The Greatest Love

1 Corinthians 13:13

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Corinthians 13:13, KJV) [1]

I. The world says the greatest is Hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” Albert Einstein.

In all things it is better to hope than to despair”. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All around us we are faced with a hope attitude. Hope is good, but it’s not the greatest.

Our government tells us to hope, that better times are ahead.

How many times have we heard this? And how can we hope in a world that is void of real love?

II. The Church says the greatest is Faith.

We teach it in all our doctrinal lessons, and rightly so, as faith is essential for salvation, for without which we cannot know God!

Unfortunately, our churches teach & demonstrate faith to the exclusion of Love!

James counteracts this tendency in chapter 2 of his epistle.

“Faith without works is dead”

III. God says the greatest is Love.

"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." (1 Corinthians 13:8, KJV) [2]

Ah! Paul says love never fails!

The world does not know this because the world knows nothing of AGAPE love. It only knows conditional love.

Faith and hope are wonderful virtues, but only love is a property of God Himself (God is love).

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[1] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995.

[2] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995.