1 Corinthians 13:1-3
God Is Love: Why Love Is the Greatest Thing – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIVUK)
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. 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. 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.
Commentary
Love is the greatest thing because it is as close as we can get to God. Love is the very essence of God. We have so many words that we can use to describe God. You can say, God is almighty, God is holy. God is eternal. And yet the phrase that the Bible uses to describe God is God is love.
1 John says God is love, whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in them. The greatest commandment is: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, and mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. There is nothing more important than love. Now we are beginning a series on the fruit of the Spirit and the first fruit of the spirit you may well know is love.
And I’d like to suggest it’s first for a reason. It’s not just the first in a list, but because love is the source of all of the others. It is the source of joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and self-control. You know how sunlight, when it refracts through a raindrop, creates all of the colours of a rainbow? In the same way, love is like that sunlight which refracts into all of those other colours, all of those other virtues. It’s a profoundly important thing.