Of Clanging Cymbals

Some thoughts and contemplation on (1 Corinthians 13), and chapter 12 before it.

We all know the Clanging Cymbals in our lives. Those things or people who make pious noise in our life, bereft of the Spirit that would define the true Love of Christ in their actions and works. Paul in (1 Corinthians 13) shows that difference in the legitimate as compared to the illegitimate, the counterfeit.

But there is more being said here than is usually drawn from this scripture.

We must remember that scripture in it's original form had no chapter or verse, and that subjects and topics are delineated by CONTEXT. Manuscripts were run on sentences in their original languages.

We must also remember that our God is the God of time, who created time and all that is. He spans the ages, and sees all time as an eternal present, while we are locked on the treadmill of the allotted time given for men, and to put an end to sin. We see Past, Present, and Future as divided by perspective of tense in the natural world.

In terms of (1 Corinthians 13), I think all too often most people isolate it as one context apart from other chapters. This is not true, since the total CONTEXT starts in chapter 12 with a description of the Spiritual Gifts, the diversity of the Body of Christ, and the diversity of these gifts to that Body of Christ.

The very last sentence by Paul in chapter 12 that leads into chapter 13's talk of Love is:

"And now I will show you the most excellent way."

In it's simplest form and reach, at the core, chapter 13 is the description of the Divine Love that is of Christ. No man can produce this Love on his own.

John 15:5 I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

This is why chapter 13 starts off with the divisive comparison of having all these gifts and talents without this Divine Love, that "Clanging Cymbal" as it were, for it is all for naught due to it's relegation to being of the Flesh, and of Self Will, and self Glory. Once again the distinction between works of the Flesh and the works of the Spirit.

But! There's more to chapter 13 as well...

In verses 8-13, Paul describes the reason for these gifts in our time, for "when the perfect comes, the partial passes away", they will no longer be needed.

Many have incorrectly determined that "the written word of God (the Bible)" is the perfect to come, and that these gifts are no longer present.

No. The perfect to come is Jesus Himself and our gathering to Him in the Resurrection and Rapture and Glorification of His own.

This is why the gifts will no longer be necessary, for we will see Him face to face, and we will know as we are known by Him.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

And this is also why all that remains is,

• Faith (forever in Christ)

• Hope (forever in Christ)

• and Love (forever more, as Christ IS that love!)...

This is the final condition, the Perfection that is to come...

Come soon Lord Jesus!

Maranatha!

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Don't be a grape. 🚫 🍇

🦊 Jack [ The Foxman on the Wall ]