Pastor Marty Monday, June 29, 2026 at 5:19PM 1 Corinthians 14:20-33. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 28, 2026.
Here is the audio. The article will be up later.
Pastor Marty Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 3:59PM James 1:12. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Father’s Day Sunday, June 21, 2026.
Men in general and fathers in particular have taken quite a beating in our culture. It is not that women and moms do not need to be honored and encouraged, they surely do. However, we do not need to trash men and fathers in order to do that. The truth is that we need to encourage each other in the right things.
As our culture has deteriorated, the challenge for believers has always been to remain faithful to Christ and his word. God knows how He has designed us and what makes for our good. When we work with God’s design and purpose, we remove a lot of problems from life that are self-inflicted. It doesn’t make life a piece of cake, but it does cooperate with the One who can help us through it.
God’s design is for a wife and a husband to help each other pass the tests of this life, even the test of life itself. When we do this, we will build better families, a better church, and a better society.
Let’s look at our passage.
James uses a formula that harkens back to Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…” It was also used by Jesus in Matthew 5:1-12 in what we call The Beatitudes.
Jesus shows us that many things which cause us to feel like we are disqualified, even by God, are the very things which God values. God has you in mind, and part of that is to bless you. The man who mourns is blessed because God has comfort for him. The man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is blessed because God will satisfy him.
Notice that Jesus does not put these in the future tense. He does not say those who mourn will be blessed on the day God comforts them. You are already blessed because God is the one who both decrees and helps you towards the good that He intends. He is watching over you and out for you.
We should not complain about our lot in life and tell ourselves that we are cursed or unloved by God. Rather, we should look to God, trust in Him, and rejoice in the good purpose that He has put before us. We should also rejoice that He is present with us in all of His goodness before we ever reach it.
James is speaking of a person who perseveres under trial. Persevering is the patience of endurance. It means to stick under the heaviness of the trial. The devil wants you to quit, and your own flesh often wants you to quit. But God has a blessing in it and encourages you to persevere.
Being a father will, if anything, take perseverance. It is a different kind of heavy load that doesn’t test our physical muscles but rather tests our internal fortitude. How can we stick in there when we are tempted to give up? We must look to Jesus who was crushed under a heavy load for each one of us.
Jesus didn’t use the word for a trial in the beatitudes, but he did use it in the prayer he taught them in chapter 6. “Do not lead us into temptation (test/trial), but deliver us from evil (or the evil one).” The sense is a prayer that we not be led into trials and left at the mercy of evil. It is a prayer for God to help us be victorious. All people face trials in life, but we can sometimes run away from them. When we run away from a trial, we are only running towards the next one. In fact, our refusal to face this one makes it easier for us to run from the next one. God wants to bring us through the trials in victory.
Whether you think of this as a trial or as temptation, they are both related. Every trial is both a test and a temptation. The poor in spirit are tested or tempted by choosing spiritual arrogance. Those who mourn are tested by their loss and tempted to give up on God.
The trial is not easy and pleasant, but the best response is to trust God and His way through it. The best response is to say no to the temptation to go another way. None of us do this without any failure, but Jesus did. He is our model but also our forgiveness and our help in the trial. The blessed man is one who is looking to Christ to help bring him through the tests, trials, and temptations of life.
James then gives us the phrase “once he has been approved.” This approval is not our own approval or the approval of other people. It is the approval of the Lord. This approval can be thought of in two senses. There is an approval of God in our decision to trust in Jesus. John 3:16 makes it clear that to do this is to obtain eternal life. However, one who follows Jesus in faith must persevere to the end of this life in faith. Thus, there is a final approval for those who have endured in the faith to the laying down of their physical body in death.
No man finds the approval of God on his own merits. Jesus is the foundation upon which we can be approved. However, we must exercise faith in our life. It is Jesus who makes the grace of forgiveness and salvation available to us. In fact, we must be careful of thinking that failure in a trial somehow ends the trial. Repentance and reconciliation are part of the trial and the approved life. Yes, it would be better for us to not fail in the trial. However, we must not fail to repent and turn to Christ for strength to endure and grow. He can redeem every situation when we repent and put it in his hands.
What do I do with the failure of others? Just as I should respond with repentance to my own failures, so I must respond with the mercy and love of God at the failure of others. Speak the truth in love.
