1 Corinthians 13:1-3
~19 min read
TRANSCRIPT
1 Corinthians Chapter 13 is given various names. Some people call it ‘Love Chapter’, ‘the Hymn of Love’, or ‘The Beatitudes Set to Music’, and so on. It has various names, and indeed, it deserves them because this is the most beautiful chapters on love.
In context, the Apostle Paul places Chapter 13 in the centre, in the middle of two chapters, 12 and 14, where he taught concerning spiritual gifts. In Chapter 12, he gives instruction on spiritual gifts, and in Chapter 14, he gives the same instruction. And in the middle of these two chapters on spiritual gifts, he places this chapter on love. The implication is this: spiritual gifts, whether it be prophecy, tongues, healing, miracles, and so on, these spiritual gifts must be exercised in love. They must be exercised in love, and loving is a more excellent way, as he described at the end of Chapter 12.
Now, what kind of love is the Apostle Paul talking about? If we look at our Bible, we find the word charity repeated many times in this chapter. The word charity, in simple today's language, is love. So, we should understand charity as love. It does not refer to charity giving like charity given to those in need. It is the same word for love, and the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek people have various words for love, and there are four common words for love. One is Eros. Eros is a romantic love, the word used to describe romantic or sexual love, and this word is never used in the scripture.
Another word is Philia. Philia is used quite commonly in the New Testament. It is used 21 times in the New Testament, and it is a friendly love, a word that describes the love of friends. We all know the city of Philadelphia in the United States. Philadelphia means love of brothers.
And another word is Storge. Storge appears two times in the New Testament, and it is translated as natural affection. It describes the love that people have naturally. For example, the love that parents have for their children, that is quite natural. That kind of love is expressed by the word storge.
But these are not the words used in our chapter today.
The Greek word used in this chapter is a very well-known one. It is Agape. Now, the word agape is very common in the New Testament. It is used 215 times, and of this, 100 times it is used as a noun and 109 times as a verb. It is a very common and very important word. It is used of God to express His love for the people, and it is also used of man, of how he needs to love God and man. So, the Apostle used that word agape which is translated as Charity here in this chapter.
Now, what we want to understand here is: what is agape? Whenever we talk about love, we often involve feeling, is it not true? When people talk about love, they talk about feeling. But if we study the many verses where the word agape or agapao in its verb form is used, the idea is not so much about feeling as it is about action. It is about a determined act of the will to desire and do what is best for others, regardless of who and what they are, friends or foes, and expecting nothing in return. That is a definition of agape according to the New Testament.
Let me repeat it to you: agape is not just about feeling. It is about the determined act of the will to desire and do what is best for others, regardless of who and what they are, whether they deserve it or not, whether they are friends or foes, and expecting nothing in return. That is agape love.
One Greek theologian, Spiros Zodhiates, explained what agape is used of God. He explained it this way: It is God's wilful direction toward man. It involves God doing what He knows is best for men and not necessarily what man desires. That is precisely how God loves us, is it not? In John 3:16, the most famous verse, the same word is used, and we read, "For God so loved the world,” then what did He do? “that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Again, in another place, in Romans 5:8, we read, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
From these verses and many other verses in the New Testament, we know that when the word agape is used of God, it speaks of what He did for us. And what He did for us is what is best for us. And He did that when we were yet sinners. In other words, when we were still His enemies, He did what is best for us. That is precisely what agape is. I suppose it's very unnatural for us as fallen humans. That is surely unnatural. It is natural for us to love those who love us and to hate those who hate us. That is the nature of the fallen state. But God's love is different. He did what is best for us when we were still sinners.
The amazing thing and the important lesson this morning for us is this: that kind of love, the kind of love that God expressed in loving us, is precisely what He wants from us. To love Him and to love our neighbors. We are to love our God and our neighbors—people in the church, people outside the church, people in our family, people of our acquaintance—in the same way God loved us. And that kind of love is what is being expressed and explained by the Apostle Paul in this chapter.
