1 Corinthians 13:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Then the great conclusion: ‘And now’ – that is, in heaven; not right now, but he says ‘now’ because heaven is his current subject – ‘abideth faith, hope, charity, these three.’ Will faith survive into eternity? Faith and hope in heaven? Elsewhere the apostle almost says that faith and hope end at death. He doesn’t, but he seems to hint at that. Now he says faith and hope go on with love in heaven. What does he mean? Well, of course, faith does go on, but not in the same form as we have it now. Our faith now is tinged with doubt. Now we trust we believe the word, but then we shall see. Will that do away with faith, when faith becomes sight? Not entirely, because heaven for us is still time. In heaven we shall see the Lord; we shall see the angels; we shall see wonderful things, but faith will understand that this is going to go on for ever and ever, an ever unfolding revelation of wonders. Some people think that somehow we will tour the stars and planets and other constellations in eternal glory – I don’t know anything about that. But it will be a wonderful, wonderful pursuit of the handiwork of God and the things of God, for all eternity. And faith will be absolute solid, unmovable trust that this is going on for all eternity. It is the same with hope and anticipation. Now we anticipate heaven, but when we get to heaven anticipation won’t disappear, because there will still be all the rolling ages of eternity to look forward to. There must be, in a sense, a constant unfolding of wonder and glory, and light and knowledge. So there will be faith in the sense of expectation and anticipation will glow within the believer, eternally. But the greatest of these is unquestionably, says the apostle, love. Why is love the greatest? What makes love the greatest of the three? Well, it is the opposite of self. Self will be no more. This self-consideration, selfishness, self-concern that hounds us and plagues us, with all its pride and its unreasonableness, will be gone. Outgoing love will be everything. Won’t that be the most wonderful liberation imaginable?Love is better than faith and hope, because it is the engine of all the good things we shall ever do. Love is the expression, the ultimate expression of gratitude and appreciation. Love also is the cement of heaven – it joins us to God, and it joins us to one another. And supremely, out of faith, hope and love, it is love alone that makes us like God. Now, we cannot be like him in the sense that we should ever be divine. We shall always be dependent upon him. We will always be children even as glorified human beings, whereas he alone will be divine – the essence of God, God over all, all-powerful, the fountain of all good, and yet we will resemble him most by love. It is love which brings us closest of all to the likeness of God.