Raising kids for Jesus is no easy task and will try every man’s heart. Yet, you can persevere, ask God for help, and trust Him. The challenge of God to us is this. Are you willing to keep walking in my blessing by faith?
James then tells us that, once we have been approved, we will receive the crown of life. The crown of life is speaking of the eternal life of God. This eternal life is like a victor’s crown (a prize or award) upon the believer. Similar to our approval, we can see this in two senses as well. When we put our faith in Jesus, we are connected to God’s eternal life. Yet, there is a future fullness of this eternal life that will occur at the resurrection. We should aim to walk in this life with the approval of God. We should face the trials victoriously as He would have us. Yet, our ultimate victory will be at the resurrection.
The final phrase is “which the lord promised to those who love Him. So far, we have focused upon the blessed man. The focus here is on the Lord. The Lord has made a promise of blessing to those who love him. This is a promise that anyone can receive because the Lord makes it to “whosoever would believe in [Jesus].” You can step into that place of promise, that place of blessing, at any time.
Jesus will keep his end of the promise. If you will look to him, he will enable you to be victorious over every trial, test, and temptation. Each of us may lose a battle here and there, but we don’t have to lose the war.
All fathers are able to be a blessed man, not because we have it in ourselves to be so but because we have a God who made us precisely for this. Don’t be discouraged; God is with you and will help you to glorify Him in the facing of every test. Don’t you know that you are blessed?
Email Article | Print Article | Share Article | tagged Approval, Blessing, Crown of Life, Fathers, Perseverance, Promise, Temptations, Tests, Trials Pastor Marty Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 9:27PM 1 Corinthians 14:1-19. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Having explained in chapter thirteen the importance of love as a permanent foundation to everything that we do as followers of Jesus, Paul now turns back to the issue of spiritual gifts and the abuses happening within the Christian gatherings in Corinth.
Chapter twelve introduced Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts in general. He ended that chapter with the instruction to zealously desire the greater gifts. This statement in and of itself is not problematic to the Corinthians. They would believe that they were seeking “the greater gifts.” However, Paul is setting up why their fascination with speaking in tongues is a misunderstanding of what actually makes a spiritual gift greater than another.
This is why chapter thirteen may feel like it is disjointed. Paul lays the groundwork of why love for God and others must direct our choices in the area of spiritual gifts before he comes back to spiritual gifts in chapter fourteen, where he explains why tongues is not the greater gift compared to prophecy.
Let’s look at our passage.
Chapter fourteen narrows its focus to the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesying because this is where the trouble was occurring in the Corinthian church.
His main concern is that speaking gifts that are exercised within the assembly of believers (i.e., during a church service) should be intelligible, understandable, to those gathered so that they can be spiritually edified.
We should not let our modern concept of church gatherings cloud our understanding of this. A Christian gathering is not about the building. It can be in a home, in a cave, or out in the jungle. Regardless, when believers are gathered to worship God and encourage one another in the faith, the emphasis must be on the ability of people to understand the language of what is being said.
We should also note that Paul does not argue that the Corinthian believers do not have the Holy Spirit or that the gifts they are exercising are not legitimate. Rather, his argument is that they are abusing them or using them in a way that is grievous to the Holy Spirit who is enabling them in their lives.
Paul opens up with tying chapter twelve and thirteen together with twin imperatives. They are to pursue love while also zealously desiring spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy (rather than speak in tongues).
Please note that he uses the same verb, zealously desire, for spiritual gifts in chapter twelve and fourteen. However, he chooses a different verb for love; pursue love. This can be pictured as always chasing after something that is illusively out of grasp, but the better picture is that of a pathway or, even better, the person of Jesus Christ himself. The love of Christ is always before us as an example and guide. We must make that our aim and pursuit while exercising (or desiring) spiritual gifts.
Verse 1 also answers the question that Paul has set up at the end of chapter twelve. What is the greater spiritual gift? Prophecy is the greater gift within the assembly of believers. You could also add any other word of wisdom, knowledge, etc. that is given in a language that the people understand.
In verse two Paul begins to describe some differences between speaking in tongues and prophesying. A person who speaks in tongues speaks to God not man (v. 2). No one understands him, and he speaks mysteries (i.e., no one understands what he is saying). A person who speaks in tongues also edifies themselves (v. 4). All of this can be changed if the message in tongues is interpreted for the people in attendance. The interpretation would then be addressing the people (not God), and it would be understandable to them. The message in tongues that is interpreted will also be able to edify the whole church. At that point, speaking in tongues with interpretation would be functionally equivalent to prophecy.