It is very interesting that from verse 4 onwards to verse 7, the Apostle Paul used 15 verbs to explain what agape means. If we read carefully—and I suggest we take the time to read verses 4 to 7 carefully at your leisure time—you will notice that 15 verbs are used. Not adjectives, they are verbs. 15 verbs the Apostle used them to explain what agape is. In other words, these verbs explain what agape does. They do not describe what agape is as much as they expect what it does. This tells us that agape is not just about feeling and doing nothing, and just sitting still. No, it works, it does something.
So let us remember this definition as we continue our study on the remaining portion. Before we move on, let's repeat the definition: The love that the Apostle Paul is teaching us in this chapter is this: it is a determined act of the will to wish and to do what is best for others. It may be your wife, your husband, your children, your friends, your brothers and sisters, your colleagues, your superior, or your subordinate, or whatever and whoever they are. We are to love them in the sense that we wish and do what is best for them in view of eternity, regardless of who they are, regardless of what they are, and we are to expect nothing in return. That is agape.
Now, having understood that, let's move on to verse 1.
I. Love’s Supremacy over Language
Verse 1, let me read it to you: "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."
Here we note love's supremacy over language. Love surpasses the ability to speak in the languages of men and the languages of angels, and even the ability to speak eloquently. Yet, if we have not charity, if we have not agape, we are nothing; we are no more better than a tinkling cymbal and a sounding brass.
Now, it is great to be able to speak in different languages. According to Ethnologue, which is an annual publication of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, there are about 7,150 living languages in the world. Over 7,000 languages in the world, and the number keeps changing because new discoveries are being made, and some languages die off. Of these many languages, let's ask ourselves, how many can we speak? I think some of us can speak about two, three languages, but definitely, we cannot speak all the languages of men. That is for sure.
And what about the language of angels? Do angels have a very peculiar language to communicate among themselves or to communicate in heaven? We have no information on this in the scripture. In the Bible, whenever angels come down to speak to men, to give revelation or to give answer to prayer, whatever it is, whenever they speak, they speak in the language of man. And in the Bible, they speak in Hebrew, they speak in Aramaic, and they speak in Greek, because these are biblical languages. Other than that, we do not know for sure whether they have some other peculiar language. For the sake of clarity, let's say that they have a very unique language, a heavenly language.
The Apostle Paul's point is this: even if we have that peculiar, that unique language used only by the angelic beings who serve the Lord, still, if you and I do not have agape, we are no better off than sounding symbols. That is the point the Apostle wants to make here. In other words, in these three verses, the Apostle Paul is using a device of language known as hyperbole. Hyperbole is an exaggeration to the point where it makes no sense, just to make the target, the goal, the point clear. In other words, in order to make one thing very clear, one uses even imaginary words to explain. That is hyperbole, and that is the language the Apostle Paul is using in these few verses.
And it is interesting to note that a famous kind of love God was manufactured in Corinth. That means when the Apostle Paul used words like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, the Corinthians must have been very familiar with this, and they understood immediately. In other words, if you and I can understand, can communicate, can write, and can speak fluently, eloquently in all the languages of men, or if not just knowing these languages, if you and I have the gift of eloquence to speak eloquently, even if we have that kind of abilities, we are still nothing, no better than those sounding brass if we do not have agape. If we do not have love, in other words, it is possible to know the languages to some extent without having love. But if that is true of us, then we are nothing. So love is superior to knowing the languages of men and the language of angels.
By saying this, the Apostle Paul was not trying to depreciate the gift of language, nor the importance of language. Nor does he depreciate eloquence. Eloquence was much elevated in the New Testament times, the ability to speak in different languages and to do so eloquently. I suppose many of us want to have that ability. Yet, even if we possess that ability, if we do not have the kind of love explained in this chapter, we are no better than sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. So, love is superior to language.
II. Love’s Supremacy over Prophecy, Knowledge and Faith
Number 2 let's look at verse 2. Love's Supremacy over prophecy, knowledge, and faith.
Verse 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."
Here we find love is far better than prophecy, far better than knowledge, far better than faith. In Chapter 14, verse one, turn quickly to verse one of Chapter 14. We find the Apostle Paul explaining that the gift of prophecy is the best and greatest of all spiritual gifts. The Apostle Paul himself was a prophet, according to Acts 13, verse 1, and he had the highest regard for the office and gift of prophecy. Prophecy is very important, and Paul had high regard for it. Yet, if the gift of prophecy is expressed or exercised not in love, then it is nothing.
A good example would be Prophet Balaam. We see his story in Numbers 22-31. We know that he was a prophet to some extent. He knew the true God and His word. He spoke God's word, and he even feared Him to some extent, at least in a self-protecting way. But he did not have love for God, nor for his people. He loved money more than he loved God, he loved money more than he loved God's people. That meant nothing, that meant him nothing. So, the ability to utter prophetic utterance compared to agape is nothing.
By contrast, we find Prophet Jeremiah who was crying all the time, crying all the time. But he had genuine love for God and his people. He had agape. So, we can see the difference between people who have agape and people who do not have it. And the Apostle Paul himself had agape. For example, in Romans Chapter 9, verses 1 to 3, he says, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." He indeed had agape for God and for the people of God, for his kinsmen.
And not only that, love is superior to understanding mysteries and having knowledge. After he used the word "prophecy," the Apostle Paul continues, look at verse two, "and understand all mysteries and all knowledge." Note how he used the word "all." It's not just knowledge, it's not just mysteries, but all mysteries and all knowledge. Mystery, according to the scripture, is God's truth hidden in the past but revealed sometime later. Very often, it refers to God's truth hidden in the Old Testament times but revealed in the New Testament times. But the idea here is this: even if one could understand all revealed and unrevealed mysteries of God, past mysteries, future mysteries, all mysteries—of course, that's impossible—even if one could understand those, still, if he doesn't have agape, he is nothing.
And what about knowledge? Knowledge probably here refers to factual human understanding of observable and knowable facts of the created universe. In other words, knowledge refers to anything that is knowable to the human mind in the entire universe. And the Apostle Paul used the word "all" to include every area of knowledge, every department of knowledge. It can be spiritual knowledge, it can be theological knowledge, it can be psychological knowledge, it can be scientific knowledge, or knowledge related to arts, any kind of knowledge. It is impossible for men to possess all knowledge. That is impossible.
To give you my experience as an example, I studied in the Bible college for 8 years, and I have been serving the Lord for more than 10 years. I am very, very, very far from knowing all about God, having all the knowledge of God. I am very, very far from it. And think about those medical doctors. These doctors specialize in just one area of the many parts of the human body. Even in the specialized area, it is still difficult to understand everything about it. That will help us understand the impossibility of having all knowledge.
Now, the point the apostle wants to make is this: even if we know everything, we know that is knowable, all right? Even if we possess that kind of knowledge, which is impossible, yet if we do not have love, agape, we are nothing, absolutely nothing.
But it's not only that. He still goes on. Look at the last part of verse two. It says, "And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." In the Bible, we have different kinds of faith. For example, objective faith, subjective faith, saving faith. The Apostle Paul here is not talking about saving faith, he's not talking about objective faith. He is talking about subjective faith, the faith we exercise every day for our daily Christian life. How do we know that? Because the immediate phrase explains it. This kind of faith can remove mountains. That definitely doesn't refer to saving faith, that doesn't refer to objective faith. It refers to the faith that comes from us, subjective faith.
Now, even if we have the kind of faith that can remove mountains—I wonder how many of us have that kind of faith? I think we know the story of a person who prayed that a very huge tree next to his house would be removed. The next day, he prayed in the night, the next day he woke up, he looked at it, the tree is still there. Then he remarked, "Just as I believe." He did not have the faith. It is very, very difficult to have great faith, especially in times of difficulty, in times of crisis, when we are literally suffering pain, troubles, and problems. It is difficult to have faith, to have great faith.
The Apostle Paul here is talking about all faith, the greatest faith that can remove mountains. But even if that is possible for us, even if that is possible for us, if we do not have love, we are still nothing. "I am nothing," says the Apostle.
III. Love’s Supremacy over Giving
Now we come to the third point in verse 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."
Here in this verse, we have Love's Supremacy over giving. This verse talks about giving, giving to feed the poor, those who are in need, and giving our body itself. Dear friends, giving is very important, and it is taught in every religion. You know that even other religions teach the importance of giving. And giving is good. It is not bad. And when done in the right attitude, the right way, it is surely recommendable.
