “abundant grace.” But how are we to understand an “extremely way” in 12:31?

Needing some kind of a positive, translators have traditionally turned the “way” into an “excellent way” and read huperbole hodon as “a more excellent way.” But there is another option. Huperbole can also refer to “a mountain pass.” This language describes a way that goes up, over and beyond other ways; the high road (not the low road) is the huperbole hodon.15 This meaning for huperbole is found in Diodorus Siculus’s Historicus (19:73), Xenophon’s Anabasis (3.5.18; 4.1.21; 4.4.18), Strabo (7.1.5) and elsewhere.16 This raises a further question.

If Paul, as suggested, is comparing the way of love to a stiff climb over a mountain pass, we would expect him to build on that image with other appropriate phrases and metaphors, and indeed he does so. There are six occasions in this homily where Paul’s language echoes or compements a mountain-pass journey. These are:

a.

The higher gifts (12:31). These will be defined as faith, hope and love.

b.

The journey over a pass (12:31). This is the way of love.

c.

Faith that removes mountains (13:2). If you remove them you don’t have to climb them.

d.

Love never falls [not fails] (13:8). Mountain climbing involves the risk of falling. Love does not fall.

e.

The highest of these is love (13:13). The image Paul began with in 12:31 now reappears.

f.

Run after love (14:1). The journey over the mountain pass is hard because it is uphill and you are to run in spite of the hills.

James Moffat caught much of this understanding of the text, which he translated, “And yet I will go on to show you a still higher path.”17 Mountain climbing is strenuous, exacting and dangerous. The road is uphill. It requires planning, training, energy, discipline, commitment, a huge investment of time and the setting of long-term goals. It is also exciting, compelling, fulfilling, rewarding and exhilarating; the view from the top, on a clear day, is thrilling beyond measure. The higher we climb, the more painful the fall. All of this applies to the journey (way) of love.

4. Athletics joins these two verses. In 12:31 Paul discusses mountain climbing. In 14:1 he urges his readers to “run after love,” and Corinth was a town committed to sports. Mountain climbing was not a recognized sport, but running was, and climbing mountains is good training for runners. Both activities require strong legs. Sadly, both of these concrete images have been turned into abstractions in the English translation tradition.

5. One final observation can be made regarding the opening (12:31) and closing (14:1) of the hymn to love. In 12:7 Paul records that each believer “is given” (passive) “the manifestation of the Spirit.” Furthermore, God distributes the gifts “as he wills” (12:11). In addition, God “has appointed in the church…” (12:28). No one can demand a particular gift or despise God’s selections for his people. At the same time a gift must be received for it to accomplish its purpose. If I send a $100 check to a friend, and on arrival the friend burns it, the gift is not “received” and thereby does not achieve its purpose. God, through the Spirit, distributes spiritual gifts, but the believer must receive and use the gifts or they become inert and worthless. As observed, 12:31 is best understood to mean “continue in zeal.” Orr and Walther allow the present imperative its full significance. Readers are urged to continue, doing what they are already doing.18 God acts to give, and they respond by receiving and using the gifts. Paul is again dealing with his readers in a gentle manner.

Before launching into the hymn itself, it is important to note one further “tune” that is being played as the homily unfolds. This has to do with the aforementioned set of comparisons between the two lists of gifts. The important (yet temporary) gifts are:

  • Tongues

  • Prophecy

  • Knowledge

The highest (permanent) gifts in Paul’s thinking are:

  • Faith

  • Hope

  • Love

Two out of the three sections of the hymn begin and end with these two lists [see fig. 4.4(2)]. (The center section includes only one half of the double list.)

1.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:1-3)

 

Opens with tongues, prophecy and knowledge

 

Closes with faith, hope and love

 

 

2.

Love defined (13:4-7)

 

(Opens with an indirect reference to knowledge)

 

Closes with faith, hope and love

 

 

3.

Love and the spiritual gifts (13:8-13)

 

Opens with tongues, prophecy and knowledge (temporary)

 

Ends with faith, hope and love (permanent)

Figure 4.4(2). The two lists of gifts in 1 Cor 13

Rhetorical and ethical melodies are played together harmoniously in this literary masterpiece. This brings us to the first discussion of love and the gifts.

LOVE AND THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS (1 COR 13:1-3)

Each of the four cameos in this section of the hymn deserves reflection. Paul opens with,

2.

13:1If I speak in the tongues of men

LOVE AND

 

    and of angels,

Tongues

 

    but have not love,

Prophecy

 

   I am banging brass or a clanging cymbal.

Knowledge

Before it was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C., the old city of Corinth was famous across the Roman Empire for its brass and bronze work and for its fine craftsmanship in precious metals. Beginning in 44 B.C., while the city was being rebuilt, the brass-making trade almost certainly resumed. In any case, the fame of the earlier Corinthian brass was legendary. Many wealthy Romans collected “Corinthian bronzes.” After examining all the evidence available, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor writes, “Since so much bronze working was carried on in the center of the city, it seems likely that there must have been many other installations in outlying areas. Trade in bronze must be considered to have made a significant contribution to the commerce of Roman Corinth.”19

Murphy-O’Connor also presents evidence that casting was involved, particularly in the making of large items such as statues. But more common household pieces would naturally have been fashioned by hammering the soft brass. In Aleppo, Syria, a large brass-makers’ market is still functioning in the center of the city. There, along both sides of a narrow street, one can visit rows of small shops, each about two meters by three meters in size. Seated in the street, each craftsman makes and sells his own products. While lecturing in Aleppo in the 1980s, I was interested in visiting this famous market and initially was obliged to ask for directions as I trudged eagerly down a narrow pedestrian street in the old city. But as soon as I approached from a distance of about half a kilometer, I only needed to follow the racket! On arrival I found myself in the middle of more than two hundred craftsmen hammering slabs of copper or brass into cooking pots, drinking vessels, cheese-making ladles and the like. Even though all of this craftsmanship was taking place in the open air, the noise was deafening. To talk to any of the skilled workmen I was obliged to bend down, place my lips within two inches of the artisan’s ear and shout at the top of my voice. The noise levels were ear-splitting.