Comparatively, a person who prophesies speaks to the people and they can understand them. The prophecy is given to edify the whole body and not just the speaker. Paul gives three examples of the way that prophecy can help the church: edification (build them up to be like Jesus), exhortation (whether commands or encouragements), and lastly consolation. Paul sees these three aspects in the purpose of prophecy.
Verse six restates the problem in a personal way. Paul again resorts to putting himself in the position that the Corinthian mindset would encourage. “If I come to you speaking in tongues,” this implies if he only did this, like the Corinthians liked to do. Paul asks how this would be able to benefit them. It would only be profitable if he spoke a language that was intelligible, whether a revelation, knowledge, prophecy or teaching.
Thus, Paul is emphasizing that intelligibility allows for people to be built up in the faith and character of Christ. The profit here is spiritual profit.
Paul then points to areas of life where the principle of intelligibility is necessary. In verse seven, he speaks of a flute or a harp. Music requires a distinction of tones in order to produce a pleasing sound as opposed to a raucous noise.
In verse 8, he moves to a bugle. This was used in the military to quickly direct men. Particular tunes were used to get men out of bed, or to warn of attack, etc. If the bugler does not clearly blow the right notes, it would confuse the men and leave them open to danger.
In verses ten and eleven, Paul speaks of foreign languages around the world. The message encoded in each language is real but is also inaccessible to a person who does not understand it. I am a foreigner to them, and they are a foreigner to me. The term “barbarian” was a Greek term that mimicked the sounds of a foreigner “bar bar bar” and became barbaros or barbarian in English.
If you were in a group that knew you did not speak a different language, but they kept speaking it among themselves, the result is that you would feel not only left out but also pushed out. Paul makes the point that an unknown language makes you a foreigner to the speaker. We will be isolated from one another and limited in our ability to work together or help one another.
Christians are to be a new people. We don’t all necessarily have the same native language, but we speak a common language in order to accomplish the purpose of God with one another.
These examples all highlight the importance of intelligibility when it comes to the verbal spiritual gifts in church gatherings.
Paul ends this section in verse twelve by calling the Corinthians who are zealous of spiritual gifts also “to seek to abound for the edification of the church.” In other words, they should exercise them for the greater purpose of God, building up believers to be more like Jesus.
They should not be zealous for a spiritual gift as a status symbol. They should not settle for everyone edifying themselves (everyone for themselves) when they are gathered together.
The Corinthians may have imagined that everyone was being edified in the church when they were all speaking in tongues. However, Paul will now move to explain the purpose of tongues versus the purpose of prophecy.
Paul now moves to describe how tongues and prophecy should be exercised within our gatherings. The first application is that the person who speaks in tongues should pray for its interpretation. He doesn’t make clear if this is before speaking or after speaking. The main point is not to settle for continuing in tongues without interpreting the message. The onus is put upon the person who believes they have a message in tongues to give. We should leave room for churches to discover in trial and error just who in the may or may not have the spiritual gift of interpretation. Regardless, it would eventually be clear whether someone is present that is used in that way by the Spirit.
In verse fourteen, Paul describes praying in tongues, which is addressed to God, as praying with your spirit. This is placed next to the idea of praying with your mind, which is praying in a language you understand.
When you pray with your spirit, i.e., in tongues, your mind is “unfruitful” (there is no intellectual benefit) other than the knowledge that the Spirit of God is enabling your spirit to talk with God in an unknown language.
Verse 15 includes singing in this. To sing with my spirit is to sing in tongues, and to sing with my mind is to sing in a language I understand.
Praying with your mind is important, and most people can understand this. However, how does praying with your spirit build you up? It teaches you how to trust the Holy Spirit and have confidence that God knows what your spirit is saying. It gives you a comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit is helping you to pray to the Father.
Some may refuse such things, declaring that they will only be edified through their mind. This seems to be a short-sighted and selfish attitude. God knows what we need. Why would we shut off any help that He wants to provide?
