The Greatest is Love

Love is the Greatest

It’s the month of February, people call it the “hearts’ month”. This is the time when people celebrate love and relationships. I don’t have anything against people celebrating love and relationships but I feel that sometimes everything is becoming more commercialized and superficial rather than a time to think about the deeper meaning and implications of concepts such as love.

In the Bible, love is such a profound idea that it takes more than just a word to describe and explain its significance in the lives of God’s people. 

Primarily, God is described as a loving God who gave his own Son, Jesus, to save the world (John 3:16). Love is God’s very nature, his most important attribute, through which people can receive eternal life and the forgiveness of their sins (1 John 4:7–10). Therefore, followers of Jesus are encouraged to love one another as a way of embodying the message and teachings of Jesus Christ (John 13:34, 35; Rom 13:8; 1 Pet 4:8).

When it comes to the biblical notion of love, 1 Corinthians 13 is perhaps the most popular passage. Some even call it the “hymn of love”. This chapter was actually a section in Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Corinth. Basically, the church in Corinth is a very complicated congregation with many issues despite having great and gifted leaders. Apparently, the church is situated in Corinth which is an important city in the Roman Empire because of its large ports and booming commerce. The city is not only wealthy but it is also a melting pot of cultures and a hub for entertainment for travelling merchants, armies, and whatnot. Thus, the city is notorious for those who crave for money, sex, and power. In the midst of this worldly environment, Paul started a community of followers of Jesus. It is not a wonder that the church in Corinth struggled with factionalism, immorality, idolatry, rejecting apostolic authority, and even questioning the reality of the resurrection. In the middle of all these controversies, Paul’s advice to the church was to pursue love as the most excellent way (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1).

According to Paul, to overcome the problems of division and competition in doing ministry, love should be the main motivation in the exercise of spiritual gifts (1 Cor 13:1–3). Without love, prophecies would just be senseless noise, miracles and acts of faith would be devoid of meaning, and sacrifices, no matter how big, would just be a form of boasting. In other words, without love, even the most noble acts could just be superficial performances lacking significance or value. For Paul, love should be the main force that energizes the ministry, not the talents or giftedness or even  personalities of people.

So, how do we know if we are doing things out of love and not out of selfish pride? Or, how is love manifested in the life of people? Paul offers an answer to this question in 1 Cor 13:4–7. Here, he did not explain the complexity of love as an abstract idea. Rather, he identified the ways in which love is demonstrated through godly living.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

This passage is a very practical and straightforward way of telling Christians how to live in accordance with the principle of love.

After this, Paul moves on to explain the superiority of love over spiritual gifts (vv. 8–13). According to him, love is more permanent (eternal) and reliable (it never fails) than spiritual gifts because it is the one that fulfills (or completes) the purpose why these gifts are given to the church in the first place. When gifts are administered in love, it results in growth and maturity (v. 11).

Paul mentioned here that there will be a time when the gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues “will cease” but he never said exactly when. The clue in the passage is when “the complete has come” (v. 10), perhaps he was talking about the coming of Jesus whom we shall see “face-to-face” (v. 12) since it is Jesus who will be the final revelation of God. But until the coming of Jesus, these partial gifts will most probably continue to exist for the edification of the church. The point here is that these gifts are intended to build up the body of Christ until it reaches maturity and is made perfect in love. Therefore, it establishes the claim that faith, hope, and love are important in the life of God’s people, but the greatest of this is love because it is what makes our lives completely meaningful.

In contrast to the world’s idea of love that often revolves around humanity’s selfish cravings for casual sex and superficial power, the biblical notion of love is about creating meaningful connections and relationships between God and his people.

In light of this, we are invited to join in this journey towards achieving maturity by fostering love and nurturing strong connections, utilizing the gifts that God, through the Holy Spirit, has given to his people. Our calling then as a church is to become a growing community of people who follow Jesus and live out his message of unselfish love and compassion to everyone.

Are we ready to make this our commitment as well?

Are we ready to forsake our childish ways, but instead, love one another genuinely and strive for mutual growth and maturity?

Are we ready to contribute to the growth of the church, by becoming disciples of Jesus who demonstrate and share Christ’s love to our neighbors and family?

If our response to these questions is a resounding YES, then by all means, let’s go out and tell the world about the magnificent love of Christ!