AfterWords: "These Three Remain...."

 

I Corinthians 13:13

Corinth[1]—

·       Where the Lord’s Supper turns into an orgy

·       Where the congregation cheers the fellow who moves in with his newly single stepmom

·       Where the fascination with languages leads people to forget what’s being said

·       Where steaks are not steaks—some are Jason’s best, and some are Aphodite’s or Apollo’s tainted portion

·       Where spiritual gifts are a local competition instead of a shared ministry….

Corinth—In this city we find a gathering of Jesus People who merit not one, not two, but at least three letters. And, these letters are not brief, not simple. These long letters reflect and address the multicultural complexities of a rapidly growing metropolis. Paul does his best to herd the cats, I mean, the Christians of this vibrant center of commerce. He does his best to help them make sense of living this newfound faith fiercely pagan city.

 

Corinth—Like his Lord, Paul does his best to reduce things for them to the simplest ideas. Do you remember how Jesus does this?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus provides this reduction for those striving to live within Judaism. Paul turns around and does the same favor for the Jews and Gentiles in Corinth who are trying to figure how to live the faith in their setting.

We don’t often notice that it’s a great reduction, and we seldom understand it clearly. You may recognize the words:

“These three remain: Faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Cor. 13:13)

We usually think of these words as the culmination of the “Love Chapter,” but if we read carefully, this is the culmination of four chapters of guiding the Corinthians into mature living. In this one verse Paul reduces things down to these three—three ways of thinking and doing (they have nothing to do with feelings in the original Greek). 

• Faith—truly trusting in who God is and what God says…and living as if we truly trust. This is about not being afraid. 
• Hope—seeing where God is leading and trusting God to act but also taking steps in that direction. This is about rejecting determinism. 
• And, Love—deciding to selflessly live a life of loving-kindness towards others, to sacrifice self that others might have life. This is about rejecting self-centeredness. 
  
  

Paul had seen his Lord do these things, and Paul followed in his steps.

Perhaps what we need today in our own exploding, multicultural cities and towns is to hold on to these three eternal foundations of life in Christ—faith, hope, and love, and may we hold on to them as desperately as did the early Corinthians.

And now, may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (II Cor. 13:14) be with us all.

Amen. 

 

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[1] A reflection written and presented in the ancient city of Corinth while touring Paul’s ministry sites in the eastern Mediterranean/Aegean Seas in February 2025.