Investigating the Bible: The Bible’s most beautiful chapter

By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR

The Bible contains many wonderful chapters offering inspiration and truth: Genesis 1 details God’s creative power; In Psalm 23, God is our loving shepherd; Psalm 103 recognizes all the benefits from the Lord; Isaiah 64 foretells God’s role of mercy and forgiveness; Jesus preached his great Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5; John 1 has the miraculous statement, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (verse 14) ; Colossians 1 expands the full divinity of Jesus. Many would consider I Corinthians 13 as one of the best and most beautiful.

The apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13:1-3, “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 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.” (English Standard Version is used throughout.)

The Corinthian church was full of problems. One man had a physical relationship with his father’s wife, his step-mother or perhaps even incestuously, his own mother. There were those filing lawsuits against fellow believers. Some argued about the right kind of food to eat depending on whether it was sacrificed to idols or not. When they celebrated the Lord’s Supper, church members scrambled to get the most food and got drunk on the wine, desecrating the sacred meal honoring Jesus. Worshipers were greedy swindlers. Others boasted about who had the best spiritual gifts. After addressing these issues, Paul introduced the thirteenth chapter, “And I will show you a more excellent way.” (I Corinthians 12:31).

The concept of love in our times is challenging. In a Charles Schulz classic comic strip, Linus says, “I love mankind…It’s people I can’t stand.” The New Testament has three Greek words which are translated in English with the word LOVE. Eros, from which we get our word erotic, is physical love. Philao, is the root of the city Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Agapa is the word Paul uses here. For the Greeks and Romans of the time, this love was third rate, meaning no more than someone is satisfied with someone or something. Only in the New Testament does the word find significance and power. Jesus was asked which was the most important commandment. He said, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love (agapa) the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love (agape) your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:29-31).

Paul describes in detail this agapa love. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable, or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8).

Allen was a friend during my teenage years. He and I had explored our rural roads on our bicycles and later played racquetball in community college. I invited Allen to my church and gave him a Bible. He didn’t come to church, but he read the Bible. Later he said that he had found the most beautiful words he ever read in I Corinthians 13. A month after he made his observation about Paul’s great chapter, he was driving home late at night and apparently fell asleep. His car drifted into a tree and he was killed instantly at the too-young age of 19. I Corinthians 13 always reminds me of his absent friendship and insightful mind.

David Carlson Pastor (yes, that is his last name, not his profession) is a Polk County resident and graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota.