Reflections with Andy - 1 Corinthians 13 – A More Excellent Way
he height of Christian living (orthodoxy) and Christian doctrine (orthodoxy) is love. Everything within us must produce and guide us to love.
The height of Christian living (orthodoxy) and Christian doctrine (orthodoxy) is love. Everything within us must be producing and guiding us to love.
We often hear 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings, but Paul wasn’t writing about romance—he was addressing a divided church. In today’s reflection, Andy explores the famous “love chapter” in its original context and shows why love is the greatest spiritual gift of all. Knowledge, faith, sacrifice, and even miraculous gifts mean nothing if they are not shaped by love. As followers of Christ, both our beliefs and our actions should ultimately lead us to love God and love our neighbor.
Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.
You can read today’s passage here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=NRSVUE
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning. I hope you’re doing well as we head into the weekend.
It’s going to be a busy few days here in Starkville as more students move back to Mississippi State. We’re looking forward to welcoming both new and returning students, along with their families, into the life of our church. If you’re watching the video version of today’s reflection, you’ll notice I’m wearing some Starkville Academy gear today. We really are grateful to serve all of the schools in our community—public, private, and university alike. It’s one of the great joys of being part of this church.
Speaking of being a vital part of something bigger than ourselves, today we arrive at one of the most beloved chapters in all of Scripture.
I don’t know that there’s another passage read more often at weddings than 1 Corinthians 13.
It’s often called “The Love Chapter.”
But before we read it, I want us to remember how chapter 12 ended.
Paul has been addressing conflict in the Corinthian church over spiritual gifts. They’re arguing about which gifts matter most, who is most important, and whose gifts are superior.
Then Paul closes chapter 12 by saying:
“But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”
That’s the doorway into chapter 13.
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:1–13.
When we hear this passage at weddings, it’s beautiful.
But Paul wasn’t writing wedding vows.
He was correcting a church.
The Corinthians were arguing over spiritual gifts, and Paul says, “Let me show you the better way.”
You can speak in the tongues of mortals and angels.
You can understand every mystery.
You can possess extraordinary knowledge.
You can have faith so great that mountains move.
You can give away everything you own.
You can even lay down your life.
But if you don’t have love...
You’ve missed the point.
Paul couldn’t be any clearer.
Without love, all of those gifts amount to nothing.
That tells us something important.
If the Corinthians wanted to know the greatest spiritual gift, Paul gives them the answer.
The greatest gift isn’t tongues.
It isn’t prophecy.
It isn’t knowledge.
It isn’t miracles.
The greatest gift is love.
Everything else exists to serve that greater purpose.
That’s why I think this chapter speaks not only to how we live but also to what we believe.
Love is the highest expression of Christian living.
But it’s also the highest test of Christian belief.
If what we believe about Jesus isn’t producing love, then we’ve misunderstood Jesus.
That’s a strong statement, but I think it’s exactly where Paul is leading us.
If our doctrine is not producing love, then our doctrine has gone off course.
Christian truth should always lead us toward loving God more deeply and loving our neighbors more faithfully.
That’s why Paul describes love the way he does.
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It isn’t envious.
It isn’t boastful.
It isn’t arrogant.
It isn’t rude.
It doesn’t insist on getting its own way.
It isn’t resentful.
It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
One of the best ways I’ve ever heard this passage read is to insert your own name into it.
So instead of saying, “Love is patient,” ask:
“Is Andy patient?”
“Is Andy kind?”
“Is Andy arrogant?”
“Is Andy rude?”
“Does Andy insist on his own way?”
That’s a much more uncomfortable way to read the passage.
But it’s probably closer to what Paul intended.
This isn’t simply poetry to admire.
It’s a mirror.
It’s an invitation to let Christ shape us into people whose lives are marked by love.
I also love what Paul says near the end of the chapter:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face.”
Right now, our understanding is incomplete.
We know only in part.
We see only in part.
But one day we’ll see Christ face to face.
Then Paul says something remarkable:
“Then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Think about that.
God already knows everything about you.
He knows every joy.
Every fear.
Every failure.
Every hope.
Every prayer you’ve prayed and every prayer you’ve struggled to pray.
He knows you completely.
And one day, in His presence, we will know Him with a fullness we’ve never experienced before.
What a beautiful promise.
Paul closes with one of the most familiar verses in Scripture:
“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
That’s the point.
It’s always been the point.
If we’re getting everything else right but failing to love, we’re missing what matters most.
Love is the highest expression of Christian living.
Love is the goal toward which every spiritual gift points.
Love is the fruit good theology should produce.
Love is the more excellent way.
I hope that’s what people experience when they encounter us.
Not simply that we’re right.
Not simply that we’re knowledgeable.
Not simply that we’re gifted.
But that they encounter the love of Christ through us.
Have a wonderful weekend.
On Monday, we’ll continue into the next section of 1 Corinthians as Paul begins talking more about the gift of tongues and why it became such a point of controversy in the Corinthian church.
Thanks for being with me this week. I hope you have a blessed weekend, and I’ll see you Monday morning.