Three Simple Words.

Three Simple Words.

1 Corinthians 13:13AMP

Crunched between 1 Corinthians 12, and 1 Corinthians 14, come the words of a man who is extremely educated and gifted mentally and spiritually. Though Paul says, “I am nothing without love.”

Three simple, single syllable words, yet they can't be improved upon. I love you.

1 Corinthians 13:13NKJV And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

For us to understand where Paul is coming from, let’s look at these verses in complete context.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12TPT  Love never stops loving, (Love never fails). It extends beyond the gift of prophecy, which eventually fades away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains long after words of knowledge are forgotten. 9 Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial, 10 but when love’s perfection arrives, the partial will fade away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke about childish matters, for I saw things like a child and reasoned like a child. But the day came when I matured, and I set aside my childish ways. 12 For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood.

Again, 1 Corinthians 13:12TLB  In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.

Face to face, mouth to mouth. Nothing hazy, nothing blurred, everything clear! P.H

In Number 12:1-8, we can read the historical facts, of what happens if we undermine the spiritual things of God. Moreover, Theologians agree that when the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul was referencing Moses and God in Number 12.

Number 12:1-8AMP Now Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); 2 and they said, “Has the Lord really spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken also through us?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very humble (gentle, kind, devoid of self-righteousness), more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).” And the three of them came out. 5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tabernacle, and He called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward. 6 And He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision And I will speak to him in a dream. 7 “But it is not so with My servant Moses; He is entrusted and faithful in all My house. 8 “With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], Clearly and openly and not in riddles; And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

Moses lived on the offense. He wasn’t threatened, He didn’t live with resentment, He was honest, humble and truthful.

Paul is referring to God speaking to Moses “face-to-face” (Hebrew, “mouth-to-mouth”), and not using dreams and figures of speech (Num. 12:8).

Transforming love will bring us—face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth with God.

1 Corinthians 13:13TPT Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.

1 Corinthians 13:13AMP And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.

You can't improve upon those three words, “I love you.” They're better than, “You're great.” Much better than, “Happy birthday!” Or, Congratulations or, You're special.”

Several years ago, author Smiley Blanton put it in his book, “Life really does boil down to love or perish. Without love, hopes perish. Without love, dreams and creativity parish. Without love, families and churches parish. Without love, friendships parish. Without love, the intimacies of romance parish. Without love, the desire to go on living can parish.”

To love and be loved is the bedrock of our existence. Jonathan Edwards states, “Heaven will be the place for the expression of nothing but perfect love toward God and each other.”