In verse sixteen, Paul questions how someone can say, “Amen,” in the assembly to something that they do not understand. They are called “the uninformed” (some versions have “ungifted,” but this seems to be more of an interpretation). This could be a reference to non-believers, or it could be believers who are not taught in regard to spiritual gifts (or simply don’t have the gift of interpretation). However, it seems most likely that this is a reference to those who are uninformed in the Gospel. How will they hear the truth and believe (say amen) if it is not in a language they understand?
Paul may even be saying that you are turning your fellow Christians into those who are uninformed by the fact that they don’t know what you are saying. The point is that they are left out of any meaningful interaction with what is being done.
Of course, Paul is not putting tongues down. He says in verse eighteen that he speaks in tongues more than all of them. However, he apparently does the lion’s share of his tongue speaking when he is by himself (in personal times of prayer). Five intelligible words are worth more than 10,000 words in tongues that are unknown.
There is a modern contention among some that there should be no tongues at all in churches today. Yet, the Bible tells us to desire spiritual gifts because it is God who desires to work them through us for the good of the body of Christ. We should follow love and follow the Spirit because they are one and the same.
Second, we should not let fear cause us to shrink back from spiritual gifts. We should trust God and exercise them properly for the benefit of all who are attending, not just for ourselves.
We will stop here today and pick up later.
Pastor Marty Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 10:52PM 1 Corinthians 13. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 7, 2026.
This chapter is most generally known as the Love Chapter, and it is true that it describes the love of Christ and how the Holy Spirit seeks to express it in our lives.
However, this chapter is specifically about how the love of Christ should impact our exercise of spiritual gifts. Thus, it is a specific application of how the love of Christ impacts this area of our lives.
We should even see that it is part of a corrective teaching that shows how the love of Christ can be used to redirect abusive activity in any area of our lives.
Chapter 12 ended with two notions. First, Paul wanted the Corinthians to recognize that speaking in tongues is not the greater gift, as they thought. Prophecy is a greater gift than it. However, in order for them to understand why it is greater, they must understand the “more excellent way” of the love of Christ.
Let’s look at our passage.
Paul starts with the spiritual gift that the Corinthians valued most, speaking in tongues. He could make this same point by using them as the hypothetical person, but instead, Paul uses himself. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels…” This is to soften the hard statements that he is going to make.
Of course, all of our speech should spring forth from a heart full of God’s love. It is a necessity for the disciple of Jesus. However, Paul is correcting them on their use of spiritual gifts, especially speech that finds its origins in the Holy Spirit.
It is not clear whether Paul actually believes it is possible to speak in the language of angels. There is some evidence from the period before Jesus that some Jews believed it was possible. Regardless, the Corinthians certainly thought that they were speaking the language of angels, or of the heavenly beings.
I know that some people point to Acts chapter two. They say that true speaking in tongues will always be a language from this earth, i.e., a human language. However, the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a unique event. The commencement of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks. The feast pointed to the harvest that would come in from the Spirit-empowered activity of the people of God.
We should also note that many things that happened at that first outpouring were not repeated, for example: Fire separating into individual tongues over each of the believers, the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and the reversal of the judgment of confusing the language of the people in Genesis 11. These things can happen again as God wills, but we do not see them mentioned again.
The Corinthians wanted to be super-spiritual, but their thinking was not biblical. Paul throughout 1 Corinthians was correcting them on this. In chapter seven, we find that some married couples were trying to live without having sexual relations with one another. This may sound strange to us, but it was an attempt to live like the angels here on earth. In their opinion, being spiritual meant trying to live less like mortals on earth and more like angels in heaven. Paul challenged them on it. Their attempt to be spiritual would set them up for temptation. He told them that refraining from sex for a short period in order to focus on prayer (i.e., like fasting) was okay, but they should not extend the period too long. If they loved one another, then they would demonstrate their spirituality by physical intimacy.
In chapter eleven, we see that some of them were trying to live as if there are no longer differences between men and women. Again, being like the angels (super-spiritual) would mean to throw off all gender roles. Paul challenges the women to recognize cultural norms in their demeanor, especially within the context of Christian gatherings.
In chapter 12, we saw that they thought speaking in tongues was the greatest gift. They believed that a spiritual person would be more likely to speak in an unintelligible language. Yet, Paul is showing them that this is not true spirituality. True spirituality asks what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do and does it.
Their rejection of a bodily resurrection in chapter fifteen was also sourced in this messed up view of spirituality. A bodily resurrection seemed to be going in the wrong direction, toward the earth rather than heaven. Yet, Paul shows them that the bodily resurrection of believers is dependent upon the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (who is the most spiritual of all humans).
