But desire earnestly the greater gifts, and yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence.
The chapter has just listed the gifts the Spirit gives out, and asked whether all are apostles, all prophets, all speakers in tongues. The answer is no, and then comes this verse: a call to want something, and a promise of something better.
The older translation "covet" makes the command sound close to a sin. The Greek word is a different one. Elsewhere Scripture uses it for zeal, not greed.
In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 1 Corinthians 14:39, the word is ζηλόω. It is quite different from the coveting that Scripture condemns. Revelation 3:19 translates it "be zealous." The passages in Corinthians can be translated the same way, or as "desire earnestly" the best gifts, and "desire earnestly" to prophesy.
The verse ranks gifts. Some are greater, and Paul's own letter says which ones and why.
We are to desire earnestly the better, or greater, gifts — gifts such as prophesying or teaching. The opening verses of 1 Corinthians 14 make this clear. These are better because they bring wider and more general profit. Each person receives his gift for the profit of all.
People often quote this verse to encourage a hunt for tongues. But tongues is not one of the gifts the apostle tells them to desire.
A reading of the Scriptures will show that "tongues" is one of those gifts they were not told to desire earnestly. As a gift, the apostle counts it one of the least, and he places it last in his list (1 Corinthians 12:28). On the other hand, he urges them to desire to prophesy. Prophecy built up and comforted the church, while tongues were only a sign to unbelievers.
Commentators differ over whether the command is to the individual or to the whole gathering.
I think this exhortation may be taken in two ways. Sometimes people take it to mean that a person may hold a holy ambition for some great gift in the church. No doubt this view is right, though very few such ambitions come true. But does not the apostle mean more than this? Does he not mean that all believers should want God to work among them by the greater gifts, the gifts that build others up?
Either way, one motive is wrong. A desire for gift that measures itself against other people has already missed the point.
This does not mean that each person should desire a gift to outshine others. Rather, the assembly was to desire earnestly that the best gifts be used in a godly way among them. But chapter 14:12 gives the rule for desiring gifts: seek to excel at building up the church. Gift is given for the good of others, not for my own satisfaction.
Some read the second half of the verse as a method for getting those gifts. It is something else.
At the same time the saints are encouraged to desire earnestly the greater gifts, but these were for edification, not for show. And yet he points out to them a way of far greater excellence. It is surely not just a way, however good, to get these gifts, as some suppose. It is a way for souls to feel and think, to walk and worship, beyond all gifts. It is the way of love, which he opens out in the next chapter.
The reason love surpasses gift is not that gift is small. It is a difference in what each one displays of God.
Still, there was something more excellent than all gifts. The gifts were displays of the power of God and of the mysteries of His wisdom. Love was the display of His nature itself.
Not everyone receives the gift they ask for, so the first half of the verse leaves many people wanting. The second half leaves no one out.
We are told to "earnestly desire the higher gifts," and yet, "I will show you a still more excellent way." What is that way? To love one another. It may take talents and gifts to preach or teach. It may take a large income to give much to the Lord's work. But anyone can love with a full heart, even if head and pocket are both empty.
None of this is a reason to think less of gift. The verse holds both halves together.
We should covet earnestly the best gifts, but we should also remember the "more excellent way," even the way of love that ever hides itself and seeks only the profit of others. It is not that we value gifts less, but we value love more.
- Desire — the word behind "covet" means zeal, not greed. Scripture commands this desire; it does not condemn it.
- Rank — the "best" gifts build others up, like prophecy and teaching. Tongues comes last on the apostle's list.
- Aim — a right desire aims at building others up, not at rivalry. A gift is for the good of others, never for personal satisfaction.
- Beyond — the more excellent way is not a method for getting gifts. It is a way of feeling, thinking, walking and worshipping that goes past them all.
- Reach — gifts show God's power; love shows His nature. So the greatest thing is open even to a believer with no gift and no money.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
Corinth prized showy things: fluent speech, the gift of tongues, public display. Paul answers by pointing to a way that outranks every gift, and he asks what the finest speech is worth when love is missing.
One commentator warns against a common mistake. The better way Paul points to is not a better route to gifts:
At the same time Paul tells the saints to desire the greater gifts eagerly, but these gifts were for building up, not for show. And yet he points them to a far better way. It is not merely a way, however good, to get these gifts, as some suppose. It is a way for souls to feel and think, to walk and worship, beyond all gifts. It is the way of love, and he opens it out in the next chapter.
To prove the supreme value of love, the Apostle names three things the Corinthian believers were boasting about: their eloquent speech, their spiritual possessions, and their activities. They may try to lift themselves up by these things. But he shows that these things count for nothing in God's sight if love is not the motive.
Notice that Paul says "I." He does not point at anyone. And the speech he imagines is not bad speech:
Older English Bibles read "charity" here, which today suggests giving money away. The Greek word is the same one used elsewhere for God's own love:
Today people usually take the word "charity" to mean kind feelings toward others, or gifts of money to the poor. But that is not what the Greek word agapee means, the word Paul uses all through this chapter. The Revised Version and all good modern versions translate it "love." In 1 John 4:7-12 this same word agapee appears several times, and there too it is translated "love." To say "God is charity" (the same word) instead of "God is love" would shock our ears, and rightly so.
A cymbal was made of metal plates struck together:
Ancient musical instruments, made of metal plates struck together. On their own they made no tuneful sound, and they could only be played alongside other instruments… In Corinthians the cymbal is a picture of someone making a show in speaking without love in the heart.
Applied to a meeting, that means volume without result:
Whatever the estimate of the value of tongues in modern days, the apostle rates them, whether of men or of angels, to be, in the absence of love, no more than "a mere instrument of sound without sense, dead, mechanical, devoid of moral worth." There is much clangour and clatter, but no true ministry of the Spirit bearing witness to the spirits of the saints. No edification results, for it is love that builds up, while tongues like knowledge puff up.
The verse does not say the words become noise. It says I become noise. One writer pictures the scene:
A brother stands up in the meeting and speaks words of rare sweetness and thrill, though we cannot understand a word of them. We find that he has given a message from God in a language of heaven, one that angels use. How wonderful! How we would stare at him! Yes. But if he has done this without love, he might as well have brought an old brass pan into the meeting and hit it with a poker. That is all the good he has done for the Lord's interests in the assembly.
Not every Christian has a gift. But one writer points out what every Christian can do:
Love is what God is. If I do not have it, I am not born of God, and so I do not share His nature… You say, I have no gift. Maybe so, but you can love. Every Christian can do that. And it is worth more than the brightest gift, because love is the nature of God and seeks the blessing of others. It thinks of everybody but itself.
- Setting — The better way is not a way to get gifts. It is a way of feeling, walking and worshipping that stands above every gift.
- Motive — The three tests of verses 1–3 target Corinth's boasts: speech, possessions, activity. Without love as the motive, none of them counts with God.
- Word — "Charity" in older versions is the same word used for God's own love; "love" is the accurate rendering.
- Sound — Cymbals made no melody on their own. That is the picture of a person making a show in speaking with no love in the heart — clatter, but nothing built up.
- Reach — Gift is given to some; love is open to all, and is worth more than the brightest gift, because love is what God is.
And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Paul has just pointed a gift-obsessed church to something better than the gifts they were competing over. Now he tests the three biggest — prophecy, total understanding, mountain-moving faith — and each one, without love, leaves the man himself nothing.
The contrast in this chapter is not between a big gift and a small one.
Still, there was something more excellent than all gifts. Gifts were the displays of the power of God and of the mysteries of His wisdom; love was the display of His nature itself.
That is why the chapter follows straight on from Paul's teaching about gifts in the assembly.
As this is what 1 Corinthians 12 sets before us, so the apostle goes on to remind the Corinthians that there was one thing even better than gifts. This was love. Looking at God's nature, He is certainly Light, but what is the energy of that nature? It is love. It is love that actively comes to us from God and blesses us. Love is the energy of the divine nature. It is what Christ showed us God to be, and what the Spirit would now work in us.
The faith in this verse is not the faith that saves a person.
Of course, "all faith" in this verse has nothing to do with believing in the Son of God, for whoever believes has everlasting life. It means only faith as a miraculous power, which a man who is not born again might have (Matthew 7:22-23).
So what can this faith do?
The Apostle is not speaking of faith in Christ, for this faith works by love. He is speaking instead of faith which enables people to overcome great obstacles and do great exploits. And he says it is possible to have such faith without love.
The word "mysteries" here does not mean puzzles too deep to grasp. In Scripture it means truths God once kept back and has now told out.
God's mysteries mean those secret things which are now revealed, in contrast with what Israel had of old (Deuteronomy 29:29). They are not, as most people suppose, things too deep to understand. They are truths God kept back in Old Testament times, now displayed in Christ on high and made known by the Spirit in the New Testament.
So Paul is picturing a man with the fullest possible grasp of revealed truth — and still weighing him at zero.
Scripture already had examples of real spiritual power in people whose hearts were far from God. Balaam prophesied for money. Saul was Israel's first king. Caiaphas was the high priest who wanted Jesus dead. Judas was one of the twelve.
Saul the king could prophesy too. Balaam the prophet prophesied while loving the wages of unrighteousness. Caiaphas the priest prophesied while he was thirsting for innocent blood. Judas the apostle worked miracles while he carried the heart of a traitor. Each of them had received a new heart, or "another heart," as a gift for office, and in the Spirit they prophesied or worked miracles. But all this tells us that it is not gifts that make us what we should be, and that nothing will do if the heart is not with God.
Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say the prophecy is worthless or the knowledge false.
He not only reaches the heart of divine things; through his gift of prophecy he can also tell others what he knows. He also has faith of an almost miraculous power. Yet he has not love! We are not told that he is like a clanging piece of brass. It is possible that we may gain some help and understanding from what he says, and some inspiration from his remarkable faith. What we are told is that he himself is nothing. If we are unspiritual ourselves, we might imagine him to be a giant. Really he is less than a pygmy. He is nothing.
This verse deals with what a person has, and the emptiness traces back to motive.
Verse 1 deals with what I speak; verse 2 with what I have; and verse 3 with what I do. Where love is missing, the motive for using the gift is selfish; it is not genuine concern for others, or for the glory of God. So in my every effort to be something, "I am nothing."
- Nature. Gifts display God's power; love displays His nature. That is why love ranks above every gift.
- Gift. The "all faith" here is a gift of miraculous power, not saving faith. Saving faith works by love, so it could never be loveless.
- Reach. Prophecy, all mysteries, all knowledge — that is the widest grasp of truth anyone could hold. Without love, Paul rates it at zero.
- Proof. Balaam, Saul, Caiaphas and Judas show that power in the Spirit is no evidence of a heart with God.
- Verdict. Paul does not say the gift is nothing; he says I am nothing. Others may profit from what I say; God sees a nobody. Every effort to be something ends there.