Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
1 Corinthians 12:12b – 13:13
February 2, 2025
First Corinthians 13 is typically chosen as the go-to wedding chapter, overwhelmingly chosen by bride and groom and preached almost exclusively at weddings….EXCEPT for the rare chance to preach it on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.
And we know the text well. You may have chosen this text for your wedding or heard a pastor preach this text at a wedding. But this text never grows tired or old, and so it’s worthwhile to study often.
But we must define our terms. And the term at the center of this text is “love.” In the ancient Greek the word is ????? and it’s just one of several different words used in Greek for “love.” And we don’t want to get these confused. See, the Bible wasn’t written in English or German or French or Spanish. It was written in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek. So, how do we translate from a language that has at least 4 or 5 different words for “love” into a language such as English that has only one word for “love”?
Well, this is the problem with love. Love has so many different nuances and angles and definitions that trying to squeeze it all into one word is a fool’s errand and frankly, it’s dangerous.
And if we look at our society today, much of the depravities and evil going on, transgenderism, gay rights, abortion rights, DEI, Wokeism, an overly zealous cry for tolerance, the decline of marriage and family and the elevating of cohabitation in its place, all of it is because of a poor understanding of love.
We’ve taken love as God has created it and exhibits it and made it our own and decided to define it our own way. We’ve even tried to subject God to our definition with silly phrases like “love is love” or “just love on everyone.” I would say that many in our world have no clue what love is. For them it’s merely an emotion, a romanticism, and even used as a word to manipulate others for selfish desires. But true love?
We have to keep definitions clear. The love Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13 is not marital love, though marital love should be influenced by 1 Corinthians 13 love. The love Paul speaks of is not familial love such as the love between parents and children or brothers and sisters or extended family, though familial love should be influenced by 1 Corinthians 13 love. 1 Corinthians 13 love is not brotherly love, such as the love shared between friends or colleagues, though again, chapter 13 love should affect brotherly love for sure.
Another misunderstanding of the love Paul speaks of here is the phrase, “Love is a verb.” Well, love can be a verb. It can also be a noun. It can also be an adjective. It can also be a participle. It can also be an infinitive, and an imperative. In 1 Corinthians 13, love is in fact a noun, it is the nominative, or the subject throughout the passage.
So, let’s consider the passage. Paul starts out by saying, “I will show you a more excellent way.”
Paul is going to contrast the divisiveness and lawsuits and sexual sins and idolatrous sins, the abuse of spiritual gifts sins, the individualism sins, the abuse of the Lord’s Supper sins with a much better way of doing things, of living life, of being God’s holy church.
He says that if there is no love then it doesn’t matter what gifts a person may have, because without love the gifts are meaningless. If the gift is speaking in tongues, it’s nothing more than useless babble without love. If the gift is great understanding of the mysteries of God, of great knowledge and wisdom, without love it is wasted. If the gift is great faith, even able to move mountains, without love it is nothing. Even if a person gives everything away to the poor and even gives his own life for another, if there is no love, it is nothing.
And you see, this was the problem with Corinth. It was all for selfish gain and boasting that they ran around thinking they were speaking in tongues. It was all for personal pride that they were suing one another. It was the epitome of sin that sexual immorality was being practiced and even celebrated by some in the church. It was a trampling on the body and blood of Christ to abuse the Lord’s Supper as they did. And as they were eating food sacrificed to false gods, they were not being lovingly concerned about what the weaker in faith might think and people were leaving the faith out of offense.
But understand that a church without love doesn’t necessarily look like the Corinthian church. The Ephesian church, as we read in Revelation 2, they did everything right. They pursued sound doctrine, they restricted the impenitent from the Lord’s Supper, they had faithful worship practices, faithful hymns and music, their pastors and bishops were orthodox and faithful to Christ and the Apostles, but by the late 1st century they had no love.
What does this tell us about love? If the Corinthian church which was a very permissive church, a “liberal” church, had not a grasp of love, and the Ephesian church which was a very strict and orthodox church, a “conservative” church, had not a grasp of love, what does this tell us?
Well, it tells us that how “liberal” or how “conservative,” how “permissive” or how “strict” a church, is not how we judge the love of that church. St. Paul’s may be considered a strict church in Milaca. Closed Communion, strict teaching concerning the Sacraments, with regard to our worship and hymns, we walk a narrow path and not sing just any old song or hymn but vigilantly choose only those hymns which rightly teach the faith. And we don’t bandy words when it comes to sinful behavior or sinful living. There must be repentance, or there is no salvation. We should be faithful in these things, even if we’re called “strict” or “closed minded.” Being faithful to God and His Word is NEVER a bad thing.
But, does this automatically mean we have love?
We know of…other Lutheran churches…that are totally the opposite. Wide open communion, worship practices that embrace even the worship of other religions, pagan religions, women clergy which is so contrary to the Scripture, openly gay and transgender clergy, I could go on. They’re totally the opposite of “strict,” but does this automatically mean they have love?
We sort of have the Corinthian / Ephesian thing going on here when it comes to the Lutheran churches, don’t we? But having love doesn’t mean “less strict” or “more permissive,” anymore than it means “more strict” or “less permissive.” We call ourselves “Confessional Lutherans,” but this doesn’t automatically mean we have love. And this is not meant to denigrate a pursuit of sound doctrine and faithful, godly practice of our faith, but in our text today, Paul is saying, “It’s not enough.” We can have everything right and still not have love. We could go out of our way to change everything and make our church unabashedly inviting and open and post, “All are welcome” in rainbow colors all over the place and refuse to say no to any sin, and still not have love.
See, I believe that at the core of much of our problems in the western church is how we try to apply love to the wrong things. I think we, all too often, make love about compromise and bare minimums, about acceptance and affirmation, about openness and willingness to try new things. I think many, unwittingly, use love as an excuse to be as unfaithful to God and His Word as they can be. And so, we don’t speak up, we don’t use God’s Word to convict, to exhort, to correct, to admonish, because we perceive it as unloving to tell someone he’s wrong, he must repent, he has to stop doing or living or saying sinful things.
And so, people get mad at the church, they get mad at God, and they take offense; they think it’s unloving to say that two men or two women in a homosexual relationship is a sin, that sex outside marriage is a sin, that cohabitation is a sin. And yeah, a wrong understanding of love most often deals with the 6th Commandment, because the 6th Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” is the world’s favorite commandment to break.
But true love is so much more than the 6th Commandment.
So, what is true love? True love is everything that we sinful people are not capable of doing without God. It is patient, and kind, humble, polite. True love is selfless and serene. True love does not like evil or sin, but instead true love loves the truth and embraces the truth at all costs. True love bears one another’s burdens, it endures one another’s sufferings, it is always hoping, always forgiving, always forgetting the sins of the past, always believing, and it is eternal.
And true love isn’t true love if it exhibits merely one of these attributes or a couple. True love exhibits all these attributes all the time, because true love never fails.
Do we exhibit such a love? Even as the church that is well-known around town for not messing around with the Scripture, do we exhibit such a love? If we were a church like Corinth, liberal to the core, affirming of every lifestyle and every sin and every burst of prideful misuse of God’s gifts, would we then exhibit such a love?
Later in the passage Paul writes that when he was a child, he thought like a child and reasoned like a child and spoke like a child, but when he grew up, he put those childish things away. For Corinth, this meant that it was time for them to put their pursuit of the superpower abilities away, abilities that children seek after in their dreams, and to grow up. For our brothers and sisters in very liberal, culturally-driven churches, it is time for them to put their childish pursuits of worldliness and worldly passions and things that don’t really save sinners from death and hell aside and to grow up.
What does it mean for us, the “strict church?” It means that we put our fears and trepidations aside, fears that children have when they feel alone or in the dark. Fears of failure or being unliked by others for trying to be true to Christ. That we grow up.
Because what remains now is faith, hope, and love. Faith that our Lord will always be true to Himself which means He will never leave us or forsake us such that we can be bold in our confession and consistent in our practices. Hope that Christ has already conquered sin, death, and the devil and, by His own promise, He prepares our place in the life to come. And love, that God loves us perfectly and unconditionally, even when we make a mess of things, His love and the forgiveness that comes by His love is always here for us.
So, if you’re looking for the perfect pastor who loves you as 1 Corinthians 13 teaches, you won’t find him here. It’s not me, I’m not that pastor. If you’re looking for the perfect church that loves perfectly and is perfectly faithful in every way, this is not the church, and you won’t find that church across the street, down the street, or on the other side of town. All churches make mistakes and don’t love perfectly because they’re filled with people who make mistakes and do not love perfectly. This doesn’t mean you don’t need the church, that you can just stay home and pretend to be a Christian on your own. The church is your mother, and you need your mother just as you need your heavenly Father.
So, rather than looking to people for such a perfect, agape type love, look instead to Christ Jesus. There is no greater love, no more perfect love, no more unconditional love than the love of He who gave His life to forgive the sins of the unlovable.
The love of Jesus is the purest love, though His love is not an affirming love; it is a forgiving love that leads sinners away from sin and the devil. The love of Jesus is the strongest love, though His love is not a worldly love built on lies and selfish gain; His love is an eternal love built on the truth and selfless giving. The love of Jesus is the kindest love, though He does not turn a blind eye to those who abuse His name and reject Him; Jesus certainly protects the weak in faith. The love of Jesus is the humblest of love; He obliterates the pride and wealth of the strong and mighty while lifting up the poor and destitute in spirit.
The love of Jesus conquers all because on the Last Day our Lord will judge the whole human race. No one will escape His judgment and all who believed on Him and received His love will receive the crown of life eternal.
And Christ Jesus, the love of God in flesh, will stand as the light for the city of God and never grow dim. This is why true love is eternal.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, pursue such a love. Where you fail, repent and daily rest in Christ who never fails you. Amen.