Chapter 13

1 Corinthians 13:1, “Though” is literally “if,” a first class condition of assumption. Paul is now going to clobber the tongues people in the next two chapters. He is going to prove that they are out of line in the congregation and they are out of line in life. He is going to show this from two standpoints: in chapter 13 from the standpoint of their general living; in chapter 14 in the local church worship the tongues people are wrong and out of line.

In the first three verses we have nothingness apart from the “more excellent way,” the filling of the Spirit. Apart from the filling of the Spirit we as believers are nothing.

First we have nothingness of speech apart from the Spirit-filled life.

“speak,” this word appealed to the Greeks who admired eloquence, they enjoyed debating and public speaking. The word “I speak” has the concept of the cultural background of the Greeks. They admired a great public speaker.

“tongues,” wherever you find this word in the Bible it always means languages that someone can understand. The word tongues never refers to something that no one can understand except God, it always refers to a foreign language.

“of men and of angels,” suppose that I could speak the foreign languages of men and even of angels.

“and have not,” present linear aktionsart.

“charity,” a word which today means simply to help those who are less fortunate. At best it is an expression of love. But 400 years ago when the KJV was translated the noun “charity” or the verb “cherish” was the strongest word in the English language for love. The noun “charity” represents the Greek noun a)gaph and the verb “cherish” a)gapaw.

Now a)gaph is the word used for the love of God for mankind in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world ...” It is used for the love of the Father for the Son in John 15:9; it is used of the love of a believer for God, 1 John 4:19; and, above all, it is used for the filling of the Spirit producing love, Romans 5:5: “The love which belongs to God is shed abroad in your hearts by means of the Holy Spirit.” Divine love can be produced in the believer, but it is produced in the soul. Divine love is a mental attitude love and it is only produced by the Spirit and enhanced by doctrine. The more stable one becomes, the more time that is logged in the filling of the Spirit, and as one grows spiritually, then this filling of the Spirit produces love and it has more facets and manifestations. The important point is this. Love in this passage refers to the filling of the Spirit and what the filling of the Spirit produces.

“and have not charity,” [and have not the filling of the Spirit which produces or manifests itself in divine love]. What is this verse saying? The exercise of any gift, the exercise of the gift of tongues or any spiritual gift apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit is nothingness and uselessness.

“I am become,” ginomai. Perfect tense here, “I have become.” Ginomai means to become something you were not. The verb indicates that at least at the moment you were saved you were filled with the Spirit. Then, of course, the first time you sin you revert to carnality. The perfect tense indicates “I have become with the result that I am in status quo.” The active voice indicates that you do something to lose the filling of the Spirit — sin. The indicative mood is the reality of the carnal situation; “I have become a sounding brass,” used by ‘supermarkets’ of the ancient world. The ‘supermarkets’ were carts on which were piled vegetables and other agricultural produce. The attention of the population was gained by rubbing two pieces of metal together in order to be heard. The sounding brass was used by peddlers to attract attention to the wares which belonged to the peddler. The believer who exercises a gift apart from the filling of the Spirit is like a peddler calling attention to himself. This is a perfect illustration of the gift of tongues as it was distorted in Corinth where believers were standing up and going through all of this yak, yak in tongues to call attention to themselves and to satisfy their approbation lust. it was incompatible with John 16:14 where we are told that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ.

“or a tinkling cymbal” has nothing to do with musical instruments at all. In the Greek it is simply the noise made by professional mourners. All Paul is saying is, “Look, if I can speak in the languages of men and angels, if I use the gift of tongues and I am not filled with the Holy Spirit when I use it, I am just like the leather-lunged professional mourner — lots of noise but no meaning. What this verse is saying is that any speech, no matter how eloquent, without the filling of the Spirit is nothingness.

Verse 2, the nothingness of all the temporary gifts.

“and though,” “if.” This time it is a third class condition, “If I have the gift of prophecy [temporary gift], and understand all mysteries [temporary gift, understanding the doctrine of ecclesiology before the Bible was written], and all knowledge; and if I have all faith [not faith-rest, it is the gift of faith, the gift that can remove mountains].” Regardless of what gift you have it is no good apart from the filling of the Spirit. The Corinthians who spoke in tongues were magnifying the gift and using it as a monopoly for spirituality. They were using it as a means of taking control of the Corinthian assembly, they had distorted the thing completely out of its context. But without the filling of the Spirit they represent nothing but the energy of the flesh.

“and have not love” means the filling of the Spirit which produces love. No matter which of these spectacular gifts you might have, here is the conclusion: “I am nothing.” “I am” is e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. It means I keep on being in the status quo of nothing. The point is very simple: When you are carnal you’re status quo is zero. When the believer is controlled by his old sin nature, regadless of what he does, he is nothing. Spirituality is an absolute.

Verse 3, nothingness in production. (In verse 1 we had nothingness of speech; verse 2, nothingness of gifts)

“though” is “if,” third class condition, maybe I will and maybe I won’t. Apart from the filling of the Spirit all production and good deeds are absolutely nothing. Principle: A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a right thing done in a right way is right.

The first illustration is sacrificial giving. “If I bestow all my goods,” the aorist tense refers to a point of time when I’m all fired up. If you do it in carnality it doesn’t count; “if I give my body to be burned” — a martyrdom illustration. Both of these are extremes, more than just good deeds they are sacrificial good deeds.

“if I have not love,” If I am not filled with the Spirit; “it profits me nothing.” When one is carnal he is just imitating the unbeliever. The whole point is that if you operate in the energy of the flesh no matter what you do is still wood, hay, and stubble. It represents extreme effort of the old sin nature but it doesn’t count with God. All production that counts with God comes from the filling of the Spirit.

Recall that “covet earnestly” (12:31) is second person plural. It is addressed to the entire church, not to individuals. The church is commanded to covet the best gifts such as teaching, helps, governments, rather than tongues. In the Christian life the filling of the Spirit is important, speaking in tongues is not important.

In verses 4-18 we have the character of the more excellent way or the character of love which is produced by the filling of the Spirit. This love cannot be produced in any other way. We have now a list of characteristics. In verse 4 we have two positive characteristics. Then we go to the negative for a time and then back to the positive.

Again the word “charity” refers to divine love, love which is produced by the filling of the Spirit, Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22.

“suffereth long,” a present active indicative, which means that it keeps on doing this at all times. The Greek word “suffereth long” means to be patient with someone or towards someone. Hence, a mental attitude of grace toward others. This love is characterised by a mental attitude. The attitude is true love, grace toward others. It is an attitude of relaxation instead of trying to run others or being resentful of others, it is a relaxed mental attitude.

“and is kind,” again, the present active indicative which indicates that this is always true of love which is produced by the filling of the Spirit. This refers to the overt activity if grace and it means to treat others in grace, not what they earn or deserve, but to treat them graciously. These first two characteristics indicate a believer oriented to grace.

Now we go to the negatives. It is almost impossible to describe true love apart from negatives.

“envieth not,” present tense indicating this is always true. It refers to a mental attitude of jealousy or spite and when one has the filling of the Spirit the love which is produced in the frontal lobe is totally free from jealousy. If you are jealous of someone or some thing you are definitely not filed with the Spirit.

“vaunteth not itself,” means to behave like a windbag! To make a boast of one’s self, to brag, to make a parade of one’s self. When you are filled with the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit actually produces in you the neutralisation of ego. This does not mean that you stop using the pronoun “I” or that you stop having a personality which exudes confidence, but it does mean that ego lust is neutralised.

“not puffed up,” present middle indicative because this deals with inner pride. This word “puffed up” is a desire to inflate one’s self at the expense of others. It is the concept of spiritual king of the mountains. In doing so, people seek to advance themselves at the expense of running down someone else. The filling of the Spirit produces a very relaxed attitude.

Verse 5, “does not behave unseemly,” to behave dishonourably or indecently. Generally it means not to behave dishonourably.

“seeketh not her own,” a reference to the various lusts of the old sin nature, and the filling of the Spirit never tries to gratify power lust, approbation lust, materialism lust, and so on.

“is not easily provoked,” does not easily become angry or irritated. The Greek word for “provoke” here is used for tantrums. When one is filled with the Spirit he is never going to have a tantrum. (It is possible to be filled with the Spirit and be angry, Acts 15:39; 17:16)

“thinketh no evil,” This word is not what it appears on the surface, it means not to mind someone else’s business. When you are filled with the Spirit you don’t have a long proboscis which always puts your nose in other people’s affairs and then malign them.