Many times we are taught to give. In the Bible, we are taught to give of everything to God and to people who are in need. But the fact of the matter is this: not all giving is good. And giving can be nothing when it is done without love. Many a time, the goal and focus of giving is not God and His glory, but self. Self. Many people give, but to God and their focus is not God. And for others, their focus is themselves. And that happens when giving is done based on these four things.
Let me point out four things when giving is wrong. Number one: if you give on the basis of legalistic obligation and fear, that is wrong. You fear and you have this legalistic obligation, just because of that you give. And that's not biblical giving. And number two: if you give because you want recognition and praise from others, that is wrong. That is giving without love. Number three: if you give and expect profit from it, that is wrong. Remember, the God we worship looks at our hearts. He knows everything about us. So, we've got to be very careful what we give. And number four: giving is false and wrong when we do so just to ease our guilty conscience. Just before you are—you feel yourself guilty, then you give. That's wrong.
So, the center, the goal, and focus of that kind of giving is self. Self. Not God and others. So, that kind of giving is giving without love. That's what the Apostle Paul says in this verse: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor." Feeding the poor is good. They do not have food to eat, and they may not have clothes to wear, and they do not have a place to stay, and you provide these things. That is good. But this kind of thing can be done without love. Because giving is outward. It can be easily manipulated. It can be done in hypocrisy. But God is not interested in hypocritical giving. He is interested only in giving that comes from the heart. The heart that loves Him and the heart that loves others.
And look at here, another thing: "And though I give my body to be burned." My body to be burned. This talks about martyrdom. I believe this is the highest of all giving, right? We all respect those who die for something, for their nation, or for anything that is of great cause. In my country, every year we have this day called Martyrs' Day, July 19th. That is a holiday every year. But even martyrdom can be wrong if it is not done in love.
So, the Apostle Paul says, "And though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." I can give my body, my life, my everything to be burned. Yet, in my heart of hearts, inside of me, if I do not have love for God and for people, then I am nothing. What I do is nothing. So, these kinds of things are our examples. And many people may praise us, many people may recommend us, commend us. Yet, to our God who sees us thoroughly, inside out, it is nothing.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us ponder upon these points this morning.
Love is the most important thing in the Christian life. Why do I say that? When saying that, I am basing my statements on the scripture. Two times in the New Testament in the Bible, God describes himself as love. First John 4 verse 8 and verse 14 say, "God is love." God is love. In other words, in those two verses, the word love is the same as agape. God is agape. In other words, that is God's description of himself. He wants to be known as a God of love.
In chapter 12 and chapter 14, the surrounding chapters of chapter 13, we find spiritual gifts being discussed by the Apostle Paul. And as I mentioned earlier, even if you and I possess the great spiritual gifts like the ability to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to perform miracles, spectacular miracles, and we may be applauded by many people, we may be praised by many people, that even if we have these spiritual gifts—I'm not saying that these spiritual gifts are not important in their place—these are given by the Spirit himself, and they are good, they are useful. Yet, yet if we use these spiritual gifts in the church without loving God in our heart of hearts and without loving his people, then we are nothing in the sight of God. So, that is the point the Apostle Paul wants to make in these few verses.
The ability to speak in the languages of men and, if possible, to speak in angelic language is good. And the ability to prophesy, to understand all mysteries and knowledge, and to have faith and be benevolent, and to sacrifice ourselves, these are good things, good deeds in their own places. The Apostle Paul is not depreciating them. These all have their own places, and neither should we depreciate them. However, however, this can be done, this can be possessed without having agape. There are many people who are very gifted, yet they do not have agape. In the sight of God, that kind of ability is nothing. That kind of ability is nothing.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning I want to invite all of us to learn once again the importance of love. When I talk about love, I'm talking about loving God and loving the people around us. If we exercise the kind of love we have in the Bible, agape, a determined act of our will, our heart, to wish and do what is best for our fellow church members, our fellow believers, our family members, our relatives, our colleagues, and people around us. If we desire what is best for them, if we do what is best for them in view of eternity, whoever they are, whatever they are, and yet expecting nothing, nothing from them. The kind of love was expressed toward us. If we exercise that kind of love, I believe our church will be very, very wonderful. Our church can be a blessing to many people. Our church will attract others to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour.
