1 Corinthians 13

When St. Paul finally launched into showing the power of agape, his first readers would have been surprised. They would have found very strange his detailed illustration of the supreme importance of agape. He was warning them about how unusual it was going to be, when he said, “Now I shall show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:31 The Anchor Yale Bible, p. 474, 2008 Vol. 32) So what was this innovation that he brought to the early development of Christianity?

He began the 13th chapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians, by continuing his list of spiritual gifts that he started talking about in chapter 12. He did that to show that he considered “agape” to be the greatest of all spiritual gifts. For example, without agape, “speaking in tongues” was just like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Then he said that we are nothing without agape even though we “have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and … have all faith, so as to remove mountains.” (vs. 2 The New Revised Standard Version)

Then he got into what we today mean by charity, when he said that if we give away all our possessions and even are willing to sacrifice our own bodies for the cause -- but don’t do it through the power of agape -- we gain nothing. At that point he had his readers’ attention in a shocking way! They would not have liked that list of comparisons between agape and all the other spiritual gifts that most people would find wonderful to have. So he was ready to lay out the details showing what agape power could do.

So then he pointed out that agape is what we need to be patient and kind. Agape power helps us not be envious or boastful or arrogant or rude or insist on our own way, and not be irritable or resentful. Then he hit the self-righteous religious people right between the eyes when he said that agape will help them not rejoice in the wrongdoing of those they like to judge as less religiously worthy. So of course, agape helps us “rejoice in the truth.” Agape power even gives us the internal strength to “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.” (vss. 4-7) Because everyone knows how difficult it is to live that way, we are able to see how extremely important such an inner transformation is.

Then he concluded that the effectiveness all the other spiritual gifts will eventually end, but agape will never end. So we need agape in order to become fully mature in our spiritual development -- otherwise, we remain childish in our understanding of the spiritual dimension of Life. And finally, even though we know that faith, hope, and agape abide to sustain us spiritually -- “the greatest of these is agape.” (vs. 13)

Those statements would have shaken up Christians of the First Century. Those words show a new way for Christians to develop spiritually. We lose that shocking, new, powerful quality if we just translate “agape” with our English word “love.” But by leaving the word as St. Paul wanted it, we are better able to see what he was showing us.

When we hear agape used in that chapter, then we know we are dealing with the basis for a new spiritual discipline that motivates us to look for a spiritual training that will help us live fully through the power of God.