And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 12, 2014): 1 Corinthians 13

Steve Bouma-Prediger, Professor of Religious Studies at Hope College in Michigan is rumored to have sometimes included the Bible verse from 2 Hesitations 4:3 which reads “There are no internal combustion engines in heaven” in his religion class. The problem is that the verse doesn’t really exist. In fact, the book of Hesitations doesn’t actually exist. Nor would the biblical writers have had any idea what an internal combustion engine was. But in spite of these obvious flaws, few students catch on to the joke. The problem is that we live in a culture that is increasingly biblically illiterate and that there are a number of phantom bible verses that simply are not in the Bible. “God helps those who help themselves” probably tops the list. The quote is not actually in the Bible. It is often erroneously attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but the saying itself probably originated in ancient Greece, not in the Bible. Other popular phantom verses would include “God works in mysterious ways,” which is actually a paraphrase of a 19^th century hymn written by the English poet William Cowper (God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform), as well as the saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” which is an 18^th century saying coined by John Wesley. Neither appear in the pages of the Bible.

This passage might be among a different group of Bible verses – verses that are found in the Bible, but which people often don’t seem to know are from the Bible. The last portion of 1 Corinthians 13 is on my list of possible biblical passages to be read at weddings and it is amazing how many people have heard the passage, but have no idea that the words are from the Bible. A friend of mine, a Christian who often performs secular weddings, says that he can often slip the passage into a wedding where the participants request that the Bible not be used.

But this verse can also be problem to those who know it is there. I am in contact with people who would argue that this verse cannot be right. They would argue that faith always surpasses love - that the supremacy of faith is critical to the Christian understanding of the religion. Yet that is not what this passage says. Paul argues that hope, faith, and love are all important, but that the most important is love – not faith.

The reality is that it is a faith that has built religions that have often seemed at odds with each other. Faith has been the main reasons why wars have been fought. In Corinth, it was faith that had caused the division, faith developed from the teachings of the various Christian preachers. But Paul’s point is that love could never do that. Love is the fulfillment of the law, never faith. Love outranks faith in its power to motivate. Jesus even said that highest law is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” – not to have faith in him (Matthew 22:37). Even James argued that even the demons believe in one God – or have faith in the nature of the one true God – and shudder (James 2:19).   

God’s signature, his mark on our lives that identifies us as his has never been our faith – it has always been love. Love really is the greatest thing, not just between it and faith and hope, it is the greatest of everything. And without love, we can never be the difference in this world that God has called us to be.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 14