Читать книгу Boyd's Commentary - R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation - Страница 72

According to Paul, only one thing matters when it comes to spiritual gifts—love. Without it, one’s gifts, no matter how elaborate and divine, are as useless as sounding brass or clanging cymbals. As an example, exercising the gift of speaking in tongues without love is like a band of expensive instruments playing out of sync with each other. It disrupts rather than creating harmony amid the community of believers. In hypothetical fashion, Paul continued with his insistence of love. He intentionally exaggerated his position. He wrote, “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2, NRSV). This stressed his point that without love those spectacular feats of faith are meaningless. He further argued that even the most noble acts of personal sacrifice, such as giving away personal possessions or surrendering the body to be burned, count for nothing when love is not the reason for doing them.

First Corinthians 13 is couched between two chapters that explain Paul’s understanding of spiritual gifts. The reality of spiritual gifts has never been in question, but only their implementation. Paul wrote in 14:26 (NRSV), “What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” The notion of love is that whatever is done must be done in and for a spirit of collective blessing.

Tongues without love are of no help to any but the speaker. They produce cacophony. Love tempers its gifts so they are used in an appropriate manner for the moment and setting. Anything less is self-aggrandizement and given to produce division, strife, and power struggles. Nothing is gained from this. Paul wrote repeatedly in 13:1–3 that “I am nothing” or “I gain nothing.” An appropriate translation would be, “I am no one, and I accomplish nothing.” These latter phrases get at the heart of the matter. Because spiritual gifts can be a matter of pride, those who possessed them within the Corinthian church needed a reminder the gifts were not a matter of pride. The gifts’ expression and reason for use should take center stage.