ONE of the best-loved chapters in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 13), is often called St Paul's hymn of heavenly love. It follows his tribute to the gifts of the Holy Spirit by Christ to his church at Pentecost. Then he introduces his tribute to love, saying, "I will show you the best way of all ... I may speak in tongues of men or angels, but if I am without love I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal." He stresses that believers in the King of Love express net only their own idea of love, but the special, divine love exemplified in Christ's life and words when upon the earth.
Words in a collect - "all our doings without love are worth nothing", or "without love whoever lives is counted dead before You" - may cause us to stop in our path and ask: "What is this love which St Paul maintains must be the principal and guiding motive for believers in Christ?" The sheer beauty of St Paul's words and thoughts, especially in the Authorised Version, are so magnificent that our alertness to the revolutionary message may be dulled.
The practice of praying for the Holy Spirit of Jesus to be with us as we read God's Word is remarkably effective. Saint Paul lists some of the characteristics of living by the more excellent and distinctive way of Jesus: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. It never fails."
We will not have concentrated long on what St Paul sees as typical of a believer's manner of living and loving before we find ourselves saying: "This is unrealistic, impossible, beyond my ability." This is so right. The disciples felt the same way on a day at Capernaum after Jesus had challenged them. They complained, and He said to them: "Is this too much for you?" Some of them withdrew, and no longer followed Him. Jesus said to other disciples: "Are you too wanting to go away?"
Saint Peter's reply was pleasing to Jesus because it stressed their dependence on Christ if they were to live and love by His way of life and love: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Your words are words of eternal life. We have faith, and we know that you are the Holy One of God."
Words in the Epistle (1 John 4 v 19) describe very well how Christ's special kind of love develops in His followers till it becomes central in their lives. The writer points to the origin of such love: "We love Him because He first loved us." Realisation of Christ's amazing personal love inspires love of His kind in us ... no "sounding gong or clanging symbal". Jesus is strong, convincing words points to Himself as the essential in loving His way.
"A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
"Though, O Christ, art all want; More than all in thee I find;"