Tuesday: “A More Excellent Way”
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 4th of August 2026
“Love is not one gift among many. It is the means through which all of the gifts reach their ultimate purpose.”—Carl P. Cosaert, “1 Corinthians,” Andrews Bible Commentary: New Testament (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2022), p. 1643.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 4:8-11. What is the role of love as far as spiritual gifts are concerned?
Image © Justinen Creative Collection at Goodsalt.com
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 teaches that only through love can the spiritual gifts be used appropriately. Paul begins 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 by alluding to gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, only to stress their lack of value if not driven by love. Thus, knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8) and faith (1 Corinthians 12:9), even a faith “so as to remove mountains” (1 Corinthians 13:2, ESV), are nothing without love (1 Corinthians 13:2). Without love, the ability to speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10,28,30) is reduced merely to “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1, NIV). Likewise, even the important gift of prophecy is nothing without love (1 Corinthians 13:2).
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Paul focuses on what love is and what it is not; more particularly, what love does and what it does not do. The verbs he chose to characterize love indicate love is not so much something we feel as it is something that we practice. Thus, Paul mentions that love (1) shows patience; (2) shows kindness; (3) rejoices in the truth; (4) bears all things; (5) believes all things; (6) hopes all things; and (7) endures all things. Conversely, love (1) does not envy; (2) does not boast; (3) does not inflate with arrogance; (4) does not behave rudely; (5) does not seek its own [rights]; (6) does not get easily irritated; (7) does not keep record of wrongs; and (8) does not delight in wrongdoing.
This total of 15 verbs provides solid guidance for appropriate behavior in the practice of gifts. Notably, this discussion on the true nature of love lies precisely between 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 and 14, where Paul deals with the conflict regarding spiritual gifts. Indeed, love is the key to the wise use of spiritual gifts. Love is also placed side by side with faith and hope, “but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NKJV).
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Why is love so central to our faith? What better way to experience the reality of God’s love than by prayerfully seeking to reflect that love to others? |
I was rather hoping that 1 Cor 13 would involve more than just one day’s study in the current lesion series. But perhaps, we should look at it as so important that it is threaded through the rest of the study.
We often equate God and love in our thinking, and I wondered if there was a biblical statement to that effect, or was it just a fabrication: Turns out the expression is used twice:
This is an identity statement. It doesn’t just say God gives love (although that is undoubtably true) it says he is love. It is how we know who he is. Secondly, it is not an isolated descriptor. It is not like saying something is big, or red. or that a person has a great smile. “God is love” implies a relationship.
It is useful to remember this when we read 1 Corinthians 13 because it is clearly a relationship chapter. Listen to this:
Most of this has to do with how we read and act towards others. And that includes even the people we disagree with.
Bearing 1 Cor 13 in mind, I have no love in me. LORD help me to exhibit Love cos there is nothing like true love or fake love.
In a sense you are correct Sarah. There is no fake love or true love. Just “love”. “God is love” 1 John 4:8. Just as there is no fake “God” (note the capital G) and there is no true “God” . There is only one God -God.
The contemporary world’s understanding of love has become distorted and, in many cases, perverted. We have heard the word “love” so often that we have become desensitized to what true love really means. From television to movies and social media, we are constantly exposed to forms of love that are far removed from the pure and holy love Christ exemplified. The Corinthian church also struggled with love as a spiritual gift because they were influenced by the worldliness around them. Their faith had become a competition, with people seeking recognition for their spiritual gifts rather than serving others in love. Like them, we can attend church, give, serve, and perform religious duties without truly having the love of God at the centre of our lives. Paul reminds us that without love—true, Christ-centred love—everything we do amounts to nothing. Whatever we do must be done for the glory of God and motivated by love, because when our works are done merely for human recognition or personal benefit, we have missed the mark.
