Addendum: 1 Corinthians 13 (The Love Chapter)

A week ago I had a strange thought that occurred to me while I was laying flat on my back for a few days. I was on my back due to a pinched nerve I acquire while picking up the lightest thing possible up off the floor. As my friend Mark says, “I’m at that age where if I sneeze I run the risk of throwing out my back.” Solidarity and sympathy among the middle-aged has become an unexpected joy. I now understand why all of my elders seem to have their ailments as their main substance of conversation. There’s nothing like the comfort of knowing someone else shares in your misery. But that’s besides the point…

I was laying there trying not to move in a way that would make me yelp, and my brain started working, as it does, and gnawing on certain philosophical, theological, and existential questions. Quite unexpectedly, a verse in 1 Corinthians came up to the surface. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” I realized that this was in the middle of the book, and so wondered what led up to this moment. I’d been through Romans in the past few months and understood that Paul tends to structure his letters in a very logical way. It’s usually a mistake to take any scripture out of context, but the Pauline works all hold together so that each part affects the whole and refers back to each other. I went to the beginning of 1 Corinthians to learn the context.

Distracted by pain as I was it took me a few chapters to go, “Hey. Wait a minute. That verse is nestled right in the middle of chapter 13 which is the love chapter”, which was confusing for me. If you read the chapter through it does same like an extremely out of place pair of sentences. Was Paul just having an aside to go, “Oh, and by the way, grow up”? Or did it hold together with everything else in the letter to the church at Corinth?

My history with that particular little verse has created a bias with that verse. It’s been used as a bludgeon over my head and the heads of other young Christian men who needing some motivation to stop being immature. We needed to give up video games, stop hanging out at the mall for no reason, stop listening to (insert music elders dislike), get a job, go to college, focus on your career, toss out your velveteen rabbit, stop wanting to be Peter Pan, give up your impractical dreams, suffocate your joys, etc. Why? Because the scriptures say to get rid of childish things. Childish things are meant to be left behind. And that’s probably good advice in some ways. It is advice that can and usually does apply across the spectrum to both Spiritual and Secular; it can do good for both Christian and Atheist.

However, it is not at all scriptural in so far as 1 Corinthians 13:11 is concerned.

The overall context of 1 Corinthians is that the church was a hotbed of infighting, snobbery, division and pride. Some people identified as followers of Paul, others believed themselves superior because Apollos baptized them, and still others created cliques of fellow rich people. As a result, the church, instead of being a beacon of the light of Jesus, it was a toxic mess that brought shame to the name of Christ. Paul declares that he was glad he didn’t baptize any of them because that would have caused even more division he has no desire to be responsible for. He declares that there are many more spiritual teachings to teach them but that he won’t because they are not ready for meat. They are so immature in the faith that they are spiritual babies only capable of digesting milk; not even pap.

This is where the 11th verse of chapter 13 suddenly makes sense in a chapter ostensibly about love.

We are all mostly familiar with this chapter. It begins with Paul’s assertion that if he can do even the most spiritually powerful things (prophecy, speaking in tongues, moving mountains by faith, and martyrdom) then all of it is pointless, his efforts are in vain, and it may be worse to do these things without love than to not do them at all. He then describes what love is (kind, doesn’t envy, doesn’t boast…) and it becomes clear that whatever this love thing is…the Corinthians aren’t exemplifying it.

Love is the only thing that lasts. Everything else will fade and pass away but this “love” thing and, ostensibly, those things done in “love”. But what is this “love” then? Well, it’s “agape”…the love that is charitable, the love that gives when the recipient can’t possibly repay, the love that redeems, the love that gives of itself without need of thanks or recognition, the love that will sacrifice itself for the sake of another. It is in this stew of thinking that Paul declares not a random aside but a fatherly nudge to maturity.

“When I was a child…” understood in this context is a compelling plea to speak, think, and reason in “agape”. This is then maturity. It is not in the forsaking of video games, or giving up on your dreams, cutting off your joys, or going to college for a job you hate but will be profitable. Again, these things may, in fact, need to be done but…if it is not done for “agape” then it’s pointless.

We are called to filter everything, every thought, every action, every reaction, every desire, through Jesus. This is Christian maturity: to ask the question, “Am I doing this out of ‘agape’?” of everything in our lives.

This is also what the world sees as “foolishness” because it is the way of Jesus. Every single thing Jesus did was to benefit others at the cost of Himself. The world cannot imagine living this way. If there is no profit, if there is no glory, if there is no personal benefit, no exchange of value, then there is no point. It’s an idiotic way to live by their standards. The way of Jesus is, “…a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles” for good reason.

My natural, internal, “but…but…but…” is to protest, “What about ME?! Are you really telling me I’m to just be a door mat for others? Am I not to take any time for myself? Am I supposed to not do anything I like?” And that cues to me my own long-lingering immaturity.

Jesus was not a door mat. When He stood up and even rebuked the Pharisees calling them a “brood of vipers” we can see that it actually was for their benefit. When He turned tables in the Temple outer courts it was out of a deep love for God and those who were committing a grievous sin. Jesus scribbling in the dirt when the woman caught in adultery and His declaration that He that was without sin should cast the first stone was not just for the woman…but to reach the hearts of those with stones clenched in their fists. When the Lord was brutalized and nailed to the cross He endured for you and I, when He spoke words of forgiveness for those who were mocking Him, spitting on Him, and gambling for His clothes…it was as pure “agape” as the world has ever seen or ever will see.

As for taking time for ourselves, it is with great joy that I can happily report that there were many times in the life of Christ that He went off by Himself to pray and recharge. The difficulty there is that when we look at the things that we do to recharge we must ask the question, “Is this out of ‘agape’?” and most often when I look it is to be lazy, to avoid, to be entertained for entertainment sake alone. But recognizing this, altering this, killing our pointless/”agape”less distractions…this is also a part of Christian maturity.

I think. I’m pretty sure. I’m preaching/teaching to myself as much or more than to anyone else.

(As ever, I thank you and appreciate you if you made it this far. If you are reading this and/or my writing has made any measure of an impact, pleas consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this to your social media. It would mean a lot to me. Many Thanks.)