Summary of passages: Romans 13:8-10: Love others and you will fulfill the law. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Romans 12:9-21: Paul offers sage words for living: Love others. Honor others above yourselves. Always serve God. Be joyful, patience, and faithful. Share with those who are in need. Practice hospitality.Bless your enemies. Be happy with others and sad with others. Be humble and mindful of others. Do what is right. Don’t seek retribution. Be at peace with all. Let God handle judgment/revenge. Be kind to your enemies. Overcome evil with good.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8: Everything is meaningless (faith, generosity, speaking in tongues, etc) without love. Love is patient, kind, protects, trusts, perseveres, and never fails. It does not envy, boast, be prideful, envious or rude. It keeps no record of wrongs, it’s not easily angered, and it’s not self-seeking. Love rejoices in truth and does not delight in evil.
Questions:
3) To love is the one debt that is never paid off. No matter how much people have loved, they are under obligation to keep on loving. Because out of our selfishness we hurt others instead of love. Our nature is sin, not love. We cannot love one another perfectly. It’s impossible. Only Jesus can. Hence, our perpetual need for Christ in our lives.
4) Part personal Question. My answer: Legalistic is when you do things because they are the law. It’s strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit. It’s when you put the law above all else including mercy, compassion, and moral values. Loving obedience is following the law but with the heart. Paul says here to let love lead the way with grace and mercy at the forefront. We see this when even though people break laws they are not punished out of mercy and compassion. Personally, I do lean towards legalistic. I like laws and like others to follow them. However, mercy and grace have a place. It’s a balance we all need.
5) Personal Question. My answer: Others in general. It reveals how selfish I truly am. I’m not in denial of this. I pray about it and make small steps daily towards the kind of love Jesus is/shows/gives.
6) Personal Question. My answer: The fulfillment of the law is perfect obedience to God and since love is the greatest commandment and the ultimate test it would fulfill God’s desire for us. Love is the greatest gift (besides His Son) God has given us. Imagine how our lives would be if we approached every person, every problem, every sin, everything out of love. We would be compassionate, generous, forthright, and amazing people like Jesus.
Conclusions: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 is one of the most famous Bible verses and one of my favorites. It sums up love beautifully and perfectly. Paul was definitely a gifted and God-led writer. I love how BSF brings up the fact we are to love with a heart of grace and mercy and not be such a stickler when it comes to the law. Remember Jesus came to replace the law which wasn’t working and was imperfect with his perfection. What did Jesus bring? Love. Great stuff here!
End Notes: Romans 13:8-10: The only debt we are to hold (both to others and to God) is to love another. No, this isn’t against borrowing money as Jesus permitted borrowing in Matthew 5:42. This is just referencing love.
Paul echoes Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew 22:36-40. This is one of the two commands upon which hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Love your neighbor means to love the people you actually meet with and deal with every day. It is easy for us to love in the theoretical and the abstract, but God demands that we love real people.
Spurgeon says about this passage: “No man can compass the ends of life by drawing a little line around himself upon the ground. No man can fulfill his calling as a Christian by seeking the welfare of his wife and family only, for these are only a sort of greater self.”
Love is the fulfillment of the law: It is easy to do all the right religious “things” but to neglect love. Our love is the true measure of our obedience to God.
Mosaic law: Both moral and social responsibilities.
Romans 12:9-21: (Taken from Lesson 23 Days 3, 4 & 5)
Other translations say: “Let love be without hypocrisy”. This isn’t real love at all. However, I firmly believe in “fake it till you make it.” Some people are hard to love, but treating them with dignity and respect can grow into love.
We are to hate evil AND cling to what is good. Most of time we pick only one to do.
Be affectionate and genuine to one another.
This is simply a call for good manners, right? A lot of kids nowadays have no manners at all.
We are also called to work hard.
“Spiritual fervor” can be translated as “boiling.”
The call to hope in the Bible usually has in mind the call to our ultimate home with Jesus. Everything we do must be with an eye towards heaven. Difficult times and troubles do not excuse us to abandon our hope and love and prayer. Just because we’re having a bad day doesn’t mean you should make others have a bad day. Always cling to Jesus and what he offers. It’s a cause for joy (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Leon Morris explains patient as: “denotes not a passive putting up with things, but an active, steadfast endurance.” Enduring triumphantly which is necessary for Christians because affliction is our inevitable experience (John 16:33; 2 Timothy 3:12) Tribulation/affliction: “denotes not some minor pinprick, but deep and serious trouble.”
“Faithful in prayer”: One must not only pray in hard times, but also maintain communion with God through prayer at all times (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
God’s people is sometimes translated as “saints”, which all believers are. The idea here is practice what you preach. Put into action what you believe. The ancient Greek word for hospitality is literally translated “love for strangers.” In addition, “given” (translated for us as practice) is a strong word, sometimes translated “persecute” (as in Romans 12:14). The idea is to “pursue” people you don’t know with hospitality. This is love in action, not just feelings.
We are not to hate anyone, even our persecutors. Matthew 5:46: For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Persecution can be from inside the church as well. Jesus told us the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service (John 16:2). Inquisition anyone? Holocaust?
Be considerate of the feelings of others instead of waiting on them to be considerate towards you.
Conceited here is pride again. Other translations say “Do not be wise in your own opinion”, which is thinking you are always right. Again, reminders from Paul to step outside of ourselves and see others before ourselves.
Matthew 5:38-45. We are to love our enemies and treat well those who treat us badly.
Note Paul’s caveat: If it is possible. It may not always be possible since we cannot control others. But he says do your part.
If you trust God, then you know it’s not necessary to avenge. God will handle it.
Do good to your enemies. “Heaping burning coals on his head” most likely refers to a “burning conviction” that our kindness places on our enemy. It may bring about his repentance. Or, some think it refers to the practice of lending coals from a fire to help a neighbor start their own – an appreciated act of kindness.
Either way we see that we can destroy our enemy by making him our friend.
Great read on God’s vengeance and the heaping coals HERE
1 Corinthians 13:1-8: The Corinthians were enamored with spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of tongues. Paul reminds them even the gift of tongues is meaningless without love. It is nothing but empty noise.
The ancient Greek word translated tongues has the simple idea of “languages” in some places (Acts 2:11 and Revelation 5:9). This has led some to say the gift of tongues is simply the ability to communicate the gospel in other languages, or it is the capability of learning languages quickly. But the way tongues is used here shows it can, and usually does, refer to a supernatural language by which a believer communicates to God. There is no other way to understand the reference to tongues of angels.
In Paul’s day, many Jews believed angels had their own language, and by the Spirit, one could speak it. The reference to tongues of angels shows that though the genuine gift of tongues is a legitimate language, it may not be a “living” human language, or may not be a human language at all. Apparently, there are angelic languages men can speak by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Poole has a fascinating comment, suggesting that the tongues of angels answer to how God may speak to us in a non-verbal way: “Angels have no tongues, nor make any articulate audible sounds, by which they understand one another; but yet there is certainly a society or intercourse among angels, which could not be upheld without some way amongst them to communicate their minds and wills to each other. How this is we cannot tell: some of the schoolmen say, it is by way of impression: that way God, indeed, communicates his mind sometimes to his people, making secret impressions of his will upon their minds and understandings.”
Prophecy, knowledge, and faith to do miracles are likewise irrelevant apart from love. Paul, quoting the idea of Jesus, refers to faith which could remove mountains (Matthew 17:20). Yet even with this kind of faith we are nothing without love.
Excellent commentary on legalism HERE