The Heart of Every Gift
October 27, 2024
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1. How are these verses connected to the final sentence of the previous chapter?
2. What is the only reliable measure by which we can determine if we are using the gifts God has given us in the way He wants us to?
3. How do these verses reinforce what Jesus said in John 13:34-36?
4. In your own experience, where do you struggle to make love the driving priority that Paul describes here?
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
1. This is a brilliant and inspiring definition of love. Which parts of this definition are most natural for you? Which ones are more difficult for you to live up to?
2. Verse 7 outlines four things that love always does. Share examples from your life of times when people demonstrated love for you by doing some of these four things.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:8-10
1. ‘Love never fails.’ In what sense do you understand the word ‘fails’ in this verse? What resources might help you understand precisely what Paul meant when he selected this word? Extra credit for overachievers: consult some of those resources and share with the group what you discover.
2. What event is Paul speaking about when he uses the phrase “when completion comes”? What leads you to this conclusion? Are you aware of other possible interpretations of this phrase? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Read 1 Corinthians 13:11-13
1. Paul says that of the theological virtues (faith, hope, love), love is the greatest. What makes love different and greater than faith and hope? (Hint: this statement comes in the context of a passage in which Paul describes how things must change when Christ returns.)