The Most Excellent Way
Paul’s ‘foolishness of preaching’ leads through examples of great preaching in Scripture and a challenge to a popular misreading of verse 11 (‘when I was a child…’). The close comes with the mirror imagery of verse 12, seeing now ‘through a glass, darkly,’ and what it means for the preacher’s task.
The architectural imagery of Psalm 46 and a fuller translation of ‘love never ends’ make the case: 1 Corinthians 13:8 marks the end of the charismatic gifts even as it declares that love alone endures forever. That permanence is no accident, since God himself is love.
The nine qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13 get walked through, with love meant to be exercised, not admired as an abstract concept. Read rightly, this chapter is less a portrait of ideal human virtue than a portrait of Christ, one that extends even to mercy toward enemies.
Paul says love ‘does not act unbecomingly,’ a claim grounded not in mere manners but in the person of Christ. The law can command obedience, but it can never produce it. Only the gospel of Christ’s liberty frees us to truly love.