39 What Does Real Love Look Like? (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome, my name is Krisan Marotta. You're listening to Wednesday in the Word, my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. We're gonna study 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 7 today. This is the 39th talk in our series on 1 Corinthians. You can reach the lecture notes for today's talk by going to the link below the podcast, or you can find the lecture notes on my website, wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 3.9. And while you're there, check out the website. There's lots of Bible study materials, no charge, no spam, and no ads. Glad to have you along. I'm going to take this chapter a little bit out of order. Today I want to focus on the middle of the passage, which addresses the attributes of love, and then in the next podcast, we're going to go back and put this section into the context of Paul's argument. First Corinthians chapters 12 through 14 are all one unit or one section of the letter. And this section or this passage on love falls in the middle of the argument. But most often we treat this section as if it were a standalone set of verses with no further point. So today I want to spend some time understanding what is he saying about love and talking about how we should approach a passage like this and why Paul felt the need to say this to the Corinthians. And then next week we're going to put that section back into the context of the entire chapter and the argument that runs from chapter 12 through 14. So first let's remember where we are in the letter. Starting in chapter 12, Paul began addressing the problem of tongues in the Corinthian church. He is speaking to a group of believers who are grading and judging each other by whether or not they speak in tongues. And there are some in the Corinthian church who think if you don't speak in tongues, then you're not really a spiritual Christian. You're kind of a lesser Christian and maybe not even a Christian at all. Some folks in the Corinthian church then believe that speaking in tongues is what marks you as a truly spiritual person. If you have this visible, obvious, outward manifestation of the spirit, like speaking in tongues, then it's obvious that you are a spiritual giant. And Paul has made two points so far in his arguments. The first one is that while the Corinthians believe that something like tongues is the true mark of being a spiritual person, Paul said no, the true mark of a spiritual person is that that person can say and mean that Jesus is Lord. If you want to see evidence that the Spirit is at work in someone, you can look at what's coming out of their mouth, but it's not that they're speaking in tongues, it's that they can say and believe and mean in a profound way that Jesus is Lord. The second point he made is that while some in the Corinthian church believe that everyone ought to have the same gift of the Spirit, notably tongues, Paul has said no, there is both unity and diversity in the body of Christ. The unity of the body of Christ is the way the Spirit works the same in all of us, and the diversity is how the Spirit works differently in each of us. So on the one hand, the Spirit gives us all the same saving faith, the same spiritual awakening, the same perseverance in the faith, and the same desire to follow Jesus, such that we will say and mean Jesus is Lord. On the other hand, the Spirit gives us very different roles to play in the body of Christ. We each have a different function. Just like different parts of the human body do different jobs and fulfill different functions to keep the body healthy, so we believers have different jobs to fulfill in the history of God's people to bring about God's glory and his promises. Chapter thirteen is a digression or a tangent in this argument. And as we'll talk more about next week, Paul ends chapter twelve, he interrupts himself with chapter thirteen, and then he goes back to pick up his point from the end of twelve in fourteen one. Chapter thirteen is essentially an interruption to his thought. It's an important interruption, but it's kind of a tangent nonetheless, and we're going to talk more about how that all fits together in the next podcast. I'm going to read chapter thirteen verses one through seven, but we're really only going to focus on verses four through seven today. So this is first Corinthians chapter thirteen verses one through seven. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Before we look at the text, I want to put this issue in perspective and talk about how we approach a passage like this. As Bible students, we want to ask, what does Paul have in mind? It's important to stop and ask exactly what the author is talking about. It's easy to jump to a conclusion based on our pre-understanding of love or cultural expectations or ideas we may have gathered from books and movies. Our idea of love can get very narrow. In one sense, love is a very simple idea, and we all think we know what it means and what it's all about. We all have people that we love and that love us, and we all have a basic general idea of what it means to love someone. Love has to do with making room in my life for someone else. By nature, I make plenty of room for myself. I'm very interested in making sure that I have what I need and making sure that my life is fulfilling and easy, and I think everything I have to say is interesting, and it's so fascinating to me, I think it ought to be fascinating to you. Well, love has to do with breaking out of that focus on self and recognizing, you know, there are other people out there, and those other people also have needs and interesting things to say. Because we're basically self-centered creatures, we prefer to think of ourselves first and we have difficulty making room in our lives for God and for our neighbors. And all of us have known someone who claims to be acting out of love, but their actions seem more selfish than loving. And it's often easier to see that kind of contradiction or conflict in someone else than it is to see it in ourselves. But at times we all think we're acting out of love, but our actions include a large measure of selfishness. The two great commandments capture our moral obligation as human beings in a general way. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. But love for God and love for our neighbors differs. When we talk about loving God, the focus is more on desiring God and wanting to know him. It's on longing to be blessed by him, wanting to understand what he thinks, what he values, wanting to be pleasing to him and wanting to be like him. Romance is a good analogy to loving God. When you fall in love with someone, you start to orient your life around that person. You get dressed in the morning and you think, oh, what would my beloved think about this? And you start making choices based on, oh, what would my beloved think? Will he like this? Will it please him and so forth? And we want to join in the things that our beloved values and be part of their life. And loving God is like that. To love God is to recognize how important he is, to recognize his importance to me, and to start orienting my life around what he thinks and what he values. It's to cling to him and look to him for the direction of my life. When we talk about loving our neighbor, it's not the same kind of focus. I don't cling to my neighbor, I don't long to be like him. To talk about loving my neighbor as myself means seeking the good of my neighbor as I naturally seek what is good for myself. Each of us has a certain natural interest and concern for our own welfare, and we are called to have that same kind of concern for our neighbor. Now, when Paul starts talking about love in 1 Corinthians 13, I think he's focusing on the kind of love we see in the second great commandment, loving my neighbor as myself. We are called to be as concerned about the welfare of other people as we are concerned about our own welfare. Now, none of us do this perfectly or even half as well as we should. And as we talk about this passage, every honest person listening is going to start squirming because we know deep down we're selfish creatures. This kind of love is not natural to us. We all fail to love others as we should, even when we want to love them that way. We resolve to be a better spouse, a better friend, a better parent, a better child. And what happens when we lose a little sleep? Well, selfishness kicks into high gear and we get irritable, cranky, and angry, and we snap at people and we treat them badly. And if we're at all honest or paying attention, we all recognize that failure in ourselves. It's even hard to love the people we care about most, our families and our closest friends. The people who are most important to us ought to be easy to love, and yet sometimes they're the hardest. We let down our guard and we act our worst around them because we feel most comfortable around them. When you expand it out to the larger group of people in your tribe, it's easy to be nice, but actually being as concerned about their welfare as my own is even harder. And being unloving is one of the primary sins we all need forgiveness for. We are not by nature loving people and we have failed to love in many ways. And as we look at Paul's list, all of us are going to start getting really uncomfortable and convicted because if we're honest, this list does not describe the way we love our neighbors and friends. And I'm convinced that our squirmy, uncomfortable reaction is no surprise to Paul. We want to ask the further question why did Paul bring this up? What does he want us to do with this list? If we're all going to get squirmy and uncomfortable, why would he bring this up? What's at stake for him? In Paul's letters he talks about two different motivations for loving, and both of them are significant, and I think it's important to understand how they differ. The first motivation is this as a believer, I must accept the truth that I am no more or no less important than any other human being. Paul has been making this point throughout chapter twelve. This is the fundamental logic behind the commandment that I should love my neighbor as myself. We are equal before God. We are equally made in his image, we are equally sinful, and we are equally saved by the blood of Christ. Our roles may differ in impact, but we ourselves are equal. This is part of what we've been talking about in chapter twelve. Now we would all like to think that we're the main character and everyone else is the supporting caste, but scripture tells us otherwise. Now it is appropriate to figure out what my role is and what part I play. It's not wrong to seek my own welfare. It's wrong to forget that other people are equally as worthy of respect, compassion, and consideration. To be unloving in this sense is based on the lie that my life and my needs are more important than anyone else's. Part of our great hope is that we are going to be rescued from sin, and that includes this notion that I am more important than you. Why are relationships so difficult? Why do families and friends splinter apart? Because fundamentally each one of us lives as if we are more important than everyone else. The world is a difficult and tragic place in part because each of us is fundamentally selfish. And part of our great hope is that in the kingdom of God, that selfishness is going to be fixed and put right. God will fix that flaw in our characters that makes us fundamentally selfish and we will be able to love our neighbor as ourselves. Imagine how truly wonderful the world will be when everyone in it loves like that. When we love each other free from