1 Corinthians 13: Charity, the Pure Love of Christ
I was sanding a piece of cherry last weekend, a small side table I had been working on for a few weeks. The joinery was solid, the legs were square, the proportions felt right. But I had rushed the final sanding, and when I wiped it down with mineral spirits to check the surface, I saw it. A swirl of scratches from where I had skipped a grit.
I stood there looking at it. The table was structurally sound. It would hold a lamp and a cup of coffee just fine. But the surface told the truth. I had been impatient, and the wood remembered.
I thought about that while reading 1 Corinthians 13 this week. Paul is talking about something similar. He is talking about people who have everything right on the outside. They speak in tongues and prophesy and understand mysteries. They have faith to move mountains, enough faith to do the impossible. Some give everything they own to the poor. A few even die for what they believe. And Paul says it can all be noise if the surface is wrong.
What Does Charity Mean in 1 Corinthians 13
The word Paul uses in the original Greek is agape, and the King James translators rendered it as "charity." That is a shame in some ways because the word has picked up a lot of baggage. We think of charity as giving to the poor or being nice to people we do not like. But Paul means something deeper. He means the pure love of Christ, the kind of love that is not a feeling but a way of being.
He starts by listing things that look impressive but mean nothing without it.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
I have seen this in my shop. A friend of mine is a gifted woodworker. He can cut dovetails by hand that look like they were machined. He knows more about wood species and grain direction and joinery theory than I ever will. But he is impatient with people. He talks over them, corrects them, makes them feel small. His work is beautiful, but being around him is exhausting. The gift is real, but the charity is missing. And the gift without charity leaves people cold.
Paul is not saying the gifts are bad. He is saying they are incomplete. They are tools, and a tool without a steady hand does more harm than good. It is the same idea Paul opens his letter with in 1 Corinthians 1 when he talks about God choosing the weak to confound the wise. The power is not in the tool. It is in the hand that holds it.
Why Is Charity the Greatest of Faith Hope and Love
The famous verse comes at the end. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
I used to wonder about that. Faith seems pretty important. Hope is what gets you through the hard stretches. So why does charity get the top spot? Here is what I keep coming back to. Faith and hope are for now, for the path ahead. You need faith to take the next step. You need hope to believe the next step leads somewhere. But in the end, faith becomes sight and hope becomes fulfillment. They have done their work.
Charity does not retire. It is the same thing on the other side. God does not stop loving because the plan is finished. Love is not a means to an end. It is the end.
I think about that when I am finishing a piece. The sanding and the finish are the last things I do before the piece leaves the shop. They do not change the structure or make the joints stronger. But they determine how the piece feels in someone's hands. A rough finish ruins a good table. A smooth one makes it something people want to touch.
Charity is the finish. It does not replace the structure, but it is what makes the structure worth having.
How to Develop the Pure Love of Christ
The middle of the chapter gives us a checklist. It is not a checklist of things to do. It is a checklist of what charity looks like when it is working.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
I read that and I think about my morning. Did I suffer long when my son could not find his shoes? Was I kind when my wife asked me the same question twice? Did I seek my own, or did I think about someone else? The checklist is humbling. I do not get through a single day without failing at least three of these. But that is the point. Charity is not something you achieve once. It is something you practice until it becomes who you are.
Moroni 7 says it plainly. Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love. It is a gift you cannot manufacture, but you can ask for it. And you can practice the behaviors that make room for it.
What Does Suffer Long Mean in 1 Corinthians 13
Suffereth long is an old phrase that means something like "slow to anger" or "patient under provocation." It is the opposite of a short fuse. It is the ability to stay steady when someone is pushing your buttons.
I think about this in terms of wood. Some woods are brittle. Put a little pressure on them and they crack. Others are forgiving. You can clamp them, bend them, work them hard, and they hold. Charity is like the forgiving wood. It does not snap under pressure.
I am not naturally patient. I have to work at it. But I have noticed that the more I practice patience, the more patience I have. It is like a muscle. The first few reps are hard, but after a while it gets easier. Not easy, but easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between love and charity in 1 Corinthians 13
The English word "love" covers a lot of ground. You can love your spouse, love pizza, love a good sunset. Charity is a specific kind of love. It is the pure love of Christ, not about how you feel but about how you act when feelings are not enough.
Why does Paul say spiritual gifts like prophecy and tongues will cease
Paul explains that these gifts are temporary, like scaffolding around a building. You need them while the structure is going up, but once the building is finished, the scaffolding comes down. When we see God face to face and know as we are known, we will not need prophecy or tongues anymore. But we will still need charity.
How can I apply the charity checklist to my daily life
Use verses 4 through 7 as a quick mental check. When you feel yourself getting frustrated, ask if you are suffering long. When you want to prove you are right, ask if you are seeking your own. The goal is not to be perfect at all of them at once. The goal is to notice when you are missing one and try again tomorrow.
Is charity a gift or something I have to earn
I think it is both, and the scriptures support that idea. Moroni 7 says it is a gift you receive by praying with all the energy of your heart. But the same chapter also says you need to put away natural tendencies and become a saint through the atonement. You ask for the gift, and then you practice the behaviors that let it grow.
I finished that side table last night. I went back to 120 grit and worked my way up through 220, 320, and 400. Then I put on the oil finish. The scratches are gone and the surface is smooth. It is not the best table I have ever made, but it is honest now.
That is what I want charity to be. Not a showpiece I pull out when people are watching. Just the slow, patient work of becoming someone who does not leave scratches.
-- D.