This brings us back to chapter 13. The key to Paul’s argument is picturing a spiritual gift being exercised without love for others. We will deal with the clanging cymbal imagery at the end of this section. “If I speak in the language of angels (the desire of the Corinthian Christians) but do not have love, then I am a clanging cymbal.” He then does the same thing with two more spiritual gifts. “If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing.” “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
This last mention of the spiritual gift of faith that could even move mountains is an allusion to the words of Jesus in several different places. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus spoke of casting out demons with faith the size of a mustard seed (i.e., it is not about a great amount, simply about believing). In Luke 17:6, he spoke of dealing with unforgiveness in our own heart. Of course, there it is not a mountain but a mulberry tree. So, Paul is picturing a person who is the epitome of what Jesus is talking about. Yet, without love, I am nothing!
As if that wasn’t enough, Paul adds two more things that are good in and of themselves and do not look like the previous spiritual gifts. “If I give all my possessions to the poor…” This reminds me of the rich young ruler who was challenged by Jesus to sell all his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and then follow him. Even such a great act without love would be nothing.
Finally, Paul speaks of a person surrendering their body to be burned. He may have in mind a person who is martyred for the cause of Christ. Yet, if such was done without love, it would “profit me nothing. “ We can imagine doing something like that and finding out it didn’t benefit us at all. What a shock.
All of these are intended to shock the Corinthians. Paul describes things that they would see as spiritual in and of themselves: speaking in tongues, prophecy, the gift of faith, selling all of our possessions to feed the poor, and being martyred for Jesus. Yet, Paul’s challenge to them is to point out the necessity of love in all our activity for Christ. Without love, the one who speaks in tongues is a clanging cymbal. God is not edified, and the people around them are not edified. Without love, the one who gives prophecies and moves big things by their faith is nothing. Without love, the one who feeds the poor and is martyred is not profited by it, i.e., they have not put any treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).
These three phrases: a clanging cymbal, nothing, and profits me nothing, are all saying that there is no spiritual benefit in good acts alone. To use Paul’s words in Galatians 5:6, what is beneficial is faith in God working through love. If my activity is not born out of faith in God working through the love of Christ, then it does not benefit me.
The Christian must always emphasize Christ-like character before activity. Notice that Paul does not argue that they do not have the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit does not insulate us from error any more than the presence of God in the garden insulated Adam and Eve from temptation. The Corinthians were grieving the Holy Spirit as they exercised spiritual gifts, all the time thinking they were super spiritual.
How long can you do that and spiritually survive? Paul doesn’t say. Nevertheless, we must (it is a necessity!) have love in all that we do but especially in exercising spiritual gifts.
Paul then moves to describe the true nature of Christ’s love. The structure of this section has 2 positive descriptions followed by 7 negative descriptions. There is then 1 transitional negative and positive description that is followed by four rapid positive descriptions. This section is crafted into a poetic piece.
Let’s look at the first two positive descriptions. Love is patient. The word “patient” here has the idea of having a long fuse, a slow temper. Love is also kind. If patience is restraining myself from unleashing unloving things upon a person, then kindness is pouring out good things upon a person, whether they deserve it or not. Kindness is an overlooked virtue.
Next, we have the seven negative descriptions of what love is not. Most of these are self-explanatory.
Love is not jealous (or envious). Love does not brag and is not arrogant (puffed up with pride, an inflated sense of self). Love does not “act unbecomingly” (NASB). This has the idea of something that is shameful or disgraceful. Love is not self-seeking. It is not provoked (i.e., provoked to the point of anger and wicked actions). Love does not consider wrongs against it. This is more than not writing down a list or keeping one in your head. It has a deeper sense of not taking note of wrongs done against you. I simply don’t think about it or dwell on it.
This can be seen as an eighth negative description, but it is balanced by the positive that it should be. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth (the truth of God’s love in Christ to save all people through our sacrifice to share it with them). I would say that some in the Church are rejoicing in wicked things like abortion and trans-gendering our kids. However, this is not love. This is a self-seeking attempt to garner the acceptance of others at the expense of the truth of God.
Lastly, we have the four staccato statements that all include the phrase “in all things.” The meaning works with some of the words, but others require a deeper understanding of what is meant by “in all things.