The gift of love remains one of the greatest gifts we can give to others. 1 John 4:19 (KJV) declares, “We love him, because he first loved us.” God’s love is the source and foundation of all genuine love, and because we have received His love, we are called to share it with others. Love is not merely something we talk about; it must be demonstrated through our everyday actions. We can give someone a smile, speak encouraging and kind words, ask how someone is doing, offer help, forgive, show patience, and extend kindness even when it is not deserved. These simple acts may appear insignificant, but they can become powerful expressions of God’s love. The Christian life should therefore be marked not only by what we believe or what we do, but by the love with which we do it.
Our love for God must be pure and should reflect the sacrificial love of Christ for His church. Christ demonstrated the highest form of love by giving Himself for a sinful humanity that did not deserve to be saved. God “so loved the world” that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation. Parents may begin to understand something of this love when they look at their own children and consider the depth of their willingness to protect and sacrifice for them. Yet God did something even greater: He gave His beloved Son to die for people who had rejected Him. This is the love we are called to develop—not a love based on convenience, recognition, or what we can receive in return, but a sacrificial, selfless, Christlike love that seeks the good of others and ultimately brings glory to God.
Because in the English language I can love my purse, my dog, ice cream, my child and my husband, I think we need an adjective to describe the gift of God to us. Ellen White says it beautifully in Desire of Ages, (p. 19, I think,) when she writes (approximately) that “in the light that streams from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven.” God’s law of life renounces self to serve other. The world’s law, under Satan’s leadership, promotes self at the expense of others.
And we can’t be smug about it. If we are honest, we should be able to see that we haven’t always acted according to Christ’s law. It’s not natural to us, unless we seek a daily re-conversion.
Well explained thank you so much for your clarity of thought.
Correct DA page 19, paragraph two of Chapter One, titled “God With Us.”
Love is the “epicentre” of all things in scripture. All that God do is motivated by love. Hence, all that we do as human beings should be within the influence of God’s love. If not so, that will be out of order. Paul explicitly states in 1 Corinthians 13, all things are worthless if not exercised within the love of God. Nothing will achieve its purpose if not driven by love. Paul says, if we pursue love first, then the spiritual gifts will have their intended purpose. “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts…” (1 Corinthians 14:1). Love transforms the gifts from self-expression to self-giving. Love is the bedrock upon which God builds His church. Without love, the church is simply another entity in the world.
Giftedness without love will produce pride, will puff up and tear down the church of God. Love always builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1).As God enables us to build His church through spiritual gifts, He expects us to use them in love for the good of others. The application of spiritual gifts should be an expression of God’s character. Love is the greatest. All spiritual gifts end here on earth, but love will continue in eternity.
“Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, NLT).
“O love of God, how strong and true,
Eternal and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.”
For us to love as He loves, we will have to know Him
for ourselves.
A mere surface relationship with Him will not produce the love
of 1 Corinthians 13!!!!!
Amen brother! By beholding and applying, we will be changed.
Lord Jesus help us understand the love we need to serve you and others.
For me a more excellent way to express and show love as narrated in 1 Corinthians 13 sums up into the word RESPECT.
If you have love in you, it will be shown in how you treat other people with respect. By being polite, kind, not taking advantage of others, showing fairness and justice, being supportive of what others have and valuing one’s dignity, reveals the same kind of love you received from GOD–of how HE treats you as well.
Love will truly build a church through respecting one another despite of our differences.
This morning, as I read the Sabbath School lesson on 1 Corinthians 13, I felt impressed to reach out to some family members and church members whom I haven’t seen or communicated with in quite some time. I sent them the message below. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a response from someone I wasn’t expecting to hear from.
“I just wanted to take a moment to wish each of you God’s blessings. May He continue to keep you safe, give you good health, and fill your hearts with His peace. Have a wonderful day, and let’s continue to keep one another in our prayers. God bless you all!”
It was a simple reminder to me that even a few words spoken in Christian love can touch hearts, reopen lines of communication, and be a blessing to both the sender and the receiver. Sometimes God uses the smallest acts of kindness to accomplish His purposes.