So, God himself wants to be known as the God of love. God is love, so should we. We should be a church, not just a church, of love. We should be loving one another. We should be loving our God himself. So, the Apostle Paul teaches here, here love is far superior to language, the ability to speak many languages of men and, if possible, if there is such a thing, the language of angels. The ability to understand mystery and knowledge, the ability to have faith so much so that we can remove mountains, and the ability to give others, to sacrifice even our body. These are good, yet this can be done without love. And when that happens, even the church can be disastrous. Even the church can be very dry. It will repel others from coming in.
So, let us examine ourselves whether we have agape in our lives. Of course, of course, this is unnatural to us. This is unnatural to us. That's why agape has to be learned. We have to learn. We have to learn by God's grace and through the help of the Holy Spirit. Let us learn this love. Let us practice this love in our church. May the Lord bless all of you. Let us pray.
Our dear Father in heaven, we thank thee that thou art a loving God. Thou art agape. And we know from Thy word that it is thy will that we manifest agape in our day-to-day Christian life. We pray this morning that thy Holy Spirit will help us to practice Agape in our church, in our family, in our workplace, in our school, or wherever we are, so that we can be known as thy disciples, as thy true children. So help us, oh Lord, as thy church, that we can manifest this true love of thine, so that many people will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We thank you for all thy goodness upon us, and we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF 1 CORINTHIANSCalled to Be SaintsCalled to Be Saints1 Corinthians 1:1-3
The Blessings of Being a SaintThe Blessings of Being a Saint1 Corinthians 1:4-9
Divisiveness Calls for Strong ActionDivisiveness Calls for Strong Action1 Corinthians 1:10-17
The Foolishness of God is Wiser Than MenThe Foolishness of God is Wiser Than Men1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Let Us Glory in the LordLet Us Glory in the Lord1 Corinthians 1:26-31
The Wisdom of GodThe Wisdom of God1 Corinthians 2:6-16
The Natural Man and The Spiritual ManThe Natural Man and The Spiritual Man1 Corinthians 2:10-16
Are Ye Not Carnal?Are Ye Not Carnal?1 Corinthians 3:1-3
Glorify God, Not MenGlorify God, Not Men1 Corinthians 3:4-9
A Biblical View of the MinistryA Biblical View of the Ministry1 Corinthians 3:10-17
A Biblical View of the MinistryA Biblical View of the Ministry1 Corinthians 4:1-2
Whose Evaluation Really Matters?Whose Evaluation Really Matters?1 Corinthians 4:3-5
Beware of PrideBeware of Pride1 Corinthians 4:6-8
Beware of Spiritual ImmaturityBeware of Spiritual Immaturity1 Corinthians 4:9-13
Marks of a Spiritual FatherMarks of a Spiritual Father1 Corinthians 4:14-15
Be Ye Followers of MeBe Ye Followers of Me1 Corinthians 4:16-21
Dealing with Sin in the ChurchDealing with Sin in the Church1 Corinthians 5:1-6
A Little Leaven Leaveneth the Whole LumpA Little Leaven Leaveneth the Whole Lump1 Corinthians 5:6-13
Can Believers Sue One Another?Can Believers Sue One Another?1 Corinthians 6:1-8
Such Were Some of YouSuch Were Some of You1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Not All Things Are ProfitableNot All Things Are Profitable1 Corinthians 6:12-14
The Temple of the Holy SpiritThe Temple of the Holy Spirit1 Corinthians 6:15-20
Singleness or MarriageSingleness or Marriage1 Corinthians 7:1-7
Divorce and RemarriageDivorce and Remarriage1 Corinthians 7:10-16
Be Faithful to Your CallingBe Faithful to Your Calling1 Corinthians 7:17-24
Should I Remain Single?Should I Remain Single?1 Corinthians 7:25-31
An Undivided Devotion to the LordAn Undivided Devotion to the Lord1 Corinthians 7:32-40
Knowledge is Not EnoughKnowledge is Not Enough1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Love and Christian LibertyLove and Christian Liberty1 Corinthians 8:7-13