As tentmakers, Paul, Aquila and Priscilla would have needed to be present in the marketplace in order to pursue their trade and contact customers. Enduring the high-pitched racket of banging brass would have been a common experience for all Corinthians every time they entered the market. In the opening of his discussion of love and the spiritual gifts, Paul invokes this powerful image. Their gift of tongues had to do with the language of humans, not angels. The angels spoke a different tongue, as Paul affirms. But if he managed to “speak in the tongues of men” and if beyond that could even talk to the angels, but without love, his words would be as meaningless as the roar of banging brass in the market. Some in Corinth were proud of their spiritual gifts and disdainful of their fellow Christians. They were “enriched with all speech” (1:5) yet at the same time they were quarreling (1:11)! This lack of love reduced their much-prized speaking in tongues to the level of the deafening, high-pitched roar in the brass market.

Cameo 3 introduces three gifts, which are:

In cameos 2, 4 and 5 Paul establishes a four-line pattern:

With this pattern established, the reader expects cameo 3 to say something like:

It is pointless to speculate as to why in cameo 3 Paul broke the pattern he used in each of the other three cameos in this series. Perhaps the answer is as simple as lack of space on the page. What matters is that cameo 3 includes prophetic powers, knowledge and mysteries. By mentioning prophecy and knowledge immediately after a cameo on tongues, cameos 2 and 3 together include the same list of prophecy, tongues and knowledge that appears in cameo 11. As it stands, cameo 3 affirms that without love, all prophecy, an understanding of all mysteries and the acquisition of all knowledge together are worthless. “I am nothing” is a deeper self-abrogation than “I am banging brass.”

Prophecy is at least preaching, but it is better understood as Spirit-inspired preaching, and if love does not shine through that preaching—it is worthless. Earlier in the epistle Paul defined himself and his friend Apollos as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (4:1). Here he affirms that if he penetrates all mysteries (Christian and pagan) without love, he is nothing. In regard to knowledge, it is far too common that arrogance accompanies the acquisition of knowledge. Paul’s longstanding equation of “knowledge without love equals nothing” is a countercultural voice in any age. A pervasive perception in significant areas in the academy is that knowledge has no necessary connection to love.

Furthermore, knowledge (gnosis) was a key word in the Gnostic worldview. According to that system of thought, humankind was saved through the acquisition of secret knowledge that set the devotees apart from ordinary human beings. They needed no savior, only knowledge, and God did not act in history to save. Paul signals that if a person acquires all knowledge and has no love he or she is nothing.

Having discussed tongues, prophecy and knowledge (without love), Paul now turns to faith and hope (without love). Cameo 4 reads:

4.

2band if I have all faith

LOVE AND THE

 

  so as to remove mountains,

Spiritual Gifts

 

  but have not love,

 

 

  I am nothing.

 

In 12:9 faith is listed as one of the spiritual gifts. Clearly, great faith is there presupposed. The image of faith that can move mountains is from Jesus (Mt 17:20; 21:21). Paul is again writing personally. If he reaches the level of faith described by Jesus and in the process despises those of lesser faith, he is nothing. An author may publish books and articles, record lectures and publish plays, but if she/he does not exhibit love for others in the process, he/she is nothing. After faith comes hope.

5.

3And if I dole out all my possessions,

LOVE AND

 

 and if I surrender my body so that I may boast,

Faith

 

 but have not love,

Hope

 

 I gain nothing.

 

This cameo begins with a powerful image. The key word in the first line of cameo 5 is psomiso (if I dole out). The picture is of someone who is very generous and, a little bit at a time, gives away everything he or she possesses in the hope that there will be a reward. Is Paul echoing the story of the rich ruler who approached Jesus hoping to earn his salvation through good works, and asked, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 18:18). Jesus told him, “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor” (Lk 18:22). The ruler failed to obey. By contrast, here Paul reflects on a person who obeys this command of Jesus. What will happen to him/her? We cannot proceed to the answer without sorting out a textual problem that occurs in cameo 5.

We are accustomed to reading cameo 5b as “if I surrender my body so that it may burn.” But the finest Greek texts read “that I may boast.” Which text is the best and what is Paul saying?

The oldest and most reliable early Greek texts read kaukhesomai (that I may boast), while early translations of 1 Corinthians into Latin, Syriac and Armenian along with many patristic writers opt for kauthesomai (that I may burn). The difference is one letter. The first has a χ in its center and the second uses a θ.20 Bruce Metzger calls the evidence for the first “both early and weighty.”21 In short, when looking at the early Greek copies, “that I may boast” is the preferred choice. Where then did the familiar “that I may burn” come from and what is at issue?

At the time Paul was writing, no Christian had been burned alive for his or her faith. Yet the story of the three young men who were thrown into the fire in Daniel 3:1-25 was well known (among Jews). Then in A.D. 64 (ten years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians), Rome burned. Seeking a scapegoat, Nero blamed the Christians and began the first Roman persecution of the church. On one brutal occasion, Nero smeared a group of Christians with pitch, crucified them and set them on fire as torches “to light the Emperor’s races in the Vatican Circus.”22 After that scene of spectacular horror the Christian community would inevitably have been seared with the memory of the martyrs who had been burned to death for their faith. After A.D. 64 it is fully understandable that some scribe copied καυθησωμαι (that I may be burned) rather than καυχησωμαι (that I may boast). Such an error would easily have become popular, and Christian readers would naturally have preferred the new reading. It called to mind the recent martyrs, and generally speaking it was and is more attractive to think of Paul offering his body to be “burned” than to contemplate his interest in “boasting.” But which word did he actually write?

The first problem is that the very phrase “that I might burn” is never translated the way it is written, even by those who prefer this reading of the text. “That I might burn” is always changed (without textual evidence) into some form of “that it might burn” to have the translation make sense (KJV, RSV, NIV). When faced with the word burn in the text the translator naturally feels the pressure to let Paul offer “it” (his body that he has just mentioned) to the fires.

But if we choose the reading “that I might boast” no shift of person is needed. Paul is talking about his own boasting. Furthermore, the concluding line in this cameo is not “I am nothing,” such as occurs in cameo 4. Rather Paul writes, “I gain nothing.” Gain what and when? Paul was describing his hope to be able to boast on the Day of Judgment. Whatever does this mean?