selfishness and sin and we are all people who never fail to love. That's part of our great hope, but we're not there yet. But the logic behind love your neighbor as yourself is this fundamental concept that we are equal before God. No one is more or less important. We all have the same dignity and the same hope and the same worth. Motivation number two is that while I am called to love every human being, there is an even greater incentive to love my fellow believers. Everyone understands that parents are appropriately interested in the welfare of their children. We expect them to be concerned about their children, to advocate for their children's welfare and so forth. They have a responsibility to do that. Ultimately, children are going to leave the nest, but during the growing years, parents are called to be parents and no one faults them for looking out for their children's welfare. Similarly, everyone understands that husbands and wives have a unique relationship that calls them to care for and cherish each other in a unique way. Those bonds are obvious to us. What we've lost is that the gospel tells us we have a similar kind of bond and calling to other believers. Similar to the parent-child relationship or the spouse relationship, believers have a calling to care for each other. As Paul has just been arguing in chapter 12, believers have been brought together to be the body of Christ. We share something that transcends even death. We share hope in the gospel and life in the kingdom of God. And we share something that we will share together throughout eternity. So what's the most important issue in your life? You may have a list, but let me remind you, the reality is that the most important issue in your life is whether or not you trust God and arrive at eternal life. Whether or not you work out your salvation with your Creator is the issue of your life right now. And all of us believers have settled that question the same way. The Spirit of God has opened our eyes to the truth and given us faith in the blood of Christ such that we say and mean Jesus is Lord. We're all trying to learn the same lessons in this life. When this world passes away and the new world begins, we believers are going to be standing there together inheriting the same salvation. We will become fellow citizens in the kingdom of God. So in addition to the dignity that I share with all human beings, I'm going to share eternity with believers. They are uniquely my people. This is the fundamental logic behind the call to love our fellow believers. Believers have a double claim. We are not only fellow human beings who share the image of God, we are also brothers and sisters in the family of Christ who are going to spend eternity together. Loving all people and loving other believers involves two different kinds of logic. Loving all people is based on the understanding that we are equally made in God's image. In addition, loving other believers involves the understanding that we are fellow travelers on this journey of faith and we are all children of God. If I'm not interested in loving my fellow believer, then it raises the question, have I really understood the gospel? Because part of coming to understand the gospel is coming to realize that we believers have the same Lord, the same faith, and we're in this family together. So now let's think about what's going on with the Corinthians and why Paul might bring up this topic of love at this point. The issue of tongues is the latest in a series of issues that has been dividing their church. A group in the Corinthian church has been showing themselves to be very worldly, to be arrogant, self-centered, ambitious, and elitist. And in this particular case, the issue is if you don't speak in tongues, then you're a second class Christian because tongues is the mark of true spirituality. And they are saying clearly you're not as spiritual as I am because I speak in tongues and therefore I am justified in looking down on you and rejecting you. And this is a profound mistake. Part of Paul's argument in this section, and it's only part of the argument, is that we are called to love each other, especially our fellow believers. Love is everything that their behavior in this situation is not. The way they have separated themselves, rejecting those who don't speak in tongues is the opposite of how we're called to treat other believers. So as we go through this list, keep that situation in mind. Keep what's going on in Corinth in mind. Paul is defining love in a way that highlights how seriously the Corinthians have gone wrong in their behavior. So I don't think he decided to, oh, let's just include this abstract treatise on the metaphysical nature of love at this point. He didn't say, now's a good time to write some proverbs on love that people can put on greeting cards and use in their wedding vows for years to come. He's talking to a group of people who are making a very serious mistake, and this is part of his corrective. He wants to remind them what love is all about because they're not doing it. Now, next week we're gonna see that this reminder is part of a larger argument, and we're gonna look at how it fits the flow of thought from twelve to fourteen. Today we're just gonna concentrate on verses four through seven and look at what he's saying about love. We're gonna step through them one by one, but keep that context in the back of your mind. Alright, so first Corinthians thirteen verse four. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant. Love is patient. The old English word of long suffering, I think, really captures this idea well. Being patient is being slow to respond. Being patient is taking a long time before I strike back or respond to an offense. The Bible describes God as being long suffering or patient with us. We have offended him greatly. We are guilty because of our sin, and yet he continues to show grace and mercy and give us time to repent. Similarly, we are called to be long suffering with each other, to put up with others' hurts and offenses, and to let those hurts and offenses roll off our backs, delaying any angry response. Our natural tendency is to react quickly. Someone hurts us or neglects us, and we want them to stop now. So our tendency is to be quick to respond, but love is the opposite. Since love seeks the welfare of the other person, the loving response is to be willing to wait, to be patient, and to give them time and space to learn and repent and change. For the Corinthians, in their situation, I would put it like this even if it were true that non tongue speakers are less spiritual, and that's not true, but even if it were, love would call you to be long suffering with them. Love would call you to be patient and wait for them to come to the same maturity that you think you've found. But that's not what's been happening in Corinth. The tongue speaking group has quickly dismissed and rejected the non-tongue speaking group. All right, the second one, love is kind. Kind does not mean nice. Kindness in the biblical sense is much more active than just being polite and not rocking the boat. Kindness is usually in the context of doing good for someone in spite of what they've done or maybe in spite of what they haven't done. Being kind is actively seeking someone else's good despite the way they may have just offended or hurt you or neglected you. So kindness is intentionally doing good for someone else. And again, God is described as being kind to us sinners. He actively blesses us even though we sin against him. He seeks our good even though we don't deserve it. Similarly, we are called to be kind to each other. We are called to be kind to those who have not necessarily been kind to us and are not acting in all the ways we might want them to act. We are called to be kind to them the way God is kind to us. Now speaking to the Corinthians, Paul is saying, Okay, guys, look, even if it were true that non tongue speakers are less spiritual than you are, you supposedly more spiritual folks are called to be kind to them. You are called to do good for them even if you think they don't deserve it. You are called to be working for their benefit and to be on their side, not to judge or reject them. Love is not jealous or envious. To be envious is to be upset when others have something I want. When the Bible talks about envy, it usually doesn't stop at just the inner attitude. It often includes that kind of active competition and undermining someone else so I can get what they have. And Paul has been seeing this at work in the Corinthian church when he talks about how some say no, I'm for Paul, and some say no, I'm for Apollos. This is back in First Corinthians chapter three, this is verses three and four. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? Are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? He describes their divisions as motivated by envy and jealousy. The contentions among them are motivated by I want what you have and it bothers me, so I'm going to pick a fight. It often has to do with position, with power, with winning an argument, or with just getting your way. And Paul's saying love is not like that. Love is concerned with the other person, so I can rejoice that someone else is in a good position. I can rejoice that someone else has been blessed. For the Corinthians, then, he's saying, even if it were true that tongue speakers are more spiritual, tongue speakers have no business forming cliques and trying to win power and get their policies in place to the detriment of others. Rather than dividing and trying to win the high ground, they should rejoice in others' blessings. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Now obviously, if I'm as concerned for you as I am for myself, I wouldn't be singing my own praises and boasting about how much better off I am than you are. So you can see how this would be a problem in Corinth. Paul is saying to the Corinthians, even if it were true that non tongue speakers are less spiritual, how is it right for you to rub their noses in it? The supposedly more spiritual people have no business boasting about their alleged spirituality. That kind of boasting seems to be what's going on because Paul uses this analogy in chapter twelve of one part of the body saying to another part, look, I have no need of you. So that's this idea of this bragging, this arrogance of I'm important and you're not. Love is not arrogant, is similar. It's the idea of being puffed up with my own importance. It's interesting this word for arrogant is used seven times in the New Testament, and six of them are here in this letter. This seems to be a particular fault of the Corinthians. Paul connects their divisions and their problems with their inflated sense of their own importance, but love calls us to something different. It's hard to be puffed up with my own importance if I recognize that I am no more or no less important than anyone else. So Paul is saying even if it were true that non tongue speakers are less important and less spiritual, those of you who are supposedly more spiritual have no business puffing yourselves up and inflating your own importance. thirteen five. So the first one, love does not act unbecomingly. The idea is love does not act disgracefully. This verb here act unbecomingly is related to the word we saw in chapter twelve when Paul was talking about the parts of the body that are shameful or indecent, the parts we cover up, it has the basic idea of disgraceful or indecent, shameful, unbecoming. This verb is used one other place in First Corinthians, and that's in chapter seven. There Paul was addressing the situation where a man is engaged or betrothed, and he's wondering if he should break the engagement. And Paul says in 736, if any man thinks he is acting unbecomingly toward his fiancee, let them marry. So he's saying if you've made a commitment and understand that it would be wrong to break it, then get married. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you think you're doing something disgraceful, if you're treating this woman shamefully or disgracefully, then by all means marry her. So that's the phrase. If any man thinks he is acting unbecomingly, it's the same idea he is doing wrong to someone or shamefully. It's the same verb. So what is Paul getting at here? Well, virtue would say I should refrain from acting shamefully or disgracefully, whether it involves loving another person or not. But in both the context in Corinthians where we see this verb, there's another person involved. The context is my actions towards someone else are unbecoming. Now Paul could mean love does not act toward others in a way that brings shame upon myself, so I don't shame myself in the way I'm acting toward them. Or he could mean the opposite, I am treating someone else in a way that disgraces that person. So my behavior puts them in a disgraceful position or shames or ridicules them in some way. Now both of those are possibilities given the situation in Corinth, so he could be saying even if it were true that non-tongue speakers were less spiritual, the supposedly more spiritual should not disgrace themselves by treating them poorly or should not disgrace them by treating them poorly. Either of those is possible. I lean toward the second one, but either one works in the context and the situation. Love does not seek its own. Basically he's saying love is not selfish. Now that one we probably all understand because we all have a great deal of experience with being treated selfishly or being selfish ourselves. And he's saying for the Corinthians, look, you guys, even if it were true that non-tongue speakers were less spiritual, the supposedly more spiritual should not use that as an excuse to act selfishly. Their lack of spiritual maturity is no excuse for you to treat them badly and ignore their needs. Love is not provoked. Love does not get irritated at others, does not respond with anger. I don't think the essence of this is an inner anger or an indignation, but being irritated or provoked to the point of striking back or responding back in turn. For the Corinthians, he's saying, even if it were true that non-tongue speakers were less spiritual, the supposedly more spiritual should not be reactionary and provoked into mistreating them. Love does not take into account a wrong. Literally, this is love does not think about evil. I think the typical translation gets the idea here. Love does not dwell on a wrong suffered. Love does not think about evil in that way. What does he mean by not take into account a wrong suffered? Do I ignore it and pretend it didn't happen? I don't think that's the idea. I think if someone is doing wrong, it's appropriate to recognize that, to deal with it wisely, and attempt to change their behavior. But this is taking into account a wrong, like holding a grudge or seeking to get even. So when I'm deciding how to treat you, I don't take it into account and hurt you back. I don't treat you just as evilly as you were treating me or I think you were treating me, and I don't seek revenge. So for the Corinthians, even if it were true that the non-tongue speakers were are less spiritual, the supposedly more spiritual need to ignore that supposed weakness of the other people and continue to work for their good. thirteen six, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with truth. Here's another case where valuing truth over unrighteousness is a virtue regardless of the situation, but we're in a context where the issue is how do I respond to and treat others? Now there are divisions in Corinth. There's a spiritual competition and one-upsmanship going on. They're fighting over who's of Paul and who's Team Apollos and who speaks in tongues and who doesn't, and who eats meat sacrificed to idols and who doesn't. And in that kind of environment, it's easy to cheer when my side wins, if you will, wins, quote unquote, or gets the advantage, even if my side is winning because we're acting shamefully. And Paul's saying love rejoices when the truth of the gospel prevails in the community. It's not do I personally stand to gain or to benefit, but that truth is prevailing. So for the Corinthians, even if it were true that non tongue speakers were less spiritual, the supposedly more spiritual should not be rejoicing that the tongue's party is winning, but should be rejoicing when the truth of the gospel is advancing. And that brings us to thirteen seven. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. These last four fall into a slightly different category, and I want to take them together. Each of these four talks about all things, and the repetition of all things is very strong language. The repetition is for emphasis. And the idea I think is whatever things come your way, good or bad, to believe, to hope, and to persevere in the faith are very important concepts in the New Testament, and they come up a lot in Paul's writings, and two of them, faith and hope, are going to come up again at the end of this chapter. I think the idea is whatever comes your way, whatever you may find in the other person, however they treat you, whether it's badly or or perfectly, whatever they do, the person who truly loves puts up with it and continues to believe the gospel, continues to hope in the promise of the gospel, and continues to persevere in the faith. That bears all things has the idea of whatever comes your way, good or bad, whatever comes at you, you bear it. Whatever comes at you, you continue to believe. Whatever comes at you, you continue to