A More Excellent Way

KEY VERSE: “Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”—I Corinthians 13:13

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Corinthians 12:27 – 13:13

THE Corinthian brethren were favored with a rich abundance of miraculous gifts by the power of the Holy Spirit. They exercised these gifts in their public meetings, and, as there were cliques among them, they apparently vied with one another in the display of these God-given powers. The Early Church was especially endowed with these powers in order to give credibility to their ministry and to illustrate the power that would be exercised in the kingdom on behalf of a sin-sick and dying world. Some members of the church at Corinth were using these powers for self-aggrandizement, being unmindful of the source of the power and the purpose for which it was given.

The apostle, in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians, is endeavoring to demonstrate to the brethren that rather than being the cause of widening rifts, this God-given power should be a unifying force. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal [for the benefit of all, Diaglott].” (I Cor. 12:4-7) The essence of the apostle’s thought is that the manifestation of these gifts should show the same power of God working in each member and that these powers should be exercised only for the edification of all the members.

In an effort to expose the error and the shallowness of the Corinthians in overvaluing these gifts, the apostle brings to their attention the very heart of true Christianity, the need for developing love. In the first three verses of I Corinthians thirteen, the apostle shows the importance of love in God’s arrangement: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [love], I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [love], it profiteth me nothing.”

These words show in the strongest instances imaginable, that nothing is of value in a Christian’s life if he does not have love. They declare that it is possible to expend all of one’s wealth for the benefit of the poor, and to die a martyr, not only for error and superstition but even for the truth, without being acceptable to God, if the vital element of love is lacking.

Verses four through ten of this chapter define love by explaining how it works in the life of a Christian. It is evident that it is the summation of the fruits and graces of the Spirit:

“Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind; charity [love] envieth not; charity [love] vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity [love] never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”

The more excellent way the apostle here pointed out to the Corinthian brethren and to us is a way of humility, sacrifice, and obedience. It is the way of manifesting the mind of Christ in our determination to yield ourselves completely and unreservedly as a living sacrifice in the service of the Lord, the truth, and the brethren. As we are engaged in these activities we will have experiences which will develop in us the fruits and graces of the Spirit—the true elements of Christian love—provided we are rightly exercised.

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