Love is the Greatest

November, 2003

by: Jeff Jones

As I was sitting in my office, thinking about what to write about this month, providentially, a friend came in and asked: “Of faith, hope, and love, why is love the greatest?” I said, “That' easy.” I can say that because I graduated from The Master's Seminary and therefore I pretty much know everything about the Bible … in case you couldn't tell, that last statement was intended to be sarcastic. Anyway, I thought to myself that would be a good item of discussion for my half–page in the Calvary Review.

So, why is love greater than faith and hope? To begin, as you know, that statement is found in the great chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13. But, as you may not know, the chapter is sandwiched between two other chapters on spiritual gifts — which, you guessed it, means that love chapter is really about spiritual gifts too. What does love have to do with spiritual gifts? It can often be the case, that when using our gifts or performing any kind of service to the Church, we do it to put ourselves on display, promote our own talent, feel good about ourselves, whatever. But, spiritual gifts aren't to operate in the sphere of our own pride and self–glory, rather, they are to operate for the benefit of others. This means that it is impossible to use our gifts in the church if we don't have love (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-3). Love is not about serving “me,” love is about serving others. Now, in order to strengthen this point, Paul goes on to speak of the temporary nature of the gifts in relation to the enduring nature of love. Gifts will cease, love will last, therefore get busy loving other people, and quit attempting to seek your own glory, Paul would say. So, when it comes to faith, hope, and love, we should also remember that the first two of those won't last either. In heaven, we won't need faith or hope because we will see with our very eyes, but … love we will still need and have. This then, quite obviously, points to love as the greatest of the three. Love will last.