hope, and whatever comes at you, you continue to persevere in the faith. I see this verse as a summary, foundational statement at the end of the list. The reason my love can be patient and kind, the reason my love is not jealous or boastful or arrogant and so forth is because I believe the gospel. I hope in the gospel and I continue to persevere in the faith. That gives me a foundation from which to love. I know that the gospel is true and God is on my side. I know that I have a hope that is unshakable and will not disappoint me. And I am free to love this way because I am confident that God is in control and ultimately working for my good and everyone else who believes. I am free to love this way because I know this world is not all there is, and I am looking forward to the kingdom of heaven. I don't have to take care of number one, I don't have to get everything in this life has to offer here and now because I know that this is not the end. There is something coming, a promise that is greater and better. And I recognize you as my fellow traveler in the faith, and I recognize that if you mess up and let me down, God's not gonna let me down. And if I mess up and let you down, God's not gonna let you down. He can forgive and redeem and get us both to the finish line. All right, let me wrap this up. First, none of us should have any delusions that we will love successfully like this all the time. This is not a standard we should use to beat each other up and say, Well, look, you didn't love me right, nor is it a standard we should use to condemn ourselves. Having said that, what Paul is saying here ought to hit us hard. We ought to recognize that this list does not describe us in our natural state, and we have no hope of becoming this kind of person apart from the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if we have cast ourselves on the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the work of the Spirit, that is exactly our hope. Part of the promise of the gospel is that God is going to make us into people who love like this. Our job is to continue to believe that whatever comes our way. And life is going to test our ability to love like this over and over and over again, and we're going to fail a lot. We will demonstrate that we are not loving people. But that's not the end of the story. The test confronts us with issues of faith. When I'm confronting the question of how am I going to treat you in a particular situation, I'm really confronting the question of what do I believe? Do I believe the promises of the gospel enough to seek your welfare? Do I believe God's promises enough not to seek revenge or get provoked? Do I believe the claims of the gospel that we are equally sinners and equally in need of forgiveness such that I can love you when you're unlovable? Do I recognize, as the gospel tells me, that I am also unlovable, and I have no cause to treat you with arrogance or shame because I'm a sinner too? Do I recognize that you are my brother or sister and that God is on our side? Fundamentally, the maturity of my faith is at stake, and the test is going to reveal whether I have faith at all or how strong or mature that faith is. We have the opportunity to confront each other's weaknesses and live out our faith. We have the opportunity to show grace, forgiveness, mercy, and this kind of love regardless of how the other person is treating us. Sometimes we're going to fail, sometimes we're not. The goal is whatever comes your way, continue to believe, to hope, and to persevere in the faith. Now remember, this list is part of a larger argument, which we're going to look at in the next podcast. Paul is giving this list as part of his corrective to the Corinthians. He wants the Corinthians to confront their behavior and ask the question, what do I really believe? What is truly important to me in the end? And this chapter is about what things are truly important. And part of Paul's point he's going to make is that love is central. However much I may struggle to love like this, it ought to be something I value, long for, and seek after. This kind of love ought to be the top of my priorities. It is central to faith in two important ways. First, I want to be free from sin, and sin is all about being selfish, which is the opposite of this kind of love. And second, I want to value the gospel and believe and live out the gospel, and loving like this is part of the gospel. So for both those reasons, caring about others is a high priority in living out our faith. So this list is not something I want to use to condemn myself, because in truth, I'm already condemned. I am a sinner and I am not the kind of person who left to myself is going to love like this. That test is over and I failed. But this list is an opportunity to learn to see life differently and to gain some wisdom and perspective, to see that this is part of the hope of the gospel. This is the kind of person God is transforming me into. To learn that we are selfish sinners in need of a savior and left to ourselves, we are not the kind of people who love like this, but our hope is that one day, thanks to the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit, we are going to be people who will love like this. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but shows you how to figure it out. I have three favors to ask. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a positive rating or review whenever you listen to your podcast, and tell a friend. And of course, the simple act of telling a friend is best. It does help people find the podcast, but I'd rather you tell them what you learned and encourage them in the face. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coast. You can find his great music at heartfeltmusic.org. I'm Chris Amorata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the morning.