With this, Paul delves into a presentation of that which he considered to be the greater gifts, writing “If I speak in the tongues of mean and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1). As we remember that Paul is speaking into a church that has created artificial and ultimately blasphemous hierarchies within the church in relation to the manifestation of spiritual gifts, this certainly puts the gift of speaking in tongues into perspective. Adding to that, lest any of his hearers get the idea that Paul is merely denouncing one level of stratification, he writes, “And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge” (13:2a), thereby referencing his previous statement concerning some being given the message of wisdom, whereas another receives the message of knowledge, and another the gift of prophecy (12:8,10). Thusly, Paul provides those in possession of those gifts with the proper perspective.
To that he adds “and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains” (13:2b). With this, he conflates together his mention of the gift of faith (12:9) with the obviously circulating portion of the Jesus tradition that has Him mentioning faith and the removal of mountains. By adding to these statements “but do not have love, I am nothing” (13:2c), he tears down the hierarchy, while also stripping away any notion of the pursuit or application of honor (within the larger society structured by notions of honor and shame) from the presence and use of spiritual gifts. This is, in effect, an accusation that actions prompted by love, and therefore love itself, has fallen by the wayside in this church.
Rather than being motivated to the use of spiritual gifts by the self-sacrifical love that was modeled by Jesus, as He went to the lowest imaginable place in His quest to establish the presence of the kingdom of God on earth, the spiritual gifts were being used oppositely, in the pursuit of honor within those called to represent and live out that very kingdom. As a result, they were unavoidably being put to use to bring shame as well. In that light, the use of “nothing” actually brings down those of his hearers who are perceived as more honorable, shaming those who dare to shame others that they are supposed to look upon as brothers and sisters in the unity of the Spirit.
To that Paul adds, “If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit” (13:3). Here, rather than reading “in order to boast,” some manuscripts present us with variations on burning, such as “that I will burn,” “that I might burn,” or “that it might be burned.” However, if we choose to go with the manuscript tradition that mentions boasting, we find that it happily falls in line with our previous considerations of the symposium, and the boasting in achievements that often accompanied such an event, which would be offered up in the pursuit of greater honor. If this is an appropriate reading, then Paul’s insistence that there is no benefit (no true honor) to be received by such actions if they are not performed in self-sacrificial love that has the cross of Christ in view, makes a great deal of sense, while also connecting with the larger movement of the letter.
It is upon this declaration that Paul enters into what is thought of as his great soliloquy upon love. While beautiful in and of itself, it cannot and should not be considered apart from what comes before and after, or apart from a consideration of Paul’s somewhat contentious communication to this church. So when Paul insists that “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious” (13:4a), it is incumbent upon us to hear these words as though we were among Paul’s original hearers. If we do so, we do so with a knowledge that we are missing the mark in the exercise of spiritual gifts, and that what we are attempting to call love is nothing more than our individual and selfish pursuit of honor and its attendant of a better position at the table, that all may bask in our glorious spirituality and ultimately come into submission to our hard-earned spiritual authority.
Re-calling our attention to the possibility that this is being read at the symposium, Paul goes on to write “Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful” (13:5). Continuing to hold in mind the possibility of the symposium as a routine part of this church’s celebration of the messianic banquet allows us to also consider the possibility that those who considered themselves the social and spiritual elites in this church (probably one and the same) may have demanded that this letter be read to them alone---a more exclusive group, rather than to the whole of the church. Again, Paul may have expected this, and though we leave open the possibility that the letter was read to the entire assembly, if we take this as a strong possibility that is not overly far-fetched considering the tone that has been taken throughout the letter, the damning nature of such hierarchical and authoritarian exclusivity would become readily apparent to the limited group of hearers.
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