Love bears all things is the idea that it carries or puts up with all things. Love does not quit carrying our brother though his sin is heavy.
Love believes all things. This does not mean it believes anything that a person says to it. The word believe is the same as having faith. Love has faith in all things. It never quits but always believes.
Love hopes all things. Again, “all things” is not about the object for which we hope. Love never loses hope in any situation. It is easy to give up on others especially when they sin against us. Yet, love continues to hope for their salvation and sanctification.
Lastly, love endures all things. This is another term for being patient. It pictures a person remaining under a heavy load. We may want to toss it off, but love compels us to stick in there, perseverance.
All of these things describe Jesus who is the very Image of the Father, and the pattern for our character and life.
“Love never fails” looks at first like it is part of the previous description. Thus, love is never defeated or fallen to the ground. It is always victorious.
Yet, the following words add another meaning to the phrase. Paul is telling us that love will never end nor will it fall away from our experience in the future. This last description serves to transition to Paul’s last point about love versus spiritual gifts.
Love will never end, but spiritual gifts will come to an end (vs. 8). A time will come when speaking in tongues will cease to be a thing that the Holy Spirit is working in God’s people. A time will come when words of knowledge (Paul is talking about spiritual gifts here) will be done away. The bigger truth in the area of spiritual gifts is that they are only for this present age, whereas love is for all ages. A Christian must have love down first before going after spiritual gifts.
In verse nine, Paul brings up the idea that we presently know “in part” and prophesy “in part.” This is connected to the idea that the Kingdom of God is now here, but not yet fully. Thus, prophecy does not help us to know everything. Rather, it gives us a part of the picture. These gifts are necessary because we do not have full knowledge of everything that God is doing. Yet, He gives us enough through the written Word, through mature believers, and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In verse ten, Paul sees that there is a day “when the perfect comes” in which these partial things will be done away, i.e., the spiritual gifts. There are some Christians who try to make the case that the perfect is the New Testament written down for us. They try to say that once the apostles wrote these books, then the spiritual gifts went away. Anyone who tries to do them today is not actually operating by the help of the Holy Spirit.
I do not believe this is the proper interpretation of that phrase. All gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit are pointed towards Christ, the perfect image of the Father. Jesus is The Perfect who is coming back to this earth at some point in the future. It is at the return of Jesus that spiritual gifts will be done away. This is clear from the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. In chapter one verse seven he says, “you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is not talking about the New Testament. He is talking about the Second Coming of Jesus!
Thus, spiritual gifts are still operational today. The Spirit is still wanting to work through believers in these various ways. When Jesus comes, he will bring this “now but not yet fully” period of time to a close. Then spiritual gifts will drop away like training wheels on the bike of a kid who has learned to ride.
Verse 11 picks up this imagery. When Paul talks about putting away childish things when he became a man, he does not mean that as a pejorative. The things of childhood are necessary. They are childish only in that they are connected to that state of development. Similarly, our mortal lives as followers of Jesus are our spiritual childhood. Yes, we want to become as spiritually mature in our life as we can. However, the bodily resurrection that Christ will bring about will be our entrance into adulthood. We will truly be the adult sons of God at that point. The things of our childhood (now) will be put aside (then).
In verse twelve, Paul not only changes the metaphor to looking into a mirror, but he also speaks of what we know. Now I am looking into a mirror that is dim, but then I will look into the face of God. We presently do not see God fully, but we will in the future. We presently know God’s plan fully, but we will in the future. We will know just as sure as we are fully known by God right now.
This brings us to the last verse. In the present, spiritual gifts are given by God, but they must be exercised in love. Paul pairs love with faith and hope. He sees these three virtues as abiding in our lives throughout this mortal stage. The believer needs faith in what God has done through Jesus, hope in what God has promised for those who believe in Jesus, and love for God and others. We cannot walk this Christian walk without the three virtues of faith, hope, and love.
Yet, the greatest of these is love. This can simply be a poetic flourish. However, if we think about the future state of having glorified, heavenly bodies, and dwelling directly in the presence of God, we might ask ourselves what faith and hope will look like then. Faith is a thing because we do not fully see God. We must trust Him. Hope is a thing because we do not have all that God has promised. We must wait upon Him. However, when we see Him and receive all that He has promised, faith and hope will dissolve back into the underlying queen of virtues, love. We will love and be loved for all eternity!
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