As noted earlier, for Paul “boasting” carried two meanings. The first was negative and had to do with boasting about one’s spiritual achievements or credentials. As early as 1:29-30 Paul discusses how God used weak things to shame the strong, “so that no human might boast in the presence of God.” The second meaning is positive and relates to serving the Lord in a way that reaches beyond the call of duty. Paul had also discussed this positive aspect of boasting with the Corinthians. In 9:15-16 he wrote, “For I would rather die than have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me.” His point is that he is obliged to preach the gospel in order to fulfill his commission. But he is not obliged to refuse financial support for doing so. If therefore he preaches and is not paid, on the Day of Judgment he will be able to say to the Lord, “Lord, I did more than you commissioned me to do! Everywhere I went I supported myself financially.” This same positive aspect of boasting appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:19, where Paul writes, “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?” In Philippians 2:16 as well he urges his readers to hold fast to the word of life, “so that in the day of Christ I may boast that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” For Paul this positive type of boasting has to do with the Day of Judgment at the end of all things.

Add to this the directive that Paul gives in Romans when he writes, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom 12:1). In like manner here in 13:3 Paul appears to be saying,

Offering gifts to those in need has special problems connected to it. Without self-awareness and sensitivity to the dynamics involved, such offerings can stimulate pride in the giver and humiliation in the receiver. It is possible to give gifts out of our needs which are at times unrelated to the felt needs of the very people the gifts are intended to help. It is easy to send money to build church buildings for Christians in central Africa. But what if it is too hot inside those buildings, and people would rather worship outside under a large tree? Such a gift would reflect failure in authentic love. If there is no authentic love for the receiver, writes Paul, all giving of both resources and of self is, for the givers, in vain. Discerning love is a necessary ingredient for everything.

Seen in this light the earliest Greek texts can be allowed to trump some of the early fathers and early translations, and the text read appropriately, “that I may boast” (NRSV).23 Paul is talking about hope, his hope to receive a reward on the Day of Judgment. Indeed, in cameos 1-2 he discussed tongues, prophecy and knowledge, and in cameos 4-5 he writes about faith, hope and love. If faith and hope are not soaked in love they are worthless. Paul is now ready to define this crucial component called “love.”

LOVE DEFINED (1 COR 13:4-7)

Paul’s readers know what eros (passion) is all about, and they understand phileo (to be a friend). But what is this agape (love) that Christians constantly discuss? Paul offers positive definitions, then negatives, and finally a second list of positives [see fig. 4.4(3)].

6.

4Love is patient.

LOVE DEFINED

LOVE AND

 

 Kind is love:

Positively

Knowledge

 

 

 

??

7.

not jealous,

 

??

 

not boastful,

 

 

 

5not arrogant,

 

 

 

not rude,

 

 

8.

not seeking what is for itself,

LOVE DEFINED

9.

not quick to anger,

Negatively

 

not keeping records of wrongs,

 

 

 

6not rejoicing in unrighteousness

 

 

 

but rejoicing in community when truth prevails,

 

 

10.

7covers all, believes all,

LOVE DEFINED

LOVE AND

 

hopes all, patiently endures all.

Positively

Faith, Hope

Figure 4.4(3). Love defined (1 Cor 13:4-7)

THE RHETORIC

The rhetoric of this section of the homily is simple and straightforward. The positives open and close the section. The negatives appear in the center, and that center is split with the single line: “not seeking what is for itself.” This line reflects the opening and the closing of the entire homily.

COMMENTARY

The five cameos include fifteen definitions of love each of which is worthy of note, but first a few general comments may be helpful.

In cameo 1 the readers are told to “continue in zeal [zeloute] for the highest spiritual gifts.” By the end of the homily (cameo 16) those same readers are told to “continue in zeal [zeloute] for the spiritual gifts.” As seen in an early chapter, in Isaiah 28:14-18 the prophet relates the center of his ring composition to the opening and closing phrases of the homily. This same feature appears here as we compare cameos 1, 8 and 16. In the very center (cameo 8) the text affirms that love does “not zetei [seek] what is for its self.” With strong overlap in meaning, there may be an intended play on words between zeloute (continue in zeal for) and zetei (seek). They are to continue in zeal for the gifts (12:31; 14:1) remembering that they are “for the common good” (12:7), and knowing that love does not seek [zetei] what is for itself (13:5).

Paul deliberately placed the negative definitions of love in the center (cameos 7-9). He could have recorded the positives in the middle and left the negatives at the beginning and the end of this second section.24 Why then did he center the negatives? His reason for doing so is fairly evident. The list of eight negatives describes his readers.25 Many of these negatives appear throughout the first twelve chapters. In this homily the list is brought together and completed.

The opening section (cameos 2-5) is personal. Paul reflects on his own pilgrimage in regard to the greater and the lesser gifts and the critical component of love. In the center (cameos 6-10), however, love itself becomes a person and walks on stage.26 Love embodies some primary virtues and rejects a list of vices. Paul’s ethical model is Jesus his Messiah and Lord.

A second striking feature of this personification of love is the fact that the list of attributes begins and ends with the two great New Testament words for patience. Cameo 6a tells the reader that “Love acts patiently [makro-thumei].” Makro (far away) is combined with thumos (anger). The person who has makrothumos is the person who is able to “put anger far away.” As Horst points out, with this word the Greek Bible translates the Hebrew “to delay wrath.”27 This is the patience of the powerful who have the clout to retaliate but choose to refrain.

This kind of patience is illustrated by David at Engedi when Saul pursued him with three thousand men intending to kill him. David was hiding in a cave with his men. Unaware of David’s presence in the cave, Saul entered the same cave to relieve himself. David managed to sneak up behind Saul and cut off a piece of the king’s robe rather than kill him. Saul then left the cave, and David followed him out into the open, waving the severed piece of robe in his hand and calling out to the king that he, David, could have killed him. Saul wept and confessed “you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil” (1 Sam 24:17). David demonstrated makrothumia (patience) as he set aside his anger. Two chapters later Saul was again pursuing David, this time into the wilderness of Ziph. With Abishai, one of his men, David penetrated Saul’s camp in the middle of the night and stood over the sleeping king. Abishai requested permission to kill the king. David refused and instead took Saul’s spear and water jug, and left. In the morning, from across the valley, David called to Saul and his men waving the spear and jug. Again, David acted with makrothumia. American history has an example of makrothumia in President Abraham Lincoln (at the end of the Civil War) when a Northern victory was assured and many wanted to punish the South for the “rebellion.” The occasion was March 4, 1865, when Lincoln delivered his second inaugural speech and said, “With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us… do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” Lincoln exhibited makrothumia. The English language does not have a precise word for this vital character trait. Arabic does; it is the word halim. This form of patience characterizes the person who has the power to demolish the enemy, but out of love (patience) chooses not to do so.

