"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."
1 Corinthians 13:2
Part 2
Yesterday:
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;”
Without “love,” all my Bible knowledge fails.
“And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains” (a)
Undoubtedly the greatest gift is “faith!?” Oh? Is it?
Today:
“And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains” (b)
Believer, don’t you want to be able to do unbelievable acts of faith? If so, the most crucial thing must be faith?! Well, think about this… The Bible is teaching us that if we do not have love with our faith, “we are nothing.”
“A man with faith can move great mountains; but he will set them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else – if he doesn’t have love! It isn’t an issue of love versus the gifts. A church should never be forced to choose between love and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul is emphasizing the focus and goal of the gifts: love, not the gifts for their own sake. ‘Possession of the charismata is not the sign of the Spirit; Christian love is.’ (Fee)” [1] (Guzik).
Faith. “The practical power of the will elevated by faith [Neander]; confidence in God that the miraculous result will surely follow the exercise of the will at the secret impulse of His Spirit. Without “love” prophecy, knowledge, and faith, are not what they seem (compare 1 Corinthians 8:1-2; Matthew 7:22; James 2:14; compare 1 Corinthians 13:8), and so fail of the heavenly reward (Matthew 6:2).” [2]
“But real faith, in the Scripture sense, without love, is an impossibility.” [3]
God says that a man without love is “nothing.” What does He mean by that? Come back tomorrow as we conclude our thoughts on Biblical “faith” and “love.”
[1] Guzik, David, David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. I have taken three statements in Guzik’s notes and put them into a single paragraph.
[2] Jamison, Fausset, and Brown. Jamison-Fausset-Brown’s Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. The scripture references have been reformatted by me.
[3] Cambridge Bible, the electronic version in eSword.