The concept of “faith, hope and love” is present in the Pauline Epistles from the very beginning (1 Thessalonians. 1:3; 5:8). In Philippians 2:1 Paul wrote: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, and comfort from LOVE, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same LOVE, being in full accord and of one mind.” John plainly states that “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is LOVE” (1 John 4:8). In like manner Paul explicitly states that Christ Jesus is “our hope” (1 Timothy 1:2) and that faith “is the gift of God”(Ephesians 2:8; cf. Hebrews 6:4). 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 can therefore be understood in the following manner: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not God, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all of the Spirit, so as to remove mountains, but have not God, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not God, I gain nothing. God is patient and kind; God does not envy or boast; he is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; he does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now the Spirit, the Son, and Father abide, these three; but the greatest of these is God the Father.” (cf. John 14:28)
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:04:20 +0000
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