These are words of Paul. Perhaps we wouldn't expect this, thinking of Paul as the man of theology, the great predestinarian, and of John as the apostle of love. Paul here says that love is the greatest Christian ex­ercise. John does not have a monopoly on love, any more than Paul has one on theology.

Every Christian is to possess and exercise love. This is fundamental for all of us, because without it noth­ing else is of spiritual value.

Love is not the basis of our salva­tion. Neither may we say, with the liberals, that love is the heart of sal­vation and Christianity, with Christ as only our example. The heart of sal­vation is Jesus Christ, first of all through His atonement on Calvary. By faith, the gift of the Spirit, we can and do lay hold of Christ. The result of this faith is that we are justified and are given the fruits of the Spirit, of which the greatest is love. In Galatians Paul speaks of the fruits of the Spirit, mentioning the first as love.

By its fruits you can know the tree, says Jesus. Here Paul emphasizes the need of love as the greatest of these gifts of the Spirit. This implies that without the Spirit no one can have that love; no unregenerate per­son possesses it; only those who are in Christ have it.

Love is the fulfillment of the law. Hundreds of times most of us have heard from the pulpit that keeping the law means that we love God above all and our neighbor as our­selves. Paul has in mind the second table, for in chapter 13 he speaks only of love regarding the neighbor.

If love is the greatest of the beauti­ful gifts of the Spirit, hatred is its op­posite. Hatred tears apart, as the work of the devil. Love builds up, and unites. Because heaven is the place of perfection, we may be as­sured that in heaven we will taste and experience love as we have never known it in this life. How glorious that will be!

Love is "the most excellent way," says Paul. More excellent than what? What does it surpass, so that it is the greatest spiritual exercise? The answer to this question is in the last part of the previous chapter. There Paul speaks of the special gifts in the church of Christ at that time, gifts of prophecy and teaching, of working miracles and speaking in tongues. We believe that these special gifts were given until the revelation of the Lord was complete. We have the complete Scriptures today. There­fore these gifts are no longer given, as we no longer need them.

In the church at Corinth, some people possessed these special gifts. Paul encouraged the congregation to exercise them and to eagerly desire the greater gifts. Then he said, "And now I will show you the most excel­lent way." He would speak about something that far surpassed these special gifts. That was love.

Try to imagine what this meant for the Corinthian Christians. There must have been people amongst them with various illnesses, such as cancer, leprosy and other incurable diseases. And the workers of miracles perhaps healed some of them. How the people must have praised these workers of miracles!

Imagine how church members having such special gifts of miracles and healing would be praised today. "No," says Paul. I will show you something much greater, something that far surpasses all such special gifts. It is the gift and exercise of love.

Someone might say that all this is only imaginary. We no longer have such spiritual gifts. True, but we have people in the church with other kinds of gifts. There are members in special offices, pastors, missionaries, elders, deacons and evangelists. Remember the many dedicated Christian teachers and other willing and able workers. Every church has gifted members to lead, teach, pray, and who have extraordinary knowledge of the Bible and good memories too! Paul says that all should desire the greatest gifts, should aspire to have and do more. But he also says, "I am going to show you something that far exceeds what these specially gifted people may have. That is the exercise of love."

This any and every Christian can have, by the grace of God, through the use of His Word and prayer.

The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians (v. 1-3) teaches us that love must be the motive of all Christians' actions.

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

Speaking in the superlative, Paul brings up things that are hardly im­aginable. I can hardly conceive of a rich person giving all he has and then, in persecution, giving his body to be burned. Even if one would do this, without love it would mean nothing to the Lord.

This extreme praise of love incites all of us to examine our own deeds and actions, even the best of them, and ask how much we have done only out of love? Or conversely, how much we do with ulterior motives.

Vv. 4-7 characterize love.

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

Let each Christian examine him­self if he exercises this kind of love. This is the kind of Christian living that is pleasing to the Lord. More than anything else in the area of spe­cial abilities and gifts.

Surely this also implies that there may be some (hopefully many) mem­bers in the congregation whose names do not appear on the bulletin, who are not very popular and don't receive much extra recognition, who nevertheless actively love. They are performing acts of love behind the scenes, may be much in prayer and giving the widow's mite. They may be common lay members of the church. But they try to live with this kind of love. And in God's sight they may be greater and more blessed than some pastors, council members and even professors of theology.

How differently the Lord sees things and people than we do.

No Christian can be indifferent to anything of such magnitude. Neither will any Christian try to do so, with something that is so great before the Lord. He is bound to ask the ques­tion. Why don't I have more of this kind of love, and why is my love usually so weak and why are most of my deeds so selfish? And how can I have more of this real love?

We must see and remember first that God Himself is the God of love, the lovable God. He is love. Of course, His reaction to sin is wrath. But in Himself He is the God of love. And He sent His Son into the world, because He loved His own from eternity, even before He laid the foundations of the world. What a deed and sacrifice of love, for Christ to come into this world of hatred, the "world of the devil." This Christ, we must know if we are to have and be able to exercise this true love.

We must know Christ, personally, in­tellectually and experientially. (When we do know Him we must realise again and again, that it was not because of anything in us that He saves us. His love alone is the reason.) And even when we have known Him for years we do well to ask the question, why do I still love self so much? How much am I living and acting with true knowledge of this wonderful Jesus, our Savior? How much of His love is a flame within, by the power of the Spirit?

O Holy Spirit kindle ever more that flame of God's love in us.