A few months ago, I was helping a friend pick out selections from the Bible for the priest to use during her wedding ceremony. The priest had made a list of about 20 for her to choose from. At the very top was 1 Corinthians 13, which he had circled and underlined, presumably to call her attention to the fact that she should probably choose it. After I mentioned to my friend (who had been reading the King James Version) that the word “charity” would nowadays be translated as “love,” she smacked her forehead and said, “Ohhhhhh, that one!”
1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament, and certainly in Paul's letters. The lessons that newlyweds can learn from it are extremely valuable and sorely-needed in our society: love as the basis of how we should interact with our spouse, its ability to provide meaning to our actions, and its enduring positive qualities. Love is greater than so much of the negativity that we encounter in our lives. It endures all things, and if a couple is driven by love, they can pass relatively unscathed through many of life's challenges. One could go on for quite some time thinking about how Paul's poem can be applied to fostering healthy relationships.
However, 1 Corinthians 13 is not a stand-alone love poem, or advice offered to individuals on the occasion of their wedding day. Rather, it serves as the climax of a critique of the community Paul was writing to. Throughout the letter, he criticizes the Corinthians for their divisions, boasting, and arrogance, all things which were preventing the Spirit from working in them fully. Moreover, the qualities he saw in them were against the teachings of Jesus. Paul believed that many in the Corinthian church were using their talents not as a way to glorify God but to raise themselves above the poor and the socially disadvantaged. These gifts were theirs, they believed, to do with as they liked.
But in Chapter 12, Paul reveals both the origin and purpose of the gifts: “There are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (5-7) Even as individual Christians were equal members of the body of Christ, so they should use whatever gifts they had been given for the health of the Christian community as a whole. If someone is a talented healer but is using their knowledge to puff themselves up or helping others only begrudgingly, then how are they really serving God or neighbor?In contrast to their self-centered interactions with each other, Paul was determined to show them a better, more "excellent" way: that of self-giving love.
As he explains in Chapter 13, pure, divine love was at the center of Paul's vision for the future. He believed that, when the marred world we all live in is one day transformed and flooded by God's Spirit of love and peace, gifts that the Corinthians had prided themselves on, like knowledge, prophecy, and speaking in tongues, will no longer be necessary. “Love,” Paul wrote, “never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, then the imperfect shall pass away.” (9-10) We're like children now, Paul says, seeing things unclearly and knowing only in part. When Jesus appears again, it will be time to put away childish things. Only then will we be able to see and know as God wants us to. Arrogance and pride in the gifts He has given us will play no part in that world. When Jesus returns and his Kingdom breaks in fully, we will all be speaking God's language of love naturally. For now, Paul advises, we as Christians should be practicing it for all we're worth, knowing that the good we do for others is not in vain.
So, is 1 Corinthians 13 about love between a husband and wife? In a way, yes, though there's much more to this piece of scripture than a how-to for achieving marital bliss. Nonetheless, I don't think that pastors should stop using the chapter for weddings, or that couples should stop requesting it. The main point of the poem still applies: Only by having our thoughts and actions motivated by love for God and the people around us can we fulfill the purpose that God, who is Himself love, wants for us, His children. This is the message that Paul so badly wanted his churches to absorb into their minds and hearts, and it's a message that has the potential to transform all our relationships, whether with our spouses, friends, or even our enemies.
No comments:
Post a Comment