Why love is the greatest?

This month, eight years ago, I married the love of my life. While thinking about the progression of these wonderful years, the words of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13:13 kept coming back to me: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love". Why does Paul say that love if the greatest? To be honest, the first reason that popped into my mind was John 3:16: "“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." "God so loved the world". If it hadn't been for God's  love towards us, you and I would have never had the opportunity to inherit heaven because, without Jesus, heaven would have been impossible. Then, I thought, what about I do a word study on that verse, check the context of the passage and see why Paul made such a powerful statement, and that's what I did!

It is very interesting to notice that this chapter is placed between the distribution of spiritual gifts (chapter 12) and the function of those spiritual gifts (chapter 14). If we pay close attention to chapter 13, we can see why Paul regards love as the greatest of all. The Corinthians had very awesome spiritual gifts, but apparently, they were practicing them without love for their neighbors. Look how the expression "but have no love" appears three times in the first 3 verses. The first time is connected with the gift of tongues (v1), the second time is connected with the gift of prophecy, the gift of faith and the gift of knowledge(v.2), and finally, the third one is connected with the gift of giving (v.3). In each occasion Paul states that practicing these with gifts without love is no good. It's like he's  saying: "If I speak in tongues without love, I'm useless. If I prophesy, have faith and knowledge, without love, I'm nothing and, if I give everything without love, I gain nothing." Right there already, Paul is elevating love above hope and faith. Let's see it from his own lips: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.  (1 Corinthians 13:1‭-‬3 ESV)

It is obvious that Paul wants to emphasize the greatness of love as well as the place it should have in a community of believers, in this case, the Corinthian Church. Moreover, people outside our faith, should also be able to see the love that we have towards our neighbors. Jesus commanded us to love our  enemies also and to give them the other cheek. There's no wonder the hymn writer wrote: "And they'll know we are Christians by our love". If we cannot exhibit the love of  Christ, what else is there to do?

Let's go back to the text. And this is quite outstanding. 1 Corinthians 13:8 reads: "Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away". Did you see that? Almost every gift mentioned in verses 1-3, Paul says, will pass away but love, oh that wonderful love! That, my friends, will never end. Now, notice Paul does not mention the the gift of faith or the gift of giving. This does not mean these gifts will continue in heaven since Paul is kind of talking hypothetically by using the word "if" in these first three verses. Paul continues in verses 9 and 10:

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away"." When the perfect comes" means when we're in heaven, with Jesus. Only then, the partial will pass away and love will prevail. Why? Because in heaven, you won't need any of those gifts. Everything in there will be perfect. You'll need love because you'll be loving and praising on the Lamb of God that took your sin away so you could be present with Him in heaven for all eternity. You're going to continue to have a love relationship with God because He is love. (1 John 4:8)

Then, Paul finishes the chapter with the verse we started with. Here it is again: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love". Let me ask you a couple of questions: Do you need faith in heaven? Do you need hope? It's a resounding No! Why would you need that? You're in the perfect place. Look at the apostle John's description of it: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away".  You won't need faith any longer because now, you will be walking by sight and not by faith " "for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face". In Heaven, you will see Jesus just the way He is; you will see Him "face to face". Hope won't be needed in Heaven either because, look at what Paul says in Romans 8:24-25: "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." We will see the hope of our salvation in the Person of Jesus Christ, in Heaven. There's no more waiting, there's no more expectation. Heaven is it, Jesus is it. Then, we will be "fully known".  Perfection will be accomplished for you and me.

The greatness of love cannot be ignored for  it is "agape" love that Christ displayed on the Cross. It was divine love that accomplished such a great salvation for you and me. Are we displaying the same kind of love for others? Our love is very imperfect but, shouldn't we strive to love more and more like Christ? The answer is a resounding yes! But are we willing? Don't tell me you have faith, you have hope, you read your Bible, you know the main doctrines of the faith but have no love because, without love, like Paul says, we are nothing! Let Jesus infuse us with His love and touch our hearts in such a way that our walk matches our talk.  Let people start seeing that we are Christians by the love we exemplify towards each other and the rest of the world because love is and always will be "the greatest".