Moving ahead to the end of Paul’s list of definitions of love (cameo 10d) we are told that love panta hupomenei (patiently endures) all things. Again Paul uses a compound word. In this case the term he chooses is hupo-meno. Hupo has to do with “under” and meno means “to remain.” As a compound, this word describes “The affliction under which one remains steadfast.”28 If makrothumia is the patience of the powerful, hupomene is the patience of the weak who unflinchingly endure suffering. The example of Mary standing silently at the foot of the cross is a matchless demonstration for every Christian of this crucial form of patient love. Mary can do nothing to change the horrible events taking place around her. Her only choice is to exercise hupomene and at great cost remain rather than depart that scene of suffering. Jesus himself is the supreme example of the same virtue.

Makrothumia (cameo 6a) and hupomene (cameo 10d) create the perfect set of bookends within which Paul presents the other characteristics of love.

The second introductory positive word for love (cameo 6b) is khresteuomai (to be kind).29 In the fourth century, Chrysostom explained that such people work to extinguish the flame of anger and “by soothing and comforting, do they cure the sore and heal the wound of passion.”30

Paul then turns to describe love using eight negatives. He opens with (cameo 7a) “not jealous” (zeloi). The positive aspects of this word which appear at the beginning and at the end of the homily have already been observed. Here its negative side surfaces. Paul had already criticized the Corinthians (3:3) for their “jealousy and strife.” In 2:26 he reminded his readers that in the body of Christ, “if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” Yes, they can rejoice together if the green eye of jealousy is overcome. When it is not, the honor given to one member of the body triggers the cancer of jealousy that can destroy the body.

I recall a witty story I heard in Beirut, Lebanon, describing the difference between a Lebanese capitalist and a Syrian socialist. A Lebanese notices a man driving by in a brand new Mercedes and says, “Ah—some day I will own a car like that!” In the next block a Syrian observes the same man driving by and says, “One day we are going to drag that dog out of his car, thrash him and force him to walk with the rest of us!” Both men are fueled by jealousy. In the first case jealousy creates envy while in the second envy produces resentment of another’s achievement. Love does not fall prey to either of these instincts.

Regarding “love is… not boastful ” (cameo 7b), Barcley writes, “True love will always be far more impressed with its own unworthiness than its own merit.”31 Boasting is a two-sided coin. On one hand the person does not like him/herself and feels compelled to regale others with stories of personal success, hoping to be liked, admired and accepted. Or one can boast about “our group” or “my brilliant son” in an attempt to assert superiority. On the other hand, boasting about others is often a form of flattery that attempts to manipulate. Perhaps you will enjoy the wonderful things I am telling you about yourself, and this will help me influence you. Love does not need to boast about itself and makes no attempt to control the other through flattery.

Paul continues with, “love is… not arrogant” (cameo 7c). Someone has said that an “expert” is the person who has all the answers and has stopped listening. He/she is also the person who cannot absorb someone else’s data. The root of the Greek verb has to do with inflating something. The KJV translates this as “is not puffed up.” This form of failure to love is closely related to the boasting just mentioned. Secure in their own identity, be it acclaimed or ignored, those who love have no need to be exalted. Both the translations of “arrogant” (RSV) and “proud” (NRSV) are helpful. In 1 Corinthians 4:6, 18 and 19 Paul uses this word to describe the enthusiasts for one party against another, and as a criticism of the libertines who are proud of the man who is sleeping with his father’s wife. Arrogance appears in both accounts.

Neither is love rude (cameo 7d). The Greek word used here is askhemonei (without good order). Hays insists that “shameful behavior” is involved, not just “rudeness,” in that as a noun this word is used by Paul to describe the shameful acts of male homosexuals mentioned in Romans 1:27.32 This same word appears in 7:36, where it has to do with acting in a proper fashion toward a virgin. “Without good order” also relates to personal appearance. The guest who attends a wedding banquet without a wedding garment (Mt 22:11-12) could be described as askhemonos. The flippant comment, “I don’t care how I look ” is not a mark of humility but a lack of love. Others are obliged to look at the person who doesn’t care, and thereby he or she is inflicting psychic pain on them. For love’s sake I will dress in a manner that signals my love and respect for those around me. My freedom to dress as I choose must always be conditioned by my love for others. Love is concerned for the other (not the self ) in all matters related to personal appearance and lifestyle.

The climax in the center says love does not seek “what is for itself ” (cameo 8). This virtue is yet another case of where one item on Paul’s list (here, self-seeking) is closely related to an earlier text in the epistle. Paul has just told his readers not to seek their own good (10:24) but to seek the advantage of many (10:33). The ego is not the center of the life of the lover who knows that the world does not revolve around him or her.

Furthermore, authentic justice means that I care about your rights, not merely my own. In his book The Open Secret, Lesslie Newbigin writes,

If we acknowledge the God of the Bible, we are committed to struggle for justice in society. Justice means giving to each his due. Our problem (as seen in the light of the gospel) is that each of us overestimates what is due to him as compared with what is due to his neighbor. Consequently, justice cannot be done, for everyone will judge in his own favor. Justice is done only when each one acknowledges a judge with authority over him, in relation to whose judgment he must relativize his own…. A just society can flourish only when its members acknowledge the justice of God, which is the justice manifested and enacted in the cross. If I do not acknowledge a justice which judges the justice for which I fight, I am an agent, not of justice, but of lawless tyranny.33

“Love seeketh not its own” (KJV).

Love is not irritable, writes Paul (cameo 9a). Barrett translates this phrase “love is not touchy.”34 A modern colloquial expression describes this aspect of love by saying, “Love has a long fuse.” Love knows that “a soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov 15:1). The experienced diplomat knows that to lose one’s self-control is to lose the ability to influence a discussion. But the lover has a different motive. He or she is willing to absorb hostility out of love for the other, knowing that by absorbing it, that hostility can fade away.

Love “keeps no record of wrongs” (cameo 9b, NIV). The term used here is from the world of accounting. Love allows the hurts of the past to fade away. Of all Paul’s admonitions in this list, this directive is perhaps the most difficult. When we are deeply hurt, the pain of those wounds remains for a very long time—is it forever? When the wrongs suffered are serious but relatively limited, as time passes, the hurt can fade. In such a case Paul’s admonition applies with relative ease. An Egyptian Arabic proverb says,

Your friend will swallow gravel for you (Habibak bi-yibla’lak al-zalat).

Your enemy maximizes your mistakes (‘Aduuak bi-yukattirlak al-ghalat).

Love can absorb evil, as seen in the previous paragraph. Here we see that love manages to erase the ledger of wrongs suffered which the mind, unprompted, all too readily recalls. But when deep wounds are inflicted, the problem is greatly complicated.

Paul’s advice is extremely puzzling in the light of his own suffering. Earlier in the epistle (4:9-13) he recorded a list of wrongs he had suffered, along with a report on how he responded to that suffering. “When reviled we bless, when persecuted, we endure,” he reports. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 and again in 11:23-29 the catalogs of his sufferings are long and sobering. Paul had not forgotten any of those painful events, and the list was readily available in his mind for instant recall. The second list concludes with, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Cor 11:29). He does not recite the list to demonstrate his strength but his weakness, and to declare his sympathy for and empathy with all who are “made to fall.” Yet the wrongs were remembered. How are we to reconcile these lists with Paul’s affirmation that love “keeps no record of wrongs”? As a survivor of seven Middle Eastern wars, stretching from 1942 to 1995, suffering and injustice surrounded our family for decades, and some of that suffering reached into the depths of our own lives. Thus, for me this concern opens deep questions.

Yes, Paul had lists and remembered them. But he did not quote them to brag about how much he had suffered or to “even the score.” At the end of the third essay he did not write, “I can never forget how those Jews stoned me and left me for dead.” Nor does he say, “I was ridiculed mercilessly in public on Mars Hill by those arrogant Greeks.” Instead he gently advises, “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks” (10:32-33). His suffering did not dictate how he would respond to his persecutors. But recognizing this, the question remains—why are the lists still fresh in his mind? How can we reconcile his description of love that forgets and his recorded remembrances of suffering? What and how should we remember?

The twentieth century opened with the Armenian Genocide, which began in the 1890s and continued through the First World War. The Armenians suffered both genocide and ethnic cleansing. Today the pressure to remember what happened is intensified by the stubborn denial of the Turkish government that anything out of the ordinary (in time of war) took place.35 The ethnic cleansing of Palestine from 1947 to 1949 involved the ruthless driving out of approximately 50 percent of the settled Palestinian population of the Holy Land. The Israeli historian Ilan Pappi documents the fact that somewhere between eight hundred thousand to one million people were driven from their homes from November 1947 to January 1949.36 In the process 537 towns and villages were first “purified” by violence, which meant that the people who had lived there for centuries were either killed or expelled, and the buildings (mostly) destroyed. As with the Turkish government, from the very beginning this ethnic cleansing was and is denied by the Israeli government. The same type of tragedy has played itself out in the South Sudan where, from 1955 to the present, millions have died due to violence and war-instigated starvation. As in Turkey and Israel, Sudanese acts of ethnic cleansing (bordering on genocide) are flatly denied by the Sudanese government.

Going further back in history, the nineteenth century witnessed brutal atrocities against native peoples in North America and Australia. Christian, Jewish and Muslim hands are not clean. None of us can claim the moral high ground. Yet the sins of all must be exposed and named for what they are. The question becomes: Does Paul’s directive to “keep no account of wrongs” apply to such appalling suffering? Should these things be forgotten?

Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, wrote a book titled Night.37 In that famous volume he describes his suffering and survival in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps in 1944-1945. On one occasion he was badly beaten by his supervisor in a slave labor factory. When the beating was finally over, a young French girl came over to him, wiped his face and told him, “Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now…. Wait. Clench your teeth and wait.”38

The French girl’s call to remember evil reflects great courage, discipline and a noble cry for justice. Along with that cry is the recent stunning work of Miroslav Volf titled The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World.39 The book is his answer to the question, “So what is the relationship between remembering well and redeeming the past?”40 To remember is not good enough; we must “remember well.” Every page of this volume offers profound reflections on the subject of suffering and human memories of it. No quick summary is possible.

Volf, a Yugoslavian, was imprisoned and brutally interrogated for months by the communist security forces. This book is his Christian response to those experiences. One paragraph is particularly poignant and applicable to our subject. Volf writes:

By opening ourselves to God’s love through faith, our bodies and souls become sanctified spaces, God’s “temples,” as the Apostle Paul puts it (1 Corinthians 6:19). The flame of God’s presence, which gives us new identity, then burns in us inextinguishably. Though like buildings devastated by wind and flood, our bodies and souls may become ravaged, yet we continue to be God’s temple—at times a temple in ruins, but sacred space nonetheless. Absolutely nothing defines a Christian more than the abiding flame of God’s presence, and that flame bathes in a warm glow everything we do or suffer.41

In his final chapter Volf writes, “Being in God frees our lives from the tyranny the unalterable past exercises with the iron fist of time’s irreversibility. God does not take away our past; God gives it back to us—fragments gathered, stories reconfigured, selves truly redeemed, people forever reconciled.”42

He concludes the final chapter by saying,

Perhaps this is part of what Paul means when he says, “[love] keeps no account of wrongs.” Memories of his suffering did not constantly return uninvited to the screen of his mind in the form of nightmares or mind-numbing daytime recollections. They were there, but they did not control his present or his future.

At the same time, however, they were not buried, festering and unconsciously influencing all that he did and said. The pus had gone from the wounds. Yes, he could recall those memories when he needed to record them for others to read, but they never returned uninvited in the waking hours of the night. He kept no account of wrong. Volf did not simply remember, he “remembered well.” The need is to be “set free from the tyranny the unalterable past exercises with the iron fist of time’s irreversibility.” Having worked for decades among Middle Eastern peoples (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) who have endured such wounds, unanswered questions remain, and I cannot say more. I dare not say less.

Paul concludes his list of negatives by writing, love does “not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices in community when truth prevails” (cameos 9c, d). Usually rumor is much more exciting than fact—except for the lover. Authentic love rejoices to find that reported evil is not true.

In the foreground Paul is certainly referring to the arrogance of the Corinthians who were rejoicing rather than mourning over the person sleeping with his father’s wife (5:1-5). But the broader scene that Paul invokes deals with deeper issues. A modern way to express this admonition is to say, “Love does not find violence entertaining.”

