“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love,” 1 Cor 13:13
Context
Paul had been speaking to them about the spiritual gifts in the church, and how they were distributed according to how the Spirit saw fit. He gives a comparison to the human body, how each member fulfills its part, and how it’s the same situation with the gifts:
“Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way,” 1 Corinthians 12:27-31.
The more excellent way is the supremacy of love over all things, even more so over the spiritual gifts then present in the church. He speaks of the temporary nature of the gifts, contrasting them with love, “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away,” 1 Corinthians 13:8. Love is the enduring thing, and the whole point; without love, nothing else will be of benefit to us.
Even faith and hope will end, for “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1, and, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?,” Romans 8:24. But love never ends.
Breakdown
“Now” - He precedes this verse with, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known,” 1 Corinthians 13:12. The full New Testament had not yet been given at the time this letter was written; he wrote, “we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away,” 1 Cor 13:9-10. The supremacy of faith, hope, and love is that they will survive that which is in part. The partial revelation, the gifts, that time would pass; but faith, hope, and love would continue. “Now abide faith, hope, love, these three.”
“Abide” - To continue in, to remain in; these are the things which we are to continue in, to remain in, to make it the place where we live. We are to continue to have faith, continue to have hope, and to continue to have love. We are not to cease from these things.
“Faith” - “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1. Faith is our trust in the Lord, trust that the things He promised are true, that He will do what He says he will do. Faith is ordering our life accordingly; doing the things He would have us do, living the way He would have us live, in faith that the reward awaits us, for, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him,” Hebrews 11:6.
Why is faith necessary?
Firstly, we have not seen Him with our eyes, nor seen the events described in Scripture. We have accepted the testimony of those who were at the events. It is by faith that we believe miracles happened, it is by faith that we accept the testimony of the apostles who walked with Christ.
Secondly, it is by faith that we put to death the deeds of the body, that we turn aside from pursuing the pleasures of life that are contrary to the teachings of God. If one does not have faith that He exists, and that there is a reward for following Him, who would subject himself to carrying the cross? For even Paul says, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” 1 Cor 15:32 (ASV) and again, “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied,” 1 Corinthians 15:16-19.
“Hope” - Faith and hope are similar in that they are both in reference to things we have not seen; but their difference can be seen in regards to faith being our assurance and belief of the resurrection, and hope being that we will attain to it. We believe and have faith that salvation is in Christ, and we hope that we will be found worthy of it. Without this hope, would anyone pursue it? Hope drives us forward; therefore, it is integral to the Christian life.
“Love” - The sole eternal of the three. Agape love (which was unknown in Greek outside of the N.T.) Agape love and phileo love differ in this: there was nothing in any man which caused God to love him, that is, it was not because of a particular affection He had for a particular man that caused Him to offer us salvation, rather agape is the valuation He put on man in general; that is, man had intrinsic value as man. As Wuest put it, ““Agapao” speaks of a love which is awakened by a sense of value in an object which causes one to prize it. It springs from an apprehension of the preciousness of an object. It is a love of esteem and approbation. The quality of this love is determined by the character of the one who loves, and that of the object loved…”Phileo,” which is another word for love, [is] a love which is the response of the human spirit to what appeals to it as pleasurable…,” Kenneth S. Wuest, “Golden Nuggets From The Greek New Testament”, pg. 60-61 (Eerdmans, 1939). Agape loves all men for what they are, phileo loves a particular man because of who he is as a person. Bullinger wrote, “[Phileo] in its full display was only giving to him who was entitled to it his full rights.” “[Agape] denotes the love which springs from admiration and veneration, and which chooses its object with decision of will, and denotes a self-denying and compassionate devotion to it. Love in its fullest conceivable form,” E.W. Bullinger, “A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament”, pg. 469, (Kregel Publications, 1999). Phileo is affection, agape is veneration.
This is the love we are to have for our fellow man; the love that seeks his well-being, irregardless of how they may treat us, irregardless of our feelings towards them as an individual.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” Matt 5:43-48.
Faith is necessary, and hope is necessary. But love is the greatest, because it is the very nature of God, the nature which He wants us to have. If we do not have this love, then we are not like God.
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” 1 Cor 13:4-7.