The Greatest of These: A Study of 1 Corinthians 12-13
The Greatest of These: A Study of 1 Corinthians 12-13 Many Christians view 1 Corinthians 13 as the “Love Chapter,” a poetic definition of love, to be read at weddings, but not much more beyond that. These chapters are beautiful and inspiring on their own, but reading them together provides a clearer picture of the chapters’ deeper meanings. The beginning of chapter 12 speaks about the presence of “different gifts, but the same spirit” that distributes each spiritual discipline (v. 4). The chapter uses the analogy of the body of Christ and how “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (v. 12). We should not put down others for their gifts or think our own gift is inferior. After his explanation, Paul instructs that we should “desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.” (v. 31) With this background of spiritual gifts and the body of Christ, Paul starts chapter 13, say...