1 Corinthians 13

If it can be said that love fulfills the law, that is all of God’s standards, then our sin nature boils down to an inability to love.  We cannot love perfectly, if that was an obtainable goal, then human beings would never need a Savior, for all the law could be kept and we would never be at odds with God.

Try it, from verse four to seven is a checklist of 10 standards of love, an astounding number considering how love is the fulfillment of the 10 commandments. This checklist is how humanity should be loving. Compare your past and current situation with the checklist that is given. How many can you check off?

1. Paul says love is patient and kind (v4).  Are we always patient and kind with people?

2. He says love is never envious of others (v4).  Are you ever envious of others?

3. Love is never proud or rude (puffed up, v4).

4. Do we ever demand our way (seeketh not her own)?

5. Perfect love is never irritable.  Are you ever irritable?

6. Do we with grudges keep records of who has wronged us (thinketh no evil, v5) ?

7. Do we ever get happy about the injustice that happens to others (v6)?

8.  Love never gives up! (Beareth all things)!

9. Love never loses faith! (believeth all things!)

10. Love is always hopeful and endures through circumstances! (hopeth all things, endureth all things!, v7)

How did you do?

Just as we might checkoff each law we’ve broken in the 10 commands so we might check every standard of love that we fail to keep.   Paul is giving us an unattainable goal, just as the 10 commandments are unattainable standards of holiness.  Our lack of love is the nature of our guilt and the reason why we need a Savior in Jesus.

So what is the purpose of 1 Corinthians 13?  Should we treat it as though love is an obtainable goal?

You probably haven’t considered these 10 standards of love to be like law such as the 1o commandments.  But that would be correct in not doing so.  I do not think it was Paul’s intention to merely give 10 rules for Christians try and keep, but the language he uses to describe love (charity) is as though love has eternal qualities that will never fade away (charity never faileth).  Love is eternal because Jesus is eternal.  He will always be sovereign nothing will diminish His excellence.

Just as people follow the Master in discipleship, so Paul uses the same kind of language suggesting we follow love (see 1 Cor. 14:1, “follow after charity”), the essence of our new nature in Christ.  Because of the gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ, we are free from sins power that kept us from loving God and others like we should.  And so Christians do not follow after love because its a rule, but because its the function of our new nature.

Now we have the ability to love, though imperfectly until the death of our body and our glorification takes place.  But it does become an attainable goal, but keep this goal no longer bears the weight of punishment if we should fail.  Because of Christ’s work on the Cross the fear of punishment for failure is gone, and all that is left is the nurturing of the Holy Spirit for all who belong to God as children belong to their parents.  So love becomes the ultimate goal of the Christian, the one target that we must shoot for is to love like this, and so we fulfill all of God’s perfect will for human beings.