“Strive for the Higher Gifts”
Rev. James Rausch
Last week we heard Paul’s vision of unity in the church as he gave the metaphor of one body with many different parts, or members, each unique, but all part of the whole. At the end of that chapter in 1 Corinthians, Paul gave a little teaser line, or a mini-cliff-hanger. I wonder is any of us even caught it. After affirming their differing spiritual gifts and cautioning them against jealousy or competition, Paul told them to strive for the greater gifts. And he transitioned to the next subject by saying, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.”
The language Paul uses here is related to mountain climbing or hill climbing, and he is telling them that they are coming to the peak. That more excellent way is the highest spiritual gift of all, Love. And the love chapter of 1 Corinthians, as it has come to be known, is Paul’s main point of emphasis. I’ll tell you how we know this by the pattern of writing used by Paul.
First, let’s look at the pattern of writing with which we are most familiar. Hopefully you will recall this from your literature classes. Look at the top shape on the diagram in your bulletin. It kind of looks like a check mark with a tail. Does it look familiar. Western story-telling, we are taught, follows this pattern. The first part represents the introduction to the setting and characters in the story. The second portion, represented by the longer, upward-sloping line, represents the action in the story. It includes the complication or conflict. This is the plot that builds upward to the top point which we call the climax. After that high point there is a downward line that represents the resolution.
Because we are so accustomed to modern Western patterns of writing, we tend to expect to find those same patterns in the Bible. But ancient Eastern patterns of storytelling and writing were different. Thankfully, with a little coaching, we can see those patterns and learn from them what the writers were emphasizing the most. We see one of these patterns in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. If you turn your bulletins sideways you can see the two triangles that each reach a high peak, like mountains. The main point is found right in the center. You work your way up to it, and then come back down through the same layers.
Let’s look at the first triangle that shows Paul’s writing pattern from chapters 11 through 14. Some of you who have studied poetry might recognize the pattern of A, B, C, B’, A’. The first and last portions mirror each other. In this case Paul addresses issues regarding men and women in worship in chapter 11 and then again at the end of chapter 14. The second and second-to-last portions mirror each other as well. Here Paul addresses the spiritual gifts in chapter 12, as we read last week, and again at the beginning of chapter 14. The point of the triangle, the peak of the mountain – what Paul refers to a “still more excellent way,” is chapter 13, the “Love Chapter.”
So, of all of Paul’s instructions and admonishments, Love receives the greatest emphasis. Now I love learning how such patterns can enhance our understanding of the Bible, and in this case, we can take it a step further. For Paul’s definition of love in chapter 13 also follows a very specific pattern. Follow along with the bottom diagram. At the beginning and the end of his description, he speaks of the relationship of love and the spiritual gifts. Next, and second-to-last, he defines love positively – saying what love is. It is patient. It is kind. It rejoices in the truth and bears all things.
In the very middle, right at the high point of the pattern, Paul defines love negatively, saying what it is not. It is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Why would Paul place these negative definitions of love at the very center of his teaching? It’s because they address the very problems that were occurring in the Corinthian church.
So, in knowing and sharing love, we have found the more excellent way – the highest of all the spiritual gifts. Paul’s writing is so vivid and instructive that I can’t resist sharing with you some of the nuances of his language when it comes to describing the character of love. Paul begins and ends his definition of love with two kinds of patience. Love is patient. Love endures all things. In ancient Greek there are two distinct and very rich words for patience. The first one is. makroqumei./. Macro means far away and Thumos means anger. So, this image of patience refers to the one who has the ability to put his anger a long way away.
The rabbis used this word, and they talked about it in terms of a parable of a short-tempered king who had a very unruly rebellious citizenry. The king kept his main troop force three days away, so that between the time of summoning them (when the people have angered the king) and their arrival his cooler thinking would prevail.
The word at the other end where is says love patiently endures all – again, all we have in English is the word patient, but the word in Greek is u`pome,neiÅ Meneo means to remain and hupo means under. So, this is the person who “remains under.” That is, it’s tough, the pressure is on, you’re losing not winning, there’s nothing you can do about it, there’s no way you can remove that pressure, and you manage to live a victorious life in the midst of all that stress. As Americans we always want problems we can solve. But sometimes there are problems we cannot solve and must learn to cope and endure under stresses about which we can do nothing. This quality is also required. This is not the patience of the victor, but of the victim. Love includes patience when we are in control and when we are not in control. The great example of this patience is our Lord on the cross. He does not simply grin and bear it but he is victorious over it. The evil around him dies because he absorbs it, and in that absorption, there is no reaction out of his own heart and spirit to further the evil.
The second positive definition of love is in the word we translate as kind. It is a good strong word in Greek and it’s a word that was often used for horses. It is used to describe a horse that is strong but gentle and obedient. Love is not a mark of the weak, but rather the strong. It is the velvet glove on the fist of iron. Power and strength, but with great gentleness, like a well-trained horse.
Turning from those positives, we look at the negative definitions. The first is jealousy, or as the Greek has it, to boil with jealousy. I can’t prove it, but I think Paul is here making reference to the animosities and jealousies that had sprung up among the Corinthians over the spiritual gifts. Paul seems to refer to this kind of bickering and comparison in chapter twelve where one says, because I am not an eye, I do not belong… People saw some gifts in others or themselves that were not possessed by all and this led to jealousy and competition. There is no place for this in the body of Christ. We are supposed to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Did you ever think about that? Maybe you’ve noticed that it is easier to do the former than the latter, to weep with those who weep. To weep with one who weeps is painful to be sure, but to do the latter requires that we put aside all jealousy. To rejoice with someone who has achieved or received something you wanted. This is very difficult indeed. Jealousy can destroy a Christian community more quickly than almost any other vice.
After that we are told that love is not boastful, and love is not rude, or better yet, love is not without grace. This word is a beautiful word in Greek – avschmonei,, from which we get the word scheme. For the Greeks, your “schema” was that about which you which struck the senses. When I look at you this means whether you’ve combed your hair, and groomed yourself appropriately to meet the outside world. It does not mean that you must be fancy or dress expensively, but that you care about the senses of others when they encounter you and how those senses will be struck by you. This includes your manner and lifestyle as well. The “a” on the beginning of this word means that Paul is saying that love is not “aschema,” without concern for the senses of others around you.
Love covers all… (bears all – in the NRSV). In Greek this word is much more colorful. It says love does not “leak.” You can think in terms of holding something out, a roof that doesn’t leak. Or in terms of keeping something in, a bowl that does not leak. The Greek word means both. We can translate it “lover covers all.” That’s the first kind. The Roman word “toga” and the English word “thatch” come from this word. Love has a protective quality that will keep out harmful, evil things. I will protect you because I love you. The other side says that love seals. You give me the treasures of your heart and I will not spill them.
So, there is a description of the “more excellent way,” love – or more specifically, agape love. Agape is the Greek word for self-giving love. It is distinct from eros, which is romantic love, phileo, which is the love known in deep friendship, or storge, parental love for a child. Agape is more a decision than a feeling – though it is both. It is the greatest gift of all, and one we should all strive for. It is God’s very nature as we are told in 1 John 4:16 which says, “God is love.” Paul says we should strive for this greater gift. I think that acknowledges that, while we can strive for it, we cannot fully attain it in this life.
Peter seemed to learn this lesson as he acquired humility. He started out with a kind of hubris that led him to be first to shout out the answers to questions and to stand with a confidence that went overboard into the realm of cockiness. He learned a painful lesson about his own limits after he promised that he would stay with Jesus even if it meant dying with him. As we know, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times.
So, it was to a much humbler and more self-aware Peter that the risen Jesus directed his three-fold questions, “Peter do you love me?” in John, chapter 21. When Jesus asked if Peter loved him, Jesus was asking about Agape love. Peter answered “You know I love you,” but with the word phileo in stead of agape. “Do you agape me?” “Lord, you know I phileo you.” Finally, in the third question, Jesus changed his question. “Do you phileo me?” Peter was able to answer honestly with the word phileo. I think he was now humble enough to know that, though he would strive for agape love, he could not attain that gift perfectly.
According to Paul, striving for agape love is the key to our functioning as the body of Christ. It serves as the bond that brings together all of our different gifts, abilities, and interests, and causes us to appreciate one another and cooperate together.