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Answer
First Corinthians 13:13 states, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” This comes immediately after Paul’s eloquent and renowned explanation of what true love—agape love—is. There are various ways to express why love can be considered the greatest.
First Corinthians 13:13 includes love, faith, and hope as enduring gifts. The enduring nature of faith, hope, and love makes them superior to all other spiritual gifts, which are temporary; the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are noted in 1 Corinthians 13:8 as ceasing. Among the three “eternal gifts,” love stands out as the greatest.
Love surpasses faith and hope because both faith and hope rely on love for their existence. Without love, genuine faith is impossible; faith devoid of love is merely a hollow religious practice. As Paul explains, “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” «And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. », (1 Corinthians 13:2). Without love, genuine hope is unattainable; hope without love is contradictory because we cannot authentically hope for something we do not love. Faith and hope lose their essence if not accompanied by love.
One of the reasons why love is the supreme gift is its essential nature to God. First John 4:8 declares that God is love. The book of John and John’s three letters emphasize the theme of love. God bestows His love upon us, and we reciprocate that love to Him: “We love because he first loved us” «We love him, because he first loved us. », (1 John 4:19).
9). Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. . . . You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:9-17). Here we see that love is something that has always existed among the persons of the Trinity. Love has no beginning and does not end. And this is the love into which we are invited. Jesus desired for future believers to be part of His love as well: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” «And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.», (John 17:26).
Jesus taught that the greatest two commandments both include love, the greatest gift: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
John Calvin puts forward a very simple reason why love is the greatest gift: “Because faith and hope are our own: love is diffused among others.” In other words, faith and hope benefit thePossession is self-centered, but love always benefits another. In John 13:34–35, Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love always requires an “other” as an object; love cannot remain within itself, and that is part of what makes love the greatest gift.
Love is fundamental to God’s character and central to the Christian life. The law of Christ is to love God and love others. Love permeates all that God does and should permeate all that we do. “Love never fails” «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), and it will never cease. Because of this, love is greater than even hope and faith.
