1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Mark 12:29-31 “Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.’”
~The significance of the word love can get fuzzy sometimes. We use it to describe how we feel about our children…and how we feel about a burrito…we love the weather, we love the Lord, we love sleeping in…it can get so it seems generic at times. Here’s an exercise: If you were to take a picture of love, what would it look like? Try to come up with several “action pictures” that would express love toward God, your family, friends, fellow believers, and strangers.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain…love…”
~Review the transliteration of loveHERE. Scroll down to find a list of other verses in the New Testament where agape love is mentioned. Reviewing these verses shows other contextual uses for agape and can aid in our understanding of it.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain…hope…” (view transliteration of hope HERE)
Romans 5:2b-5 “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
~The transliteration defines hope as, “joyful and confident expectation…” ~According to Romans, what produces hope?
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith…” (view transliteration of faithHERE)
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified Bible) “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”
~What does faith mean to you? ~How can we “…be certain of what we do not see?”
1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see but a poor 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.”
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: This verse speaks of our understanding. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror”. Here’s what the Blue Letter Bible commentary says about this portion of the passage:
“…in those days they had not perfected the process of making mirrors as we have today. It wasn’t until about the thirteenth century that they really began to create mirrors, using glass with a silver backing painted on. Prior to that time, the mirrors were all polished metal, highly polished metal. But you never got a true reflection in those mirrors. Quite often the reflection was distorted, so we look in the mirror, but we see sort of distortions. We can’t see clearly…”
~What sorts of things can distort our spiritual understanding?
1 Corinthians 13:11 “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 childish ways behind me.”
1 Peter 2:2-3 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
1 Cornithians 3:1-2 “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.”
~Why are people young in their faith referred to as children while those mature in faith are called men? ~What are some practical things we can do to grow up in our faith?
1 Corinthians 13:9-10 “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” (view transliteration of perfect HERE)
Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”
Romans 3:10 “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one’”
~If we are unable to be righteous on our own, what do you think the word perfect refers to? ~One of the transliterations for perfect is mature. How does this add to your understanding?
1 Corinthians 13:8 “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.” (view transliteration of failsHERE)
1 John 4:8,16 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
~How does the knowledge that God is the embodiment of love affect your understand of 1 Corinthians 13:8? ~Why do you think our earthly experiences with love do not measure up to this passage?
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