1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 13
A Psalm of Love. 1 Cor. 13,1-13.
The high worth of love: V. 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. V. 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Paul had written, by way of introduction to this magnificent paean in praise of perfect Christian love, that he would show his readers the supremely excellent way to become partakers of the better spiritual gifts, of those which are of greater value for the edification of the congregation, those of wisdom, of knowledge, of prophecy. That way, which strives for the possession of gifts which will do most toward serving our fellow-Christian and the Church, is the way of love.
The supreme excellence of this gift of God is brought out in a wonderful manner: If with the tongues of men I be speaking, and of angels, but am without love, I have become a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. In comparing the various gifts of the apostolic age with the better gifts that find their expression through love, the apostle mentions, first of all, the gift of tongues. In the case of one that possessed this gift, a peculiar ecstasy replaced the ordinary function of reason, and in this condition the Spirit of God made use of the tongue in new and strange languages to praise the great works of God.
But if a person had this gift in a most extraordinary degree, if he embodied not only the miracle of Pentecost, but of ecstatic and inarticulate forms of speech which needed special interpreters; yea, if this mystic utterance reached such heights that he could speak in the unutterable forms of heavenly language; if, however, he had no love for his brothers in his heart, this wonderful gift would have no value for him. Like a dead instrument of brass he would have become, like a clanging cymbal, both of which yield forth a tone when struck, the one a dull, deep tone, the other a shrill, penetrating tone, but are absolutely without life.
Mark that the idea of instrumentality is brought out. The Christian that possesses any gifts is an instrument of the Holy Ghost in using them for the service of his neighbor. To parade any gifts before others for the gratification of vanity, for show, and in the expectation of praise, is to invite the severest censure of God.