The Essence of Love
&
Essential Christianity

Based on The Hymn on Love ; 1Cor. 13; 1-13

THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED, SOUND METAPHYSICAL READINGS IN THE HYMN OF LOVE BY ST. PAUL. 1COR. 13; 1-13 MARVELOUS INSIGHTS OF WISDOM THAT WILL MOVE YOU DEEPLY AND INSPIRE TO CHANGE YOUR VIEWS ON LIFE, LOVE, FAITH AND CHRISTIANITY.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOVE
In the beginning was Love, and Love was with God, and Love was God. All things came into being through Love, and without Love not one thing came in to being. what came into being in Love was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming in to the world. Love was in the world, and the world came in to being through Love; yet the world did not know Love. Love came to people and lived among them, but they did not recognize her. The life was the light of all people, and light came into being through Love, but no one could see the source of the light. Love lived among the people, and they were coming into being through her, but they did not see Love.
And Love became flesh with a human face and appeared to people. They have seen the light shining on the face of Love, but they turned away their faces in disbelief. Love smiled gently on them, but they gnashed their teeth. Love sang them the Song of Songs, but they did not want to listen. Love cried gravely upon them, but they hardened their hearts with anger and crucified incarnated Love. Lifted up on the cross, the face of Love did not turn away from people, but drew them all to himself. And their eyes were opened, and they saw the glory of Love and believed. To those who believed, Love gave the power to become the children of God. Through Love and in Love all received the fullness of life, grace upon grace.
‘ Those who believe in Love ’s name, live in Love and Love lives in them. They know Love and Love knows them. They see Love face to face and in every face. They are in touch with Love and they are in love with Love. They are those who know most about Love and must be listened to. So let us listen, in order to believe and believe, in order to live in Love and let Love live and act in us.


1. Rooted and Grounded In Love

The Hymn on Love, is surely one of the most beautiful and best known writings in the New Testament. Throughout the ages it has been the source of nourishing inspiration for many Christians, who were searching in the Gospel for the deepest meaning of their lives. It has been said that this hymn should be engraved in letters of gold and that everyone should know it by heart.1 Nowadays this is nearly the case. It is one of the favorite piece of 'poetry' for many young people, even those, who do not want to have much in common with Church teaching and Christian doctrine.
How can this hymn be their favourite? Perhaps, it is because this great expression of Christian faith does not sounds so religious and doctrinal to them. It seems never to mention God; moreover it says in the very beginning that faith and religion is worthless and counts for nothing unless it is rooted in love. And it may also be the reason why young believers, who want to praise God in Spirit and in truth in our age of hypocrisy, like it and not only learn it by heart but very often choose it as the program of their lives. And they cannot be blamed for this, because it was meant to show the ’more excellent way', the way of true love.
Some modern philosophers describe love as the ultimate purpose of life, its essence, in which life has its meaning. Love is the highest and happiest hope of the human heart, the thing we were all born hungering for, searching for, longing for.2 Love is the promise of future bliss, it always invite us forward. Moreover love approaches us; we do not turn it on, it turns us on.3 We can fall in love, we can be in love but we can also fall out of that love. And we know, how often the latter is the case. But this is not the kind of love Paul is talking about in his Hymn. He goes much deeper and further, ever pushing forward to reach the essential that tends to be invisible to human eyes, unless their vision is sharpened by faith and hope.


2. The Meaning of Love in 1 Cor.13; 1-13

What does Paul mean by Love? His letters give ample reason for considering the question, especially since this word, almost more than any other, has entered into the vocabulary of Christians , and, used and misused, has largely lost its meaning and force.4 Even some modern commentators on Paul's writings tend to give to this word the meaning that places Love among other virtues and spiritual gifts.
Although, it may be true that through his letters the word 'love’ tends to shift in meaning, but this rather depends on the particular grammatical form in which Paul uses this word. Basically he uses this word in the form of a verb 'to love'(agapan) and noun ’Love' (Agape), which were taken over by Hellenistic Judaism of the Diaspora from the classical Greek and to which primitive Christianity gave its special and extraordinary meaning and importance. And it would not be an exaggeration to say that Paul's use of this word had a central importance in the development of its meaning.
As Paul's description of Love proceeds in his letters, it becomes apparent that Love is not just a virtue amongst others or even greater than the other, but that Paul has in mind that Love by which God loved us first and sent his only begotten Son for our salvation. That is why in the Hymn on Love, Paul gives to Love a personal characteristic. Love is personal and the best model Paul could have used for its description is the incarnated Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.’ This might be the reason why Paul does not use 'agapan' in his hymnal description of Love but he constantly uses 'Agape'— Love with a capital 'L'. Keeping in mind this special meaning of the word Love, we will write this word with a capital ‘L', in every case that may imply the original Pauline meaning contained in the word ’Agape'.

3. Love as the Criterion of Authenticity

1 Cor.13;1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Paul is introducing Love without any specific definition or qualification. He wants to show 'a still more excellent way', but one may ask what does Paul mean by that. Is it a way of behaving or acting, or a way of being, some mode of existence? The description of 1Love is indirect, but the context is in itself sufficient enough to show* what it means. Plainly, Love is not described as a gift of the Spirit, or as charity. Paul's description of Love has a personal characteristic; the 'more excellent way' is a way of being in Love. He describes a loving person in his/her highest possibilities, in his/her highest mode of existence, in a living, ecstatic union with personal Love. For Paul, 'living is Christ, dying is gain' or as he puts it elsewhere 'it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me'(Gal.2:20). Paul speaks of himself as of someone who has Love; 'if I do not have Love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal'. He does not say 'I am like a noisy gong without Love, but ’I am a noisy
gong'. It may suggest that he is referring to Love as an indispensible accompaniment to being an authentic person. Without Love human being is nothing more than a clanging cymbal, a silly sounding thing, an 'empty' meaningless being. Thus, Paul is contrasting a state of being in Love with other even religious states of being. Explicitly, he is contrasting the true Christian with other religious worshippers. He is warning the Church against the danger
of religious ecstasy and of over-estimating the gift of tongues of which the party of enlightenment at Corinth were so proud. Without Love, religious practices are merely so much noise and excitement and glossolalia is not better than the heathen practice of the pagan worshippers, who worked themselves into a frenzy to the sound of cymbals, flutes and drums. It is Love that gives to the diversity of charisma their essentially Christian character and distinguishes them from pagan mysticism and fervor.6 Spiritual gifts find their fulfilment in Love and through Love they are directed towards the building up of the mystical body of Christ, the Church. Without it they are in danger of becoming an end in themselves; men and women will seek ecstasy or the working of miracles for their own sake and instead of putting them at the service of others, use them to their own glory, or to their own satisfaction. Thus, Love is the criterion of authenticity of all religious manifestations and spiritual gifts. If they are carried out in Love they are genuinely Christian and are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Love makes all the difference; Love changes every natural gift and talent into a spiritual charisma. It does not mean that they are worthless in themselves; songs, music, art, dance and ecstasy are good and perfectly legitimate in a community that is alive. But unless they are carried out in Love, unless they are an expression of the Spirit of Love, they are useless for the building up of the unity of the faithful, for building up of the Kingdom of Love. Church services should be an act of the whole community by which all the faithful are united in Love. And when Love is the mainspring of a community, its worship may come alive in fresh liturgical forms in which all can take part, for Love is skilful in finding new ways and modes of expression.’


Content
The Hymn on Love ; 1Cor. 13; 1-13
1. Rooted and Grounded In Love
2. The Meaning of Love in 1 Cor.13; 1-13
3. Love as the Criterion of Authenticity
4. The Essential Characteristics of the True Follower
5. Love as Life Giving Force
6. Love is Self-confident
7. Love is not a Matter of Choice
8. Love is Dialogical
9. The Way of Love
10. Theandric Love
11. Love worships God in Spirit
12. Two Commandments of Love
13. Only These Three Abide
14. What Abides is Essential Christianity
Endnotes:
Bibliography:

******
Bibliography:
1.NRSV Bihle, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashvile, 1989.
1.C.K. Barrett, O.D., A Commentary On The First Epistle To the
Corinthians, Adam & Charles Black, London 1968
3.Gaston Deluz, A Companion To 1 Corinthians, Longman, London 1961
4.Hargneares Jh., A Guide To 1 Corinthians, S.P.C.K. London 1978
5.Ruef Jh., Paul's First Letter To Corinth, Penguin Books, London
1971
6.De Chardin T., Hymn of the Universe, Collins, London 1965
7.Kreeft Peter, Three Philosophies of Life, Ignatius Press, San
Francisco 1989
8.Balthasar H., Love Alone: The Way of Revelation, Veritas, London
1968
9.Raymond E. Brown, S.S, & Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., Roland E. Murphy
O.Carm., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Chapman, London 1992

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