Chapter 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter of the WoG, and from it, we see that the love spoken of here is not conditional, but unconditional. Unconditional love is not about emotions so we can manipulate people through deceit and crying to get what we want, which is a case in question that proves we have a deceitful heart when we do not walk by the spirit or love of God,
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Emotional love to express compassion to help someone is great, but when used for self-centred fulfilment of our carnal desires, whether physical or emotional through lack of wanting to understand or feigning self-pity, it becomes a dangerous game of manipulation which can only get stronger by the same spirit behind those emotions and actions. We eventually desire that issue so much that we cannot live without it and thus we can become oppressed by a spirit. Not all people who end up in mental asylums have a physical impairment, but mostly because their carnal desires are not being fulfilled, which eventually makes them lose their ability to think rationally.
To learn and receive unconditional love we must read and study the Word of God because God is the Word and God is love. Therefore, if we understand and do the Word we are walking in love.
Gifts and abilities are of no use if not done in love
Believers chase after miracles and knowledge which are all good, but they need to do it with love because a lack of love will not spur us to even attempt to help those in need, except where we can demonstrate our pride for reward, recognition, and honour. In other words, people only do it if there is some benefit that comes with the service, and therefore, the poor lose out because they cannot afford to bring someone in with the anointing that is required in their community.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Many believers are more interested in the gifts because that makes them feel proud and important instead of being humble and of service to others, and I believe that it is one of the reasons that most churches do not have miracles in their services, besides legalism. At a legalistic church I attended, a senior pastor said that he would rather be fishing than teaching because he has more peace that way. A man of God should never say anything like that to his congregation who are trying to learn the ropes and will feel that he does not care. On an outreach in Limpopo Province that I attended, the same pastor was infuriated because the person preaching before him took 10 minutes longer with his sermon, and instead of just delivering his speech, he told the congregation that he was not going to preach, then changed his mind, and went back and forth in this manner at least 4 times. Imagine what the people felt like. The congregation was that of a humble people and I believe that they felt unworthy because his final decision was not to preach.
Titus 1:7
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Love is therefore essential if we are to preach and use God’s gifts, as we are ambassadors or stewards for God, and not for our importance and pride.
False humility and neglection of the body
Feeding people, or providing any other service to people without love is false humility because the intention is merely to demonstrate humility to followers for recognition or reward, and to appear religious, without desire for the people or the service at hand. Some religions use neglect or even beating the body as a means of showing humility and sacrificial dedication but that profits no one and they get hurt for no reason.
1 Corinthians 13:3
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
In Colossians 2:21-23 Paul reiterates this point where people act religiously and exude airs of superiority because somehow they think that not touching, eating, or handling something makes them somehow a better human being and therefore snub those that do. For example, vegetarians generally think that not eating meat, makes them righteous, humble, and more concerned about life than others for not eating animals, when God gave all things to eat.
Colossians 2:21-23
“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
In Genesis 9:3-4, God gave mankind all things to eat. My personal belief is that mankind was originally made to be vegetarian, but when sin entered the world our DNA started to get damaged and therefore created many problems with our genes, and God therefore allowed for meat to be eaten as it is the least anti-inflammatory without the plant acids and proteins such as gluten, phytic acid, oxalates, lectins, and many more. Many plant proteins are very similar to other proteins in our bodies and when they get through the gut lining they can cause an autoimmune response where antibodies produced by our immune system attack the tissues of our body because of these proteins.
