Sharper Iron — Nothing But Christ Crucified: The Greatest of These Is Love

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Rev. Richard Mittwede, pastor at University Lutheran Church in Austin, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

St. Paul shows the Corinthians the way that excels above all others, the way of love. If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are used without love, they are nothing. Instead, Christians pursue love for each other because God has loved us first. This love given to Christians is more than a feeling; it is an action for the other person’s good. Although other gifts from the Spirit come to an end, love does not, as we wait for the return of Christ. Even when faith and hope turn to sight on the Last Day, the love of God will remain.

“Nothing But Christ Crucified” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the epistle of 1 Corinthians. In response to correspondence from the Christians in Corinth and reports about matters arising in the congregation, St. Paul writes to address various matters of Christian faith and life. Throughout it all, he directs our attention to the power and wisdom of God for our salvation: Christ crucified.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes

1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast

1 Corinthians 13:5 Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing