“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.” I Cor. 13:1-2 (NIV)
The title of this post is from a Larry Norman (Christian music pioneer) song of the 1970’s, and he was echoing the words from I Cor. 13:2. He sang them because these are some of the most important words in Christianity.
This passage shocks us with the surprising truth that even if someone has great spiritual gifts they are nothing without love! In fact, they are a nuisance, like a noisy gong. They are not a true disciple. What is surprising is that God would give spiritual gifts to believers even if they didn’t have much love. One could even work miracles but not have love. By grace God gives gifts whether we are mature or not, but we can’t let gifts mislead us into thinking we or anyone else is mature.
Consider the gifts Paul mentions in this passage:
- Tongues of angels (the gift of “speaking in tongues” Paul refers to before and after I Cor. 13)
- Gift of prophecy
- Knowledge of all mysteries
- Miraculous faith that can move mountains
If someone in our church had all these qualities we might be tempted to think they were a spiritual giant. But God teaches us that we can not value someone according to their supernatural abilities. The test of spiritual growth is love.
“God dwells in a kingdom of love and we can only grow in His kingdom if we choose to dwell in love too.”
If someone gives us a word that includes supernatural knowledge about us that they could only have received from God we might be tempted to think this is someone close to God and we should listen to all their words. But this is faulty (and popular) thinking. If they are mature then we should be able to see humility and kindness in the way they interact with others. Likewise, we should not think highly of ourselves because of some gift God gave us.
And we should not equate discipleship with knowledge, even knowledge of “all mysteries”. Does our plan for discipleship focus on doctrine or practice? Many discipleship plans focus mostly on correct knowledge and little on correct living. True spiritual formation is formation in love. Thankfully, this is becoming more recognized in Western Christianity.
Love is the measuring stick when it comes to spiritual growth and discipleship. Is it not true that in our relationships we want people who love us more than people who have special gifts? Love is the criteria for evaluating our own life as well as the lives of others. Of course, we know that love can be the most challenging virtue to acquire, and it is tempting to prefer to focus on our gifts. But if we want to be close to God then we must be people who love; for God dwells in a kingdom of love and we can only grow in His kingdom if we choose to dwell in love too.