Genesis 9:3-4
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
True love is selfless
If we love doing something we will do it for no reward because it is what God placed in our hearts and the enjoyment of it is sufficient for us to selflessly maintain that position. Of course, we should charge for our services because we need to live, but the point I am making is that we will do it regardless of whether we benefit financially from it or not, and if not, we will do it on a part-time basis or as a hobby. Nevertheless, God will find ways to bless us. To be rich in Christ is to have our needs met, not to have billions of dollars or Rands in the bank or investment.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
The above scriptures are self-explanatory as they indicate that unconditional love does not have any negative connotations, is selfless, and believes, hopes, bears, and endures all things. I would add that love does not hold onto unforgiveness or offence because love bears all things and seeks nothing for itself. Some translations of the WoG use “trusts all things” as opposed to “believes all things”, but we must understand that it does not refer to trusting or believing all people, but rather, that the situations we find ourselves in, good or bad, can be trusted because they are there for a purpose, i.e. to change out attitudes or actions based on our circumstances so that we can move forward and grow in holiness/love. Remember that we are tested and purified just as gold is purified through fire.
Gifts of the Spirit will vanish
Christianity today has the gifts of the Holy Spirit that will vanish or cease when perfection comes. This is because the gifts today can only be executed in part, i.e. not in full power. In other words, they do not reveal the full knowledge or wisdom of God, nor do they allow us to exercise the full miracles/power of God, and Paul uses the metaphor of child-like thinking to represent this situation. When perfection comes though, then knowledge and miracles will be able to be done to their full extent. Perfection will come when perfect love abides in the believer which is why Paul says that when he becomes a man he puts away childish things, referring to those things that we currently do in part. I would like to believe that this love can be attained in the current Heaven and Earth atmosphere that we live in because we have access to the true Heaven and Earth where righteousness dwells. I say this because we have the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, however, I do know it will happen when the glorious bodies are given to us when Jesus reappears though we need these qualities today more than then. See 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 for the vanishing of the gifts.
1 Corinthians 13:8-12
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
It is noteworthy to mention that Paul says that only tongues will cease as opposed to vanish for the others, and that is because when we are perfected in love there will be no more need for tongues to edify us as we are already walking in the love of Christ. Paul says that prophecy and knowledge will vanish but that refers to those things that are in part, i.e. those things that are in part will vanish to be replaced by the full, which is why Paul says that now he knows in part, but then He shall know as He is known. I am not saying that we shall be omniscient or omnipotent, but that God will talk to us as He knows us, instead of speaking in parables or part knowledge and prophesy.
Faith, hope, and love abide
Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and hope keeps our spirits up or motivated because without hope we will quickly give up the things that we are expecting or hoping for, which in turn affects our faith. Hope feeds faith and keeps it alive and vice versa. Therefore faith is the evidence of things not seen or hoped for, and hope keeps our faith strong, as they go hand in hand. However, love is greater than all because we trust in all things and know that it is for our betterment, regardless of what is happening in our lives, because love endures and therefore we know that God will do whatever is necessary for our lives, which is the epitome of faith and hope. In other words, when we love unconditionally, which requires knowing the WoG extensively, faith and hope become etched in our hearts and souls. Actually, with love, we become selfless for the service of others, and whatever happens, we will still have faith and hope in God because we know He will come through when the time is right.
1 Corinthians 13:13
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Our hope and faith are in Christ, in this life and the next, and not in our efforts because only Christ can fulfil that hope and faith in the Word and our destiny, though we have to act in faith for God to move for us.
1 Corinthians 15:19.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
We may plan and initiate actions based on what we hope for because that is exercising our faith, but it is God who directs our steps even though we are not always aware of that.
Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
Many people have hope but their hope is not in line with God’s will and over time their deferred hope makes their hearts sick. Proverbs 13:12. What I also realised is that many people are always thinking that God is somehow going to do what they want or hope for just by waiting for God and not moving a finger. They do not realise that they must take the necessary steps to show faith in what God has told them, and then God will make things happen. If God told us nothing, we merely keep learning, praying, and doing the Word until God does tell us what to do.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Mark 16:17-19 proves that we have to act before anything can happen when Jesus tells them that signs will follow those that have faith/believe, and there is no faith without works.
James 2:14-17
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
In other words, we have to act in faith and the signs of healing, deliverance, answered prayers, etc, will follow. Therefore God acts when we are actively doing His Word through faith in what Jesus did, although we trust that He is the one doing those things, and not by our own strength. Mark 16:17-19.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.