The ancient Romans staged their gladiatorial battles in the Coliseum, and the modern world has its violent movies. Both are violations of the love of God that is revealed in its fullness in the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

There is a pornography of sex. There is also a pornography of violence whose rush is like heroin. The more of it you take, the greater the dose needed to achieve the same high. Nothing compares in pure stimulation to the horrible excitement of war. Even when violence breaks in upon us against our will, love is never attracted to or entertained by that violence. Woe to those who are hooked on their own adrenaline!

The early church directive was that Christians should not attend the various violent spectacles in the Roman amphitheaters. Violence for those Christians was not entertaining, but they understood its magnetic souldestroying power. In his Confessions, Augustine describes his friend Alypius who was against the gladiatorial games but allowed himself to be dragged there by his companions. For a while Alypius managed to look away from the violence. Then

Philippians 4:8 offers a profound “TV guide.” The text reads,

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Films that fit these categories make wonderful viewing.

The dark visceral thrill that sweeps through a nation when that nation goes to war is horrifying to observe at close range. Because of television, the country becomes a vast audience viewing “gladiatorial combat.” Love does not rejoice at wrong. Instead, it rejoices to find that the enemy is not composed of monsters but rather, like ourselves, is a collection of misguided human beings. This discovery sobers us and reminds us that we too know not what we do.

After this telling list of negatives, Paul returns to the positive aspects of love as he pens his four concluding definitions.

The list begins with “love… covers all things” (cameo 10a). The NIV reads love “always protects.” The verb stego has a number of nuances. Its root has to do with covering something. As noted, Thiselton rightly complains “Most English translations, especially NRSV and often NIV, simply abstract the conceptual content of the metaphor from its forceful emotive imagery.”45 It is good not to make that mistake here. The verb stego was used in connection with keeping a fluid in or out.46 That is, stego meant “it doesn’t leak” and was related to waterproofing. The noun form of this word (stegos) meant “roof.” A good roof protects the people in the house by keeping water out. The same was said about a good ship. In both cases water was kept out. Those who prefer this meaning of the verb translate the text before us as “love covers all” or “love protects all.”

The same verb was used for keeping fluid in a container; that is, it described a pot that could hold water. As brass manufacturers, the Corinthian metal workers would have been careful to make pitchers, bowls and drinking cups that did not leak. In making a bowl, if the craftsman hammered in one place a little too long, or cut the metal too deeply in the process of decorating the exterior of the bowl, or attached the spout onto a pitcher carelessly, the vessel would leak and be worthless. Orr and Walther chose this meaning and translated, “It [love] keeps all confidences.”47

Because you love me you will cover me, and thereby protect me from exterior harm (the first meaning). You are also trustworthy. I can share the secrets of my heart with you knowing that you will not “leak” those secrets to anyone because of your love for me (the second meaning).

But there is also a third meaning. The KJV, RSV and NRSV use the traditional reading of “bears all things.” Although this is not a dominant meaning in Greek literature, it fits well in 1 Thessalonians 3:1, 5 and is a candidate for Paul’s intention here in 3:7. The difficulty with this understanding of stego for verse 7 is that it overlaps significantly with the fourth item in Paul’s list of “all things.” Namely, what is the difference between “bears all” and “endures all”? A distinction is possible. I bear the weight of my heavy suitcase as I pick it up, and I endure the struggle to carry it to the car. Yet the two words are very close. In his Kittel article, Wilhelm Kasch argues that in such a short list Paul would not have chosen two words that meant much the same thing. He prefers “covers all,” which he feels shares meaning with “keep silent about all things.” He also argues that these meanings are appropriate for 9:12 rather than “bears all.”48 That is, while serving in Corinth, Paul (out of love) “kept silent” about his right to be paid by the Corinthians for his ministry among them.

In conclusion, we remember that Jesus told his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt both preserves and flavors. The reader is not obliged to choose between those two aspects of the nature of salt. They are both relevant to Jesus’ intent, and the reader can be enriched by both of them. The same may be true here. All three of the above are authentic to the meaning of love and to the text. Perhaps a combination of “keeps all confidences” and “covers all” is the best choice.49

Paul continues with “believes all” (cameo 10b). Yet again the apostle tantalizes the reader with a scarcity of information. Thiselton chooses to translate this phrase “never loses faith.” What does Paul intend? One aspect is certain. Love never confirms a liar’s lies with the naive response, “I believe you.” It is possible to see two of these four positive aspects of love as directed toward humans and two focusing on God in the following manner:

10. a. Covers all(primarily with humans)

b.Believes all(primarily with God)

c.Hopes all(primarily with God)

d.Patiently endures all (primarily with humans)

Briefly stated, Paul is writing from the point of view of the believer. “Covers all” (cameo 10a) has to do with the lover reaching out to protect the beloved. In cameo 10b and c Paul is describing love active (primarily) in relationship to God. In like manner the fourth characteristic in this list (cameo 10d) returns to focus (primarily) on people and their need to endure the suffering inflicted by others (or by natural disasters, accidents or illness).

More fully explored, love believes all of God’s revelation of himself through nature, the prophetic word and the person of Jesus. Failure to do so can be called “unbelief.” But on a deeper level it is a failure to respond to the love of God offered through Jesus Christ. The attitude that says “I believe that God exists, but I cannot accept that he is involved in history” would be judged by Paul as a failure to love the one who acted with costly love in history to save.

The same is true with “hope” (cameo 10c). Granted, the human lover both believes in and hopes for all good things for the beloved. But hope is more than that. For Paul, hope is centered in Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. In the next essay Paul will tell his readers that if Christ is not raised, they are without hope and are “of all people most to be pitied” (15:19). Christian hope is profoundly focused on victory over sin and death that is brought to its climax by/in/through the resurrection. It is far more than, “I hope my son will do well in business” or, “I hope my friend will recover his health.” It includes, “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).

The first section in the hymn to love concluded (cameos 4-5) with “faith, hope and love.” This second section (cameo 10) concludes the same way, as will the third (cameo 15). Does the middle section open with echoes of “tongues, prophecy and knowledge” like the first section? Not really. We can only note 8:1 where “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” This aspect of love is echoed here in cameo 7b with the affirmation “(love is) not boastful (puffed up).”

As observed previously, the final item in this list is hupo-menei (cameo 10d). This is the patience of the powerless who can do little or nothing to alleviate their own suffering or that of others, but have the courage to “remain under” and endure with dignity the affliction that comes their way. This same word (without the attached preposition) appears at the end of the hymn as Paul talks about three things that will abide (menei).

With these positive and negative definitions of love before the reader, Paul turns to a second discussion of “love and the spiritual gifts” [see fig. 4.4(4)].

THE RHETORIC

This final section of the homily is composed of five cameos. The first (11) presents the temporary nature of prophecy, tongues and knowledge that will be discarded (or cease). The matching cameo (15) tells of faith, hope and love that will abide. The themes of “imperfect versus perfect” make up cameo 12 and those themes are matched in cameo 14 with its contrasts between “seeing dimly” versus “face to face,” and “imperfect knowledge” versus “fully known.” The climax in the center is a brief encased parable, the parable of the child and the man.

Paul chooses ring composition again as a literary method. The text reads:

11.

8Love never falls.

LOVE AND

 

 As for prophecy, it will be discarded;

Prophecy

 

 as for tongues, they will cease;

Tongues

 

 as for knowledge, it will be discarded.

Knowledge

 

 

(- Three Discarded)

 

 

 

12.

9For our knowledge is imperfect

 

 

 and our prophecy is imperfect.

- Imperfect

 

10But when the perfect comes,

+ Perfect

 

  he imperfect will be discarded.

 

 

 

 

13.

11When I was a child,

PARABLE

 

I spoke like a child,

Child and

 

I thought like a child,

Man

 

I reasoned like a child.

(Maturation

 

When I became a man

and Discard)

 

I discarded my childish ways.

 

 

 

 

14.

12For now we see in a mirror dimly,

- Imperfect

 

  then face to face.

+ Perfect

 

  Now my knowledge is imperfect,

 

 

  then I shall know fully as I am fully known.

 

 

 

 

15.

13And thus there abides

 

 

  faith, hope and love,

LOVE AND

 

  these three;

Faith

 

  but the highest of these is love.

Hope

 

 

(+ Three Abide)

COMMENTARY

In the first cameo (11a) of this set of five Paul tells his readers, “Love never falls.” Oriental versions have preserved this concrete image and consistently translated the text literally.50 In the days before dynamite, bulldozers and backhoes, most Mediterranean mountain “roads” were narrow paths. Falling was an ever real possibility. Strabo (9.4.1) describes the road from Athens to Corinth by saying, “The road approaches so close to the rocks that in many places it passes along the edge of precipices, because the mountain situated above them is both lofty and impracticable for roads.”51

Paul had walked that road. Regardless of danger along “the mountain pass,” love does not fall. Paul’s model was surely the life of Christ. He was the one whose love never “fell down,” even while nailed to a cross.

However, prophecy and knowledge will be discarded and tongues will cease (11b, c, d). These gifts are important for the life of the church now. But in the light of eternity, they are impermanent. All those books, articles, plays and recorded lectures will not last. Why so?

Cameo 12 provides the answer. The value of these things must be judged in the light of eternity. Paul holds up that light and asks his readers to take a second look at the tongues, prophecy and knowledge about which they are quarreling. Our knowledge and our prophecy are imperfect; and when the perfect comes the imperfect will be discarded. The Arabic-speaking peoples of the Middle East have a proverb for nearly every occasion. A pious person is expected to wash his/her hands before praying. But if one is traveling in the desert with no water available, the worshiper is allowed to use sand and go through the motions of washing the hands. The proverb says, In hadar al-ma, batula al-tayammum (When water is available, the sand-washing stops). When you have access to the real thing, the substitute is discarded. All our knowledge is the sand. When the Lord comes, or we meet him at death (awaiting the final resurrection), our partial knowledge (the sand) will be discarded in the light of his perfect knowledge (the water).

Yet another parable appears in the center (cameo 13). By way of review, frequently the center of ring composition relates to the beginning and the end of the inverted set of cameos. The opening, center and closing of this set of cameos are as follows.

Paul is not talking about when he was a boy. The word for “child” that appears here is nepios, and in 3:1 Paul used that word to describe the (adult) Corinthians. He could not feed them “solid food” because they were still nepioi (children). Here, Paul creates a parable about himself, perhaps in order to soften his criticism of them. When he was a nepios (child) he confesses, his speech (he spoke like a child), his disposition and aim (he thought like a child) and his mental activity (he reasoned like a child) were childlike.52 Paul is best understood here as meaning “back when I was a new Christian, I was guilty of some of your errors.” What did he do during that first decade of his life in Christ? He was fiercely engaged in debates over tongues, prophecy and knowledge, all of which are impermanent. Now that he is a “man”—that is, now that he has matured in faith—he knows that the gifts that matter are those that last. Faith, hope and love are the center of his attention. The parable in the middle of this section focuses and clarifies the intent of the set of five cameos.

Paul’s skillful use of metaphors also appears in cameo 14. The mirrors of the ancient world were made of brass. The famous Corinthian brass workers must have fashioned them, and a brass mirror could be easily etched. When someone ordered a mirror, the artist would naturally offer to etch the face (or back) of the mirror along the lines of the customer’s interests. Discovering that the buyer worshiped Poseidon (for instance), the brass worker would obligingly lightly etch the face of Poseidon (and perhaps other gods) on the mirror. Then, upon rising in the morning and looking into the mirror you would have the pleasure of “seeing yourself among the gods.” A nice touch for those so inclined. On one of the coins minted at Corinth, Aphrodite is depicted standing in the center of the Acrocorinth gazing at herself in a polished brass shield functioning as a mirror. Buy a mirror with Aphrodite sketched on it and a person could join her image on the polished surface. But alas, the mirror soon tarnished and the mind games quickly grew old. The person was not really among the gods, and they did not talk to him or her. Indeed “now we see through a mirror dimly” but then “face to face.” On that great day the mirror will fall from the believer’s hand and he/she will be face to face with the risen Savior. This means that “knowledge is imperfect.” But in that glorious future “I shall know fully as I am fully known.” Now God’s knowledge of me is complete. Then my knowledge of him will also be complete.53

Paul has now directly or indirectly invoked brass objects three times in chapter 13:

  1. The banging brass and the clanging cymbal (v. 1)

  2. The brass vessel that does not leak (v. 7)

  3. The brass mirror that quickly tarnishes (v. 12)

Taken from brass making, these images can be added to the allusions to mountains and mountain climbing. Corinth had mountains visible to the north and to the south, and brass making was a major industry in the city. Paul knew well how to contextualize his message.

