When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

This chapter is read often at weddings but I am certain the context of Paul’s words are not included in the ceremony. Paul’s words in verse 13 summarize it but do not fully explain it. The church in Corinth could not seem to get anything quite right. There was sin in the church and they celebrated it. They served Communion and some got drunk while others got nothing. What?!?. That was Paul’s reaction. Also, in chapters 12 and 13, they were uninformed about the gifts, presumably elevating some over others. Paul presented the church as a well oiled machine with each member doing its part. 

We, like the Corinthians, will never get it quite right because we are little children. But one day, we will be complete in Christ. Then we will know what the Lord had in mind. Until then, we will disagree, but verse 13 is the key to everything Paul talked about in these two chapters. We can have our theology right where we think the Bible commands. We can follow the 10 Commandments and be good. But if we do not follow the command of Jesus to love the Lord (Matthew 22:37), one another (John 13:34), and our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), we see too dimly…

Like a child.

Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church