Pauline & Modern Ethics: Love

 28 November 2022

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes with the purpose of unifying their church to serve their own edification. This goal of strengthening the church in Corinth is rooted in Paul’s understanding of the division found within the church body. As Paul addresses different issues like factions in the church, incestuous relationships, and communion meals, he aims to correct their immoral behavior and push the Corinthians toward living in unity. Paul planted this church; he is aware of their position as novice Christians who are trying to negotiate this new faith with their existing cultural background. This letter operates both as a response to the questions which naturally arise from the Corinthians’ complicated situation, and as a commentary on how dissension is causing stress on the body of their church. Looking at the first imperative in the letter, “do not pronounce judgment before the time” (RSV, 1 Cor. 4:5),

Paul addresses how the Corithians in their factions are judging him. While urging the Corinthians to remember the foundation of Christ that he laid for them, Paul discourages them from being “puffed up in favor of one against another” (4:6). To better convey these ideas to his audience, Paul employs various metaphors. An example of these illustrations is found in the third chapter, as Paul uses the metaphor of tending to a field to explain that Paul and Apollos are both equal servants for God, not opposing sides for which they should choose favor (v. 5-9). Instead of judging Paul or picking sides, Paul wants the Corinthians to live in a way that will build up the church.

In 4:14, Paul states that he is writing to the Corinthians to “admonish” them, rather than to shame them. Throughout the letter, Paul’s use of imperatives reflects this goal of reprimanding and counseling. The instructive nature of imperatives like “[c]leanse out the old leaven” (5:7), “shun immorality” (6:18), “take care lest this liberty…become a stumbling block” (8:9), “wait for one another'' (11:33), “make love your aim” (14:1), and “be watchful, stand firm in your faith” (16:13) show that Paul is aiming to advise the church on how to protect and foster their community. In building his argument around these appeals, Paul uses the different types of argumentation as he provides specific applications of the law and presents a case both for Christ and for his own ministry. Framed by this focus on logos and ethos, there are two appeals in particular that Paul chooses to highlight through repetition: “[b]e imitators of me” (4:16, 11:1) and “[d]o not be deceived” (6:9, 15:33). By emphasizing these imperatives, Paul paints a portrait of his purpose, i.e., to urge the Corinthians to stop being influenced by their pagan cultural landscape and instead to strengthen the church by living as Paul does. 

To address the issue of diversity in unity within the Corinthian community, especially concerning their perspectives of spiritual gifts, Paul creates an analogy between the church and the human body (Fee 674). Using embodied signification to map the domain of the church onto the image of the body, Paul is able to communicate how the variety of gifts are equally necessary and important, for just as “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (12:4) so also are there "many parts, yet one body” (12:20). Fee describes how Paul's dual concern for diversity and mutual care leads to a twofold application of the body metaphor: not only should the Corinthians promote diversity by accepting a greater variety of gifts, but they should also foster unity by not viewing themselves as superior to anyone else (682). After Paul transitions from talking about the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist conversation of chapter 11, he prompts the audience to evaluate if their dissensions over issues like personalities, wealth, and food are causing them to not care well for the body of Christ that is the church. Paul’s extended metaphor of the body in chapter 12 also relates back to the statement of the case, where Paul issues his appeal to the Corinthians, “that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1:10). Through his development of the body metaphor, Paul supports his purpose of strengthening the Corithian community by encouraging diversity in unity. 

At the close of chapter 12, Paul introduces a resolution to this problem of division in the body of the church: “And I show you a still more excellent way” (12:31b). What follows in chapter 13 is a discussion focusing on love. The purpose of this passage is to build a case for why the Corinthians should “make love [their] aim” (14:1). By now, the audience knows that Paul wants them not to have dissension among them; in this passage, Paul communicates that love is how to accomplish that sense of unity. In demonstrating this “more excellent way” to edify their church, this passage is also a reflection of Paul’s relationship with the church and his concerns about the situation in Corinth, namely that their “spirituality” lacks the primary evidence of the Spirit (Fee 699). As they tolerate idolatry, greediness, and sexual immorality instead of caring to build up others in Christ, the Corinthians have ultimately neglected love in pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and tongues. Fee describes the passage as an “interlude” between chapter 12 and chapter 14 (Fee 693), interrupting the argument to place it within a new framework where love serves as the very context for the gifts that the Corithians are to “earnestly desire” (12:31a). 

Throughout the rest of the letter, Paul spends time establishing the criteria of doing what builds up the church and what is orderly, but here in the 13th chapter, Paul shows that love should function as a meta-criterion, or pre-requisite, to any other standards outlined. Paul believes that love should be the fundamental essence of who they are and what they do, for love should not just be a motivating factor for behavior, but the behavior itself (Fee 696). In verses 1-3, Paul communicates the necessity of love through his use of anaphora and repetition. By setting the anaphora of the “If I…” statements in opposition with the repetition of “but have not love” and the word “nothing,” Paul is able to portray how even good deeds are of no benefit to the community if the person performing them does not act in a way that is loving (13:1-3). Therefore, loving one another is not only primary to every other ethical imperative, but it is also at the heart of any instruction or exhortation that Paul issues (Fee 700). As he explains this meta-criterion status of love, Paul is redefining what it means to the Corinthians to be a person of the Spirit. 

In this passage, Paul also provides a description of this love by which they should be marked. Using enumeration in verses 4-8a, Paul presents a series of statements about what love is or is not, showing the Corinthians that many of the qualities they have been exhibiting (e.g., jealousy, pride, arrogance, resentment, etc.) are contrary to the character of love. Fee says Paul’s point could best be captured by having individuals read the passage while replacing “Love” with their own name; Jesus perfectly embodied this others-focused love, and if you are going to be a follower of Christ, so should you (710). In the last six verses of the 13th chapter, Paul juxtaposes love with different gifts and virtues to convey why love is supreme. While prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are gifts that can only edify the church in the present, love is supreme because it “never ends” (13:4). Similarly, though faith and hope “abide” as present companions to love, they will not continue into eternity, which makes love “the greatest of these” (13:13). Therefore, “when the perfect comes,” these partial gifts and virtues will “pass away” (13:10), but love will never come to an end, and thus should dictate the lives and the gatherings of the church. Paul uses the familiar concept of childhood as a metaphor for this idea, expressing that just as child-like behavior is appropriate for childhