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Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Literary context, features, and issues 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

(a) There is a debate among the scholars whether chapter 13 is prose or hymn.[1] (b) There are literary parallels for chapter 13 in Greek and Hellenistic Jewish literature.[2] (c) It is often suggested that chapter 13 interrupted the flow of Pauline discussion on the spiritual gifts[3] and this chapter used stylistic forms.[4] Consequently, scholars think that chapter 13 is out of place or it is a non-Pauline interpolation and literary critics even questioned the authorship of this chapter.[5] It is also suggested that Chapter 13 is a digression.[6] It has been recognized as an epideictic showpiece that is used to exhort Corinthians to keep love as their guiding principles of life in the community. [7]

Commentary of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The need to have love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Agape is used 18 times in LXX and is often used to translate Hebrew ahăbāh, in the sense of sexual love and it is also used for the love of God. New Testament writers prefer agape to refer to the love of God or the love of human beings. It acquired an ethical connotation of self-giving love in Hellenistic Jewish and Christian writings.[8]

vv.1-3 declares that speaking in tongues, prophesying, receiving knowledge, working miracles by faith, and ascetic self-deprivation are worthless if love is not accompanied with it.  Corinthian believers’ competitive attitude about gifts probably caused disorder and conflict in the community. However, Paul tries to diffuse these issues by redirecting their focus from which gift is more important or beneficial to the need of love that should radiate through exercising the gifts. He uses the phrase “noisy gong[9] or a clanging cymbal”[10] (v.1) to point out the empty and meaningless sound of a person who speaks in a tongue without love.

Meaning of love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

The style is changed here. The subject of love is presented in a personified way. The style is didactic like Jewish paraenetic tradition.[11] This section used sixteen verbs to explain what is love.

Love is patience and kindness, both are God’s qualities. Most commentators translate μακροθυμεῖ  (v. 4)[12] as “be long-suffering, remain tranquil while waiting” and relate it with the long-suffering nature of God towards those who are worthy of divine wrath.[13] ζηλοῖ  (v.4)  may refer to competition and rivalry that might come from seeking status in the Corinthian context.[14] It can refer to “intense negative feeling over another’s achievement or success.”[15]

The lasting character and superiority of love (1 Corinthians 13:9-13)

Paul developed an eschatological framework to make a distinction between the nature of love and grace gifts. He developed the difference between love and gifts in two ways. Firstly, he emphasizes the eternal nature of love in contrast to the temporal nature of gifts that will come to end (v.8). Never failing permanence of love is contrasted with prophecy, tongue, and knowledge. Prophecies and knowledge will be “abolished” (καταργέω). Tongues will “cease” or “stop.” Secondly, Paul contrasts what is partial with what is perfect or complete (vv.9-10). Gifts are imperfect because they are partial.

The idea of temporal-perfect has been further illustrated in v.11 through the child-adult metaphor. The picture of a child might refer to how a Christian is now and the picture of the adult might refer to how a Christian will be “then” when “the perfect” comes.[16] This discussion of temporal-perfect has been further illustrated with a mirror image in v. 12.  

The exegetical questions for v. 13 are: Does “and now” mean temporal or logical force? Why the sudden appearance of faith and hope here? How is love greater than faith and hope?

Conclusion

Paul portrays that gift without love is meaningless. Love is eternal and it is above all other aspects of life and ministry in the church.

Bibliography

Corley, Jeremy. "The Pauline Authorship of 1 Corinthians 13." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 66.2 (2004): 256–74.

Dunkly, Warren. 1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Hermeneia--A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Ed. George W MacRae. Trans. James W Leitch. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975.

Fee, Gordon D. The Frist Epistle to the Corinthians. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Fitzmyer, Joesph A. First Corinthians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. AB. Vol. 32. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

Gardner, Paul D. 1 Corinthians: Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018.

Garland, David E. 1 Corinthians. BECNT. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Hays, Richard B. First Corinthians, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching . Louisville: WJK, 2011.

III, Ben Witherington. Conflict & Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Smit, J. "The Genre of 1 Corinthians 13 in the Light of Classical Rhetoric. ." Novum Testamentum 33.3 (1991): 193–216.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

 

 

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[1] Joesph A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB, vol-32, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 487.

[2] Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 488; For a detailed discussion on parallels, see Hans Conzelmann, and James Warren Dunkly, 1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Edited by George W MacRae. Translated by James W Leitch, Hermeneia--A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975), 218-220.

[3] For a detailed discussion, Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 1027-1028.

[4] For a detailed discussion on forms, see J. Smit, “The Genre of 1 Corinthians 13 in the Light of Classical Rhetoric,” Novum Testamentum 33, no. 3 (1991): 193–216.

[5] For a detailed discussion on authorship, see Jeremy Corley, “The Pauline Authorship of 1 Corinthians 13,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 66, no. 2 (2004): 256–74.

[6] Ben Witherington III, Conflict & Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1995), 244. However, there are scholars who are reluctant to call this chapter as a digression. For example, Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 488.

[7] Witherington III, Conflict & Community, 244

[8] Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 489.

[9] χαλκός refers to various types of metals, especially brass and bronze. It probably refers to acoustic vases used in theatres to echo and amplify an actor's voice or music. Paul D. Gardner, 1 Corinthians: Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 775.

[10] The “clanging cymbal” is particularly associated with the ecstatic worship rituals of the cult of Cybele. Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: WJK, 2011)223.

[11] Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 223.

[12] It is compound form consist of μακρός, which means long and θυμός denotes passionate longing or wrath.

[13] Gordon D. Fee, The Frist Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1987), 636-637. Piller, 832. But Thiselton translates this as “waits patiently” and emphasizes the role of the right time in the welfare of others. Thiselton, The First Epistle, 1047.

[14] Fee, The Frist Epistle, 637. Theilson, 1048.

[15] David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 722.

[16] Gardner, 1 Corinthians, 793.