Faith, Hope,and Love

[Kansasdad]

This cme up on a different thread but made me think so I thought I would post it on its own merrit.

1 Corinthians 13 :

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What do you scripture is telling us when it says Charity (or love) is greater than Faith?

We see in verse 2 good deeds without charity are nothing, but we also see faith that could move a mountain without charity is nothing. Can you have charity alone?

Just my rambling thought, what do you think?

God Bless,

K.D.

[JB Horn]

This cme up on a different thread but made me think so I thought I would post it on its own merrit.

1 Corinthians 13 :

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What do you scripture is telling us when it says Charity (or love) is greater than Faith?

We see in verse 2 good deeds without charity are nothing, but we also see faith that could move a mountain without charity is nothing. Can you have charity alone?

Just my rambling thought, what do you think?

God Bless,

K.D.

There is no salvation in charity alone.

You can do good works for the wrong reasons.

Faith without works is dead.

Love is forever.

So why does a Christian do good works? He does it because of his love for Christ and his love for his neighbor. A Christian does not do good works because it is required of him but because it comes from his heart which is not the heart of man.

There are good men that are not Christians that are very charitable. But this charity without faith gives no glory to God and has no salvation in it. Mans good work without God is still mans work and nothing else.

I don't think you can separate faith, real charity and real love, they are cause and effect. One from the other.*

IMHO

JB

[Natt]

The love in this scripture is Agape, which is the love that is born of God. We cannot possess this type of love unless we have faith in God.

Love for one another that non-believers also possess is refered to as Phileo.

[jehovah Nissi]

Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."

It takes faith to love someone. If you do not know how to operate in faith, you will not know how to love. God says Love one another...how many of you know that that can be pretty hard to do sometimes and it really does take faith to love people?

1 Corithians 13...the love chapter. It is right between chapters 12 and 14 where Paul is trying to tell the Corinths how to opperate in the things of the spirit and he adds in chapter 13 to show them that they should opperate out of a motive of love to walk in the gifts of the spirit...hence 14:1 "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts..." So I don't think Paul was intending to set a principle with what he said about love being the greatest of the three, but rather he was trying to show what motive you should have when opperating in the gifts of the Spirit because the reason for the gifts of the Spirit is to edify others(1 Corinthians 14:12)...which is love.

Walking in Victory,

J

[Openly Curious]

1 Corinthians 13 :

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What do you think scripture is telling us when it says Charity (or love) is greater than Faith?

Hi Kansasdad,

My thoughts are that God is "Love" the perfect picture of it towards mankind as scripture says that, "God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life." Jesus was obedient to the Father's will and layed down his life as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of mankind as scriptures once again says, "that their is not greater love than a man lay down his life for his friends." Jesus did just that he layed down his life for us so we would not perish but have everlasting life while we were yet in sin. Jesus was obedient to the Father's love for us and was obedient to the death on the cross. That is love and it is the greatest of all the three in this regards for it was solely the work of God's hands that made our salvation possible through his dear Son.

That great love causes the unregenerated to call out in faith for forgiveness of sin commited and thus gives us a lively hope in the great love of God in which he demonstrated to us in sending his Son born of a virgin to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.

To me all three faith, hope and love in my life have been sustaining through the years through thick and thin no matter the situation and all three have their being in something greater than itself but cling to something beyond that we shall behold one day and that is Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour Himself for their was no greater love as the greatest of these is "Love" being Christ. Good deeds and the offering up of animal sacrifices couldn't do the job that mankind was in need of but it took the blood of Jesus the work of God and not the works of our own hands.

blessings

OC

[wc4Jc]

"Faith, Hope, & Love" brings the thought to mind of the Holy Trinity...God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One is null without the other. One is no more important than the other.

[Openly Curious]

"Faith, Hope, & Love" brings the thought to mind of the Holy Trinity...God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One is null without the other. One is no more important than the other.

According to the bible it says in 1 Corinthians 13:13--"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the "greatest" of these is "charity."

While all three are of great value according to the bible charity or love "Is" the greatest.

OC

[wc4Jc]

1 Corinthians 13:

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Allow me to rephrase my last statement..

One is no more important than the other.

By looking at the entire context, I agree that that statement was incorrect, but I still may the point that the three can not exist with out the other. They are all essential in our walk with the Lord.

[exrockstar]

this is agape. it is not accomplished by "works."

can a Christian have it? yes

can an atheist have it? no

with that equation you outta know it's "Godly" in some manner.

understanding agape will help you understand this verse.

salvation isnt even in this equation.

[Kansasdad]

If you notice I didn't include salvation into the mix. Although it can be part of the conversation I don't think it is the whole of what this scripture is telling us.

I also think we are missing the mark attributing the message as "Gods" love is greater than all else. That is a given, but I don't think that is the message here. I think this is talking to us about us. Also looking at what is said, we see that this is not talking about works. We can do good deeds with out love. Likewise it clearly says we can have faith with out love. The most important thing to God is not our hope, and not our good deeds, and not even our faith, but our love. Two commandments are love God and love each other. Love, or Charity, is what Gods calls us to. If we love, we will have faith, if we love we will have hope, if we love we will do good deeds. It is hard to grasp how we could have enough faith to move a mountain but not have love, but scripture tells us we can. So Faith is not all God calls us to. In fact it is not the most important thing God calls us to. So our message shouldn't be how do we have faith in God, or how do we have hope in God, but how do we love God and each other. If we take care of love, we will take care of the other, it doesn't work the other way.

What does it look like to spread the message of Love?

God Bless,

K.D.