Verse 6, “rejoiceth not in iniquity” is an expression of jealousy actually. The carnal believer is only happy when fellow believers are having troubles or problems. This is what it means to rejoice in iniquity.

Now we return to the positives.

“rejoiceth in the truth,” refers to Bible doctrine. The filling of the Spirit produces a hunger for the Word. “Rejoice” is inner mental happiness directed toward the Word of God in this case.

Verse 7, “beareth all things,” to cover, used originally for a roof which keeps out the rain. It is also used for keeping things confidential, which is one of the characteristics of the filling of the Spirit. It means not to betray a confidence.

“believeth all things,” the principle here is the filling of the Spirit actually activates the faith-rest technique.

“hopeth all things,” expectation of the future. Dying grace and understanding of what the Bible teaches about the eternal state.

“endureth all things,” means to be oriented and stabilised in time of pressure with the result that there is inner peace no matter how great the pressure or the suffering. This means to be actually relaxed in pressure, to have happiness and peace in the midst of pressure, and this is one of the characteristics of the filling of the Spirit.

Verse 8, the first part of the verse simply summarises all that has been said.

“fails,” a word which has been taken from drama. It is a dramatic word which means to be hissed off the stage. One of the worst things that could happen to an actor in Greek drama was to be hissed off the stage. This is saying in effect that charity [love], the filling of the Spirit, is never hissed off the stage of life. When you are filled with the Spirit you are fulfilling the purpose for which God leaves you in this life and whether you are actually active in production such as witnessing, prayer, and so on, is inconsequential. You always produce when the Spirit controls your life.

In the middle of verse 8 we have the fact that temporary gifts were to be removed. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians they hadn’t been removed yet, but they would very shortly be completely removed from the situation.

“but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Paul maintains a principle of taking three temporary gifts: prophecy, tongues, knowledge. The word “whether” actually means when these situations occur.

“prophecies,” this is a gift of telling doctrine which has not been written yet. Prophecy was a gift to take up the slack for, New Testament eschatology. The New Testament was not yet written completely and so there was a spiritual gift of preaching which dealt with things that would happen in the future. For example, the Rapture of the Church, the events of the Tribulation, the second advent, the Millennium. Since these things had not been written down so they could be studied and understood there was a special spiritual gift to handle these things. Remember that much of the New Testament was not in existence yet. This is about 57 AD and the New Testament would not be completed until about 96 AD. So we have around 40 years yet before the New Testament canon is completed. So the gift of prophecy was to take up the slack until the Bible is completed, but there comes a time when the gift of prophecy is going to “fail” [become inoperative]. The reason being that all of the prophecy that is necessary will be contained in the canon of scripture. So when the canon of scripture is completed then the gift of prophecy will no longer operate.

“where there be tongues, they shall cease.” The words “shall cease” is future tense, which means that when Paul was writing to the Corinthians it hadn’t occurred yet. The future tense in the Greek is used for a command, i.e. every time you have one of the ten commandments quoted in the New Testament it is always in the future tense. This is because the future tense is for a command. But then also, the future tense indicates finality; that is its use here. it is also in the middle voice which tells us that the Church will be benefited by the removal of tongues.

The doctrine of tongues as a temporary gift

1. The prophecy of tongues. The whole purpose of the gift of tongues is given in Isaiah 28:9-11. The sign of the 5th cycle of discipline was to be the gift of tongues. The 5th cycle of discipline occurred in 70 AD, that was the cutoff date for the Jews. The Jews have been scattered. But in 32 AD on the day of Pentecost and thereafter for 38 years there would occur periodically the gift of tongues which is a gift of speaking the gospel in a Gentile language. It always has to be a Gentile language and it has to be given to the Jews, except the first time you have a full Gentile church and the first time you have a Samaritan church which is half Jew and half Gentile. But the gospel is given in a Gentile language not known and it is given to the Jews. The Jews would understand that when they were evangelised miraculously in Gentile languages that the fifth cycle of discipline was just around the corner. Cf. the doctrine of the fifth cycle of discipline, Leviticus 26:27-38. This is the means of turning cursing into blessing. Cursing can only be turned into blessing by means of regeneration. Tongues was a miraculous operation and we do not have miraculous operations in the Church Age once the canon of scripture is completed. Our miracle is the completed canon of scripture. God occasionally performs a miracle directly but there is absolutely no one in the world who has the gift of miracles, the gift of healing, the gift of tongues, etc.

2. The fulfillment of the tongues prophecy comes in Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 14:21-22.

3. Once the sign had been given to Israel the gift would cease as a spiritual phenomena, 1 Corinthians 13:8.

4. The gift of tongues is no longer used after the canon of scripture is completed, 1 Corinthians 13:10.

5. But pseudo tongues continues as a Satanic operation, illustration, 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 where we have Satan using speaking miracles.

6. The mechanics of pseudo tongues is found in Isaiah 8:19; 29:4; illustrated in Revelation 16:14. (Ventriloquist demon)

7. Some tongues activity today is emotionalism, psychological, and the Bible specifically warns against emotionalism as the criterion, 2 Corinthians 6:11,12. Some is demon possession as indicated by point 6.

8. The proper use of tongues is a sign of the fifth cycle of discipline is found in three passages in Acts: the Jewish Pentecost of Acts 2:3-11; the Gentile Pentecost 10:44-46; the Transitional Pentecost 19:2-7.

“they shall cease” is a future tense which means when Paul was writing to the Corinthians it hadn’t occurred yet. The future tense is used in several ways. In the English we immediately think of something in the future. But the future tense is used in the Greek for a command. For example, every time you have one of the ten commandments quoted in the New Testament it is always in the future tense. “Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not bear false witness,” all are always in the future tense because the future tense is used for a command. And also the future tense indicates finality, and that is the concept here. Where there are tongues they are going to stop, and it is final. Never again will the gift be used as a bona fide modus operandi. This is also in the middle voice which says that the church will be benefited by the removal of tongues. The indicative mood is the reality of the discontinuance of the gift of tongues.

“knowledge,” refers to the gift of knowing doctrine which was not yet written in the scripture. For example, the doctrines of positional truth, the filling of the Spirit, many great doctrines which had not yet been written. These were known ahead of time by people who had the gift of knowledge. The gift of knowledge also ceases and all knowledge today comes the hard way, by studying the scripture or hearing those who have the gift [permanent] of pastor-teacher. Knowledge covers doctrines which hadn’t at that time been written. For example, Paul hadn’t written Ephesians where he deals with positional truth. People who had the gift of knowledge were teaching positional truth long before it was written. Prophecy and knowledge are very similar, the difference is content. Today all knowledge comes the hard way, by studying the scripture or by hearing those who have the gift of teaching.

“vanish away,” this means that when the canon of scripture is completed there is no longer a need for this temporary gift or for any of these three temporary gifts.

Verses 9-13, the emphasis on the more excellent way: firstly, knowledge, vv9-12.

Verse 9 begins knowledge in the pre-canon period.

“we know in part,” the word for part in the Greek means a part as opposed to the whole. The whole is the canon of scripture which will be completed in 96 AD. The “part” they had in those days was the Old Testament, followed gradually by other New Testament epistles. The word “part” means they were moving toward the whole and when the New Testament canon was completed they would go from the part to the whole. In the early church only part could be known and the rest could be learned from the use of special spiritual gifts. Paul is simply stating a principle that existed at that time and which applies to the tongues problem. Paul is saying that right now [first century] we are in the partial knowledge bracket; some day we are going to be in the completed knowledge bracket. It doesn’t mean that we will know everything but that everything we need to know will be available. At this time al they had was the Old Testament and a few epistles that weren’t circulated very well.

“we prophecy in part” — prophecy means teaching and declaring a certain type of doctrine, usually in the field of eschatology, and while certain parts of eschatology were known from the Old Testament all eschatology was not known because, for example, Revelation and 2 Thessalonians had not been written.

All verse 9 is saying is the knowledge status that existed in the pre-canon period. In verses 10-11 we will have knowledge in the period of the canon or the post-canon period.

Verses 10-11, knowledge in the post-canon period.

Verse 10 is one of the most important verses to understand not only in reference to the gift of tongues but to the relationship between gifts and canonicity.

“but” is a conjunction of contrast, and the contrast is between the pre-canon period and the post-canon period. In verse 9 you have knowledge in the pre-canon period. The Bible isn’t complete, your knowledge isn’t complete. We don’t have all the information yet because the canon isn’t finished. “But” is the contrast between the partial knowledge in the pre-canon period to full knowledge now. Full knowledge doesn’t mean that everyone understands everything, it just means that it is all available in writing.

“when that which is perfect,” it doesn’t say in the Greek, “that which is perfect.” The Greek says, “but when the perfect is come.” This is not a reference to Jesus Christ, He is never referred to in the neuter gender. The word “perfect” is in the neuter gender, if it doesn’t refer to a person it can only refer to a thing.

In 45 AD the book of James was written. James 1:25 explains what the “perfect” in the neuter means. James calls the Bible the “perfect” law of liberty. The “perfect” here refers to the Bible.

“but when the perfect is come,” nominative singular neuter. It is neuter gender which means it refers to a thing. It is in the singular which means it refers to one thing. It is in the nominative case which means it is the subject.

“is come,” is an aorist active subjunctive. The aorist tense refers to the point of time when the canon of scripture is completed. The active voice means that it will be completed, it is the part moving to the whole. The subjunctive mood indicates that it is not yet completed and its completion is a potential factor.

“then that which is in part shall be done away,” in other words, once we have a completed canon of scripture we will no longer be under partial knowledge, it will be under completed knowledge. The part refers to the temporary spiritual gifts which take up the slack for the canon of scripture which was then incomplete. There is no verb here and it should be translated “the part.” The removal of the temporary gifts does not mean the removal of the filling of the Spirit.

The filling of the Spirit is the more excellent way. Tongues is not the more excellent way, it was a manifestation for those who had the gift. It was a temporary gift and it was to be removed. The production of the Spirit, which is divine love in this passage, is permanent, while gifts such as tongues, apostleship, knowledge, prophecy, are temporary. And temporary gifts are to be removed with the completion of the canon of scripture but the permanent production of the filling of the Spirit goes right on.

Verse 11 is simply an illustration. A baby needs to understand and to learn, and God provides temporary things for the baby to learn. it has parents to train it and then there comes a time to move out on its own. He has to grow up some time. Tongues is illustrative of being a child. But when the church comes to full age with the completion of the canon then, of course, the childhood is gone.

“but when I became a man,” this is the post-canon period, the time of the completion of the canon of scripture. We have an analogy here. The pre-canon age is childhood; the post-canon age is adulthood of the church.

“I put away childish things,” and the childish things refer to the temporary gifts. A child knows in part, understands in part. The Church is now in its maturity with a completed canon of scripture and there is no place to make even any claim for tongues. The completion of the canon of scripture renders non-operation the temporary gifts, analogous to childish things.

Verse 12, Knowledge in eternity is introduced into the picture.

“For now,” now in the phase from salvation to physical death or the Rapture, life on this earth during the Church Age; “we see through a glass darkly” — incorrect! Corrected translation: “But now we see by means of a mirror, an obscure form.” The word “by means of” is dia plus the genitive case. The mirror is in the genitive.

Corinth was the centre for the manufacture of mirrors in the ancient world. The Corinthian mirrors were by far the best. The mirrors of the ancient world leave much to be desired compared with modern mirrors. They were usually made out of a brightly polished metal. When each mirror was furnished to the purchaser, along with it was given a pumice stone for the purpose of cleaning the mirror. And the more you polished it the better you could see yourself, but when you were through polishing you still saw an obscure form, that is, obscure compared to seeing someone face to face.

The obscure form, as it were, is Christ. The mirror is the Word of God and the only way you can see Christ in this world at all is through the Word of God. And the more you know about the Word the more you know about Christ. The less you know about the Word the less you know about Christ. The whole point is that we can only see Christ through the Word.

“now I know in part, but then I shall know even as He knows me.” This is used as an illustration. It brings out the contrast between our life here and eternity. All this is simply doing is saying this: “As the pre-canon period is to the post canon period, so is the post-canon period to eternity.”

Verse 13, “And now,” life on earth; “abideth,” keeps on abiding. The temporary gifts are going but the techniques are here to stay.

“faith,” the faith-rest technique. And even though we lose tongues and apostleship, etc. we still have the faith-rest technique.

“hope,” doctrine pertaining to eternity.

“charity,” the filling of the Spirit. So the removal of temporary gifts doesn’t take anything away from us.

“but the greatest of these [as far as our life here is concerned] is the filling of the Holy Spirit.” Our production is not based on hope, it is based on the filling of the Spirit and therefore it is called the greatest. This is the more excellent way and this is the thing we should emphasise today.