In I Corinthians 13, starting at verse 8, Paul states that agape love never ends (or fails, depending on your Bible translation). It is significant because there will be a time when we no longer require faith because we will be in God’s presence. We will no longer need hope because we will dwell in the reality of His glory. Yet, love will remain. See, when all else has been deemed useless or needless. The greatest of these — agape love — will remain.
In the book, “Love Never Fails,” the testimony of Daniel and Dolores Tiburcio unfolds. They met in junior high in the 1950s. The two married in 1962 and went on to have two beautiful children. But as time went by, dysfunction from alcoholism and codependency took over. After years of debilitated decay, the pair divorced.
Dolores reached out to her faith and church family. Daniel continued in addiction until he hit rock bottom. God showed up, began to work, and miraculously restored Daniel and Dolores’ marriage. The understanding is at the heart of their testimony: “Agape love never fails.”
Agape love never ends or fails. Believers will sometimes fail to love even when they choose to love selflessly. Still, love will not fail to be effective firstly because agape love is eternal. Selfless love will continue in Christ and His people forever. Secondly, one person’s choice to love selflessly never fails to build up the church.
Paul says the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will all pass away because, eventually, these gifts will not be needed. At the end of time, we will live with God and such gifts will not be required. They only exist in human history for a limited time and purpose — to make Christ known.
Paul begins a thought in verse 9 that he will conclude in the following verse: “We know in part, and we prophesy in part.” Paul is using these gifts because these are the ones being “abused” in the Church at Corinth. Still, we could put any spiritual gift into what Paul is writing because every gift points to only a tiny slice of all there is to understand of God. Thus, as Christians, treating others with agape love is far superior to the exercise of any spiritual gifts.
In verse 10, Paul shows that agape love is eternal, while spiritual gifts are temporary. What we know about God and what He will do in the world is relatively limited. Even what is revealed in Scripture is a tiny slice of what is knowable. We currently know only “in part.”
That will change one day. When the perfect comes, Paul writes, the partial will pass away. We will no longer need to work to understand and wonder over the bit of knowledge we have about God. The perfect, Jesus Christ, will bring about the day when all is revealed to God’s children.
The greatest of these is agape love because there will be a future time when we no longer require faith or hope. Agape love, however, will remain. Agape love will continue when all else has been deemed useless or needless.
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