Are You Willing to Give Up Your Rights?Are You Willing to Give Up Your Rights?1 Corinthians 9:1-14
All Things to All MenAll Things to All Men1 Corinthians 9:15-23
How to Run the Race FaithfullyHow to Run the Race Faithfully1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The Danger Of OverconfidenceThe Danger Of Overconfidence1 Corinthians 10:1-12
Encouragement in Times of TemptationEncouragement in Times of Temptation1 Corinthians 10:13
Flee From IdolatryFlee From Idolatry1 Corinthians 10:14-22
All Things are Lawful, but All Things are Not ExpedientAll Things are Lawful, but All Things are Not Expedient1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
Submitting to God's Order and Plan (Part 1)Submitting to God's Order and Plan (Part 1)1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Submitting to God's Order and Plan (Part 2)Submitting to God's Order and Plan (Part 2)1 Corinthians 11:2-16
The Significance of the Lord's SupperThe Significance of the Lord's Supper1 Corinthians 11:17-34
This Do In Remembrance of MeThis Do In Remembrance of MeExodus 12:43-51, 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
A Right Understanding of Spiritual GiftsA Right Understanding of Spiritual Gifts1 Corinthians 12:1-3
Diversities of Gifts, Same SpiritDiversities of Gifts, Same Spirit1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Cessation or ContinuationCessation or Continuation1 Corinthians 12:8-12
Unity In DiversityUnity In Diversity1 Corinthians 12:12-26
Desiring the Best GiftsDesiring the Best Gifts1 Corinthians 12:27-31
The Supremacy of LoveThe Supremacy of Love1 Corinthians 13:1-3
What Has Love Got to Do?What Has Love Got to Do?1 Corinthians 13:1-3
The Nature of Love (Part 1): Love In Its Relation To OthersThe Nature of Love (Part 1): Love In Its Relation To Others1 Corinthians 13:4a
The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To Self [Part 2]The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To Self [Part 2]1 Corinthians 13:4b-5a
The Qualities of Love (Part 1)The Qualities of Love (Part 1)1 Corinthians 13:4-5
The Qualities of Love (Part 3)The Qualities of Love (Part 3)1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The Qualities of Love (Part 2)The Qualities of Love (Part 2)1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To Sin And Truth [Part 3]The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To Sin And Truth [Part 3]1 Corinthians 13:5b-6
The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To The Circumstances Of Life (Part 4)The Nature Of Love: Love In Its Relation To The Circumstances Of Life (Part 4)1 Corinthians 13:7
The Permanence of LoveThe Permanence of Love1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Why We Do Not Speak In Tongue (Part 1)Why We Do Not Speak In Tongue (Part 1)1 Corinthians 14:1-5
Why We Do Not Speak In Tongue (Part 1)Why We Do Not Speak In Tongue (Part 1)1 Corinthians 14:6-19
The Need for MaturityThe Need for Maturity1 Corinthians 14:20-28
Let All Things Be Done Decently and In OrderLet All Things Be Done Decently and In Order1 Corinthians 14:29-40
What if the Resurrection is Not True?What if the Resurrection is Not True?1 Corinthians 15:12-19
The Certainty of the ResurrectionThe Certainty of the Resurrection1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Heavenly Or Earthly MindedHeavenly Or Earthly MindedPhilippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57
Victory Over DeathVictory Over Death1 Corinthians 15:50-57
Resurrection Sunday Service: O Death Where is Thy Sting?Resurrection Sunday Service: O Death Where is Thy Sting?1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Our Response to the ResurrectionOur Response to the Resurrection1 Corinthians 15:58
The Principles of GivingThe Principles of Giving1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Doing the Lord’s WorkDoing the Lord’s Work1 Corinthians 16:5-12
Stand Fast in the FaithStand Fast in the Faith1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Stand Fast in the FaithStand Fast in the Faith1 Corinthians 16:13-14
A Loving Affection for the BelieversA Loving Affection for the Believers1 Corinthians 16:15-24