The final cameo (15) in this third section affirms that faith, hope and love are permanent and will not be discarded like prophecy, tongues and knowledge (cameo 11). Earlier, Paul listed faith as one of the spiritual gifts (12:9). He also told his readers that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (12:3). That is, faith is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, love is not just the indispensable component that brings meaning and value to all the gifts, it is also the very nature of God. “We love because he first loved us” wrote John (1 Jn 4:19). Paul wrote to the Romans, “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). It is that God-like love that comes to the believer as a spiritual gift. Listed with the other two permanent gifts, Paul must surely mean that hope is likewise a gift of the Spirit. This leaves us with a further mystery.

Love lasts forever. But when “belief ” becomes “sight,” in what sense does belief remain? Perhaps the answer is in the awareness that for Paul faith was also obedience. I truly believe what I act upon. In Romans 1:5 Paul writes about “the obedience of faith.” He means “the obedience which is faith,” because faith includes something you do. Paul concludes the epistle with the same expression (Rom 16:26). Perhaps he means that faith as obedience remains forever.

The mystery deepens when we consider hope. When hope is fulfilled, for what does it hope? Findlay writes, “Faith and Hope are elements of the perfect and permanent state; new objects of trust and desire will come into sight in the widening visions of the life eternal.”54 Thiselton is again helpful when he concludes, “In one sense faith and hope abide also, but in forms in which faith becomes assimilated into sight, and hope absorbed into the perfect, forever in the form in which Christ and the cross has revealed it.”55 Try as we may—an element of mystery remains.

The final cameo (16), which closes the hymn, reads:

Run after love,

and continue in zeal for the spiritual gifts (pneumatika).

Having affirmed love to be the highest of all, Paul concludes the hymn by urging his readers to “run after love.” The verb is diokete (run after), which also means “hasten after, pursue, seek after, strive for.”

Paul has now invoked the image of “running” five times. These are as follows:

Run away from prostitutes

6:18

Run away from idol worship

10:14

Run after the prize

9:24

Run (like Paul) with a goal in mind

9:26

Run after love

14:1

Knowing that Corinth sponsored the biennial Isthmian Games, Paul was quick to use athletic imagery to communicate his message. This final reference to running (here in 14:1) brings the list of five to an appropriate climax.

At the same time, the command to “run after love” may echo the mountain-climbing image with which the hymn opens (12:31). Mountain climbing is a strenuous activity that requires great energy. In like manner, the journey of love requires joyful and unending exertion—like running—even uphill in the mountains.

There may also be a play on words at work here. The Isthmus of Corinth had a stone roadway across it built by Periander (625-585 B.C.) and called the diolkos. Although the road was only 3.4 miles, a ridge of low mountains barred the way from one side of the isthmus to the other. Because of the narrowness of the road the diolkos only allowed for traffic one direction at a time. Small ships (up to ten tons) were placed on carts and moved by oxen across the isthmus. Goods had to be unloaded from incoming ships at one end and reloaded onto outgoing ships at the other end. A great deal of backbreaking labor was necessarily involved in the process. Various attempts, from Nero onward, to dig a canal failed (until A.D. 1893) due to the elevation of the ridge. To move goods and ships across the diolkos (the stone road), a great many people were obliged to diokousi (urge on, carry forward) to get the job done.56 Some of the Corinthian (Christian) slaves and free workmen may have been involved in this gigantic daily effort. “Daily, many work on the diolkos (roadway), up over the ridge and back to the sea on the far side,” implies Paul, “so how about diokomen (we urge on) the great task of traveling along the mountain-pass journey of love.”

Paul concludes with the directive to “continue in zeal for the pneumatika

(spiritual gifts)” (16b). He opened the hymn by urging them to continue in zeal for the highest gifts (which remain). We know that these are faith, hope and love. As he closes the homily he presses them to demonstrate zeal for the spiritual gifts (that pass away), especially prophecy. This second list, although temporary, is still important for the life of the church, and it leads naturally to the next homily.

This matchless hymn to love has moved the hearts and directed the wills of millions of Christians around the globe for nearly 2,000 years. It seems appropriate to listen to at least one voice out of that great throng that no one can number. On February 2, 1984, during the height of the Lebanese civil war, a fourteen-year-old boy from the village of Bahamdun (Lebanon) wrote the following reflection from a relative’s home in Ashrafiyya, Beirut.

I can still hear the sound of thundering guns telling me that somewhere nearby people are dying.

Ever since we left the village I feel as though something has been shattered inside me. We have lost everything. Our house was burned. My books were torn to pieces. Our furniture was stolen. But what is more important is that the soft nights and the fresh mornings in the village are gone and with them I have lost my roots and have become “like grass blown by the wind,” as the Psalmist put it.

Time is no longer the unending chain of hours and minutes, marked by the hands on the huge clock at the entrance to my grandfather’s house in the village. The big clock, with its rhythmic sound, that kept track of every heartbeat throughout the house, is broken. And time on it is standing still. For me, time used to be the time of sleeping and of waking up and of working in the fields— the time of life. But now time has left me. It belongs to the one who stands behind the thundering gun. It is the time of death.

One night early in September our village was shelled and we fled. We hid in a cave near our small brook waiting for the mad night to subside. But the guns did not stop so we fled again through the valley until we reached Beirut.

We thought we had escaped, but the dark night caught up with us in all its madness. Am I living through a nightmare? Has time really stood still ever since the big clock was broken on the wall of my grandfathers’ house in the village?

One day someone came and told us that our house in the village (my grandfather’s house), was looted and burned. The young men burned it after emptying it together. My anguish grew into hatred. Hatred is strange for it takes many forms. For me it is like a boil. It took root within me and sowed the seeds of death in my heart. It grew and spread like a boil with nothing but pus inside.

I woke up at the sound of the big guns and asked myself, “How can a young man stand behind a gun and fire all those rockets around us?” I thought of that young man and to me he acquired the face of that other young man who looted and burned my grandfather’s house.

Then in the midst of the sound of thundering guns, from the depths of my despair and pain, I finally understood. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love,” I am but sounding brass like the empty shell cases of the big guns. Love alone can bear the burden of the living for it bears all things. It bears this young man who is standing behind the gun, and that other young man who burned my grandfather’s house.

We carry our dead with us like open wounds. All of us have such wounds. Life is different. Life is the realm of love which overcomes death. I pray that the living Lord may reign in our lives, and not our dead.

—Hanna Haddad57