10/04/2015
Spiritual Gifts Applied (Love Part 7)
1st Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails.
With regard to the word love; the Greek word agape occurs about 116 times in the New Testament. It is not of heathen origin. The heathen had no conception of this grace (gift) which in the Scriptures is expressed only by this word; Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The Gift of God’s Love Is The Greatest of His Graces
Love is superior to all extraordinary gifts. It is better than
the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 13:1);
the gifts of prophecy and knowledge (1 Corinthians 13:2);
the gift of miracles (1 Corinthians 13:2). All outward works of charity without it are worthless without it (1 Corinthians 13:3).
A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
Love Extends Beyond All Other Graces
1st Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
A Person Without Love (Agape) Is Unsaved
1st John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Mortal Insights Are Incomplete
1st Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part…
Temporal Gifts Will Fade Away When The Lord Returns
1st Corinthians 13:10 …but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
The Goal of Spiritual Growth Is Maturity
1st Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
In The Here & Now We Can Only Glimpse The Hereafter
1st Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
The Permanent Gifts Are A Trinity
1st Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.