"Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1)
The apostle Paul arguably wrote the
greatest statement on the nature of love in the history of mankind. That's a pretty strong statement considering
how long mankind has been writing about love.
But I feel confident in that statement because throughout the history of
mankind, no one who has written on the nature of love has been inspired by the
Holy Spirit like the apostle Paul was when he wrote 1 Corinthians 13:1-7.
The Greek language uses three words that
get translated into English as love. The
first one is eros, from which we get the word erotic. Eros obviously carries the meaning of a
physical, carnal type of love. The
second Greek word for love is phileo.
Phileo connotes the love between friends and is the root word for
the word
With that in mind, let's go to the
verse. The first thing to take note of
is that the exposition on love comes after Paul had been writing about
spiritual gifts (gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows upon believers to be used
in ministry). The point Paul is trying
to drive home is that even though we have all these wonderful spiritual gifts
from God, it means nothing if we don't use these gifts in love. Paul even closes the previous chapter of 1
Corinthians by saying: "And
yet I show you a more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31b). Love (agape) is, according to Paul, a
more excellent way. Love is the thing
that drives all of Christianity. Love is
the attribute of God that most defines His character in the saga of human
redemption. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
everlasting life" (John
Here
in the first verse of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about the gift of
tongues. Tongues was the gift to be able
to speak in a language that the speaker hadn't known before. It was primarily exhibited during Pentecost
after Jesus ascended into heaven (Acts 2:4).
I think it can be applied nowadays to the ability to speak well in front
of an audience; i.e., the gift of oratory.
We all know of famous people who were particularly gifted speakers. People who could really move an audience with
their speech. Think of Winston
Churchill, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan and others. Even Adolph Hitler was a gifted speaker even
though he was motivated by hate and evil.
The point Paul is trying to make is it doesn't matter how gifted a
public speaker you are. You could speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, but if you don't do it with a heart
of love (agape), what are you? A
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
What does that mean? It means
you're just noise! If your speaking
isn't motivated out of a heart of love, then your speaking is just noise; or in
other words, your gift amounts to nothing.
Preachers who do not use their gift of speaking out of a love for the
souls of the people he's speaking to might as well be saying "BLAH, BLAH,
BLAH!" because it is only through a heart of love that the gospel of love
reaches people.