About a year ago (1/22, 23, and 28) I posted a study of 1 Corinthians 13. Since then my work with agape power has led me to even deeper insights into the radical message that Paul gave there. After all, the purpose of that chapter is Paul’s explanation of the strange new spiritual gift he called “agape.” (The chapter could not be about what is commonly meant as love, because he did not use any of the Greek common words for “love.” And anyway, he had no reason to explain love.)
We remember that Paul had just finished, in chapter 12, a list of spiritual gifts. So then he warned his readers that what he was going to show them next was unusual -- by saying, “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 unusual religious innovation that he thought was so important he described it as a “more excellent way”?
Whenever approaching the shocking 13th chapt., I keep in mind Paul’s view of agape expressed in Rom. 5:5 -- “The agape of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” That helps us understand why he began the 13th chapt. by showing that he considered “agape” to be the greatest of all spiritual gifts that anyone can receive. He was using a spiritual explanation in those unusual verses. (Because I quoted extensively in the Jan., 2010, postings, I won’t repeat those Biblical quotes. And I don’t need to repeat my carefully explained evidence for leaving “agape” untranslated.)
First, he explained that other spiritual gifts were nothing without agape. He even explained that charity is most effective when done through the power of agape. After those comparisons, that would have upset the Corinthians, Paul was ready to lay out the details showing what agape power could do. But in an even more unusual method, he didn’t start by talking about what the transforming power of agape can do to us. Instead, he talked directly about what agape itself is.
He started that description by pointing out that agape is patient and kind. WHAT? So whatever that strange spiritual power is, patience and kindness are of the very essence of what it is. He seems to be saying this: the way agape's spiritual power works in a person and between persons in a faith community, it is patient and kind. What does that mean?
The King James Version uses the expression “suffereth long” instead of “patient.” That adds a new depth of meaning for all those people who wrongly want religion to guard them against suffering. So agape is the spiritual power found in suffering. That’s why Paul said that agape “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (vss. 4-7) What an amazing spiritual power!
So we have to look to what spiritually is the foundation of patience and kindness. In Galatians, when Paul concluded, “If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25 Common English Bible) -- he was referring to what followers of Jesus Christ must do to 'crucify' the influence of any ego-identity.
Several verses later he said, “be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires." That’s when he gave the list: "The fruit of the Spirit is agape, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal. 16-23) Those “spiritual fruits” all go together. Of course, agape comes first, because its spiritual power opens us up to both God and to other people in such a way that what comes into our being is a profound sense of joyous well-being.
That deep spiritual sense allows us to accept other people in a life-affirming way that we become neither agitated with them nor attach any degree of importance to anything they may to do us. That's how we're able to live in a forgiving, merciful way. Even though we might think that is not humanly possible, with agape, all is possible.
Paul then explained more about agape when he then said that it helps us move beyond any ego-centric behavior. He seems to be saying that agape is our very witness that true spiritual power is on the side of patience, kindness, justice and truth -- and that it is against envy, conceit, judgementalness, self-righteousness, and all other results of ego-identity behavior.
Then he concluded that all the other spiritual gifts will eventually fail in their effectiveness, but agape will never fail. (vs. 8 Common English Bible) So, he then said he understood that we need agape in order to become fully mature in our spiritual development; otherwise, we remain childishly stunted in our growth in faith. And finally, even though we know that faith, hope, and agape abide to sustain us spiritually -- “the greatest of these is agape.” (vs. 13) Greater that faith and hope?!
Those statements would have bothered Greeks when they were read in the First Century. Those words show a new way for Christians to develop spiritually. (So, again, we lose that shocking, new, powerful quality if we just translate “agape” with our English word “love.” But by leaving the word as Paul wanted it, we are better able to see what he was showing us.)
When we hear the way Paul explained agape in that chapter, then we know we are dealing with the basis for a new faith discipline that motivates us to look for a spiritual training that will help us live fully through the power of God. Paul was telling his generation, and all generations since then, to expect that when we open ourselves to the power of agape, we will find it to be patient, kind, non-judgmental, and not ego-inflating.
That seems to mean to me that God will not force agape on us, so each of has to be completely willing to open our heart -- but also that agape will eternally be there for us. Even though agape is the most important power that God has for us, we have to freely accept the gift and use it or else it will mean nothing to us -- and our lives will amount to nothing until we are willing to work with that all-important spiritual power.
Later on, near the end of that epistle, Paul said, “Stay awake, stand firm in your faith, be brave, be strong. Everything should be done in agape.” (16:14 Common English Bible) That’s how he thought of the total influence of agape -- that we should use agape to do everything that we do in life.
It is that spiritual power of agape that brings to the center of our being the peace that is the spiritual power of patience itself; the spiritual strength of kindness; the wise rejoicing in the truth; and the basis of such a profound compassion that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
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