How do you measure love? How can you tell if something is done in love?
We often (or at least I had for some time) get mixed with Spiritual Gifts and fruits of the Spirit. The fruits are the result of our walk with Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23 says’22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Yes, I think we do sometimes mix them up. But I want you to notice something: There is only *one* “fruit of the Spirit,” and it includes all of “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” That is the fruit the Spirit produces in a life submitted to Him. I would go a step further and suggest that the Spirit produces the self-renouncing love that Jesus demonstrated, and that, in turn, will produce peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness.
“Love is not one gift among many. It is the means through which all of the gifts reach their ultimate purpose.” [from Carl P. Cosaert included in this lesson]. This is a very important distinction. It is not a ‘stand-alone’ aspect of our nature, it is what our born-again nature is formed by and expresses.
“Why is love so central to our faith?” It is easy to spot a loving, caring person, as love can only be shared in the ways of its loving acts – what it does and does not do – 1 Cor.13. But how can we obtain this ‘loving’ state? By being ‘born-again’ by the Spirit of God, receive Him into our heart, mind, and being to change us from the inside out – John 3:5-6
We cannot be kind and loving without God’s Love having made its home within our heart. God’s Love has been given to us to replace the heart of stone which caused us so much grieve. We are now the children of God’s Love, called upon to share His loving Spirit‘s abundance with all we come in contact with. This is who we are now – God’s children, born-again by His Love – 1 Peter 1:3; Eph.2:4-5.
Love is the best practice we can experiment with in life (1 John 4:7-8). Without love, everything loses sense (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Love gives meaning to anything (Colossians 3:14). Love can only be measured by the lack of presence when someone dies (John 15:13). Thus, we only feel how much we love someone when we lose their company (Genesis 37:34-35).
I actually disagree with the rhetorical question at the end of today’s lesson. I don’t think the best way to experience the reality of God’s love is to seek to reflect that love to others.
We can’t give what we don’t have and I think that is the reason why service can go so wrong. We can try to do good things for others, but without the touch of God’s love it will be exactly as I Corinthians 13:1-3 says.
We need an experience with God, feeling His love toward us personally. Then we are empowered to love others, knowing that nothing can separate us from His love and that we don’t have to serve to win His love, but we can serve because we know His love.
In saying this I am not saying that you need to experience love perfectly to love others. It is a continuous process and yes, as we serve we do experience His love more. But we rest before we work. Even the Sabbath shows us this.
Love is where there is a drastic difference between the King James Version and all the other versions supplied for us today, by the Biblica web site. Charity is a noun, not a verb and a noun, like love is. We have to consider the KJV was translated into the English language way, way back in the 1600’s commissioned by King James the First in 1611. 47 theologians of the times were organized into six different sub-committees and did the commissioned job. It looks to me as though charity was used by those sub-committees as a distinction between agape love and the noun charity which is an idea of love. After listening to Shawn Boonstra and Chief Editor Cliff Goldstein of the Adult Sabbath School lesson this year on unScripted, it helps me understand the monumental task of editing Sabbath School lessons like Bible translations, versions and/ or paraphrases were. Many theologians’ minds put together are usually better than one, except putting on your imagination cap, examine for me the disunity or possibly of it. There was I firmly believe unity through(amid) diversity of the 47 in 7 sub groups of 6, with the eighth having 5 members coming to harmony with using the word charity vs love. What are your thoughts? Are we in harmony on charity vs love. Another example of substituting love with charity is 1Peter 4:8. Another tickle of your cerebrum is Saviour vs Savior that is obviously old English vs more modern English, or is it?
OK, whew. I like the love chapter description of love for my marriage relationship. Are we in harmony? I hope so.
1 Corinthian 13:4-8.
Paul was certainly gifted with speech, prose, and how to win friends and influence people. And was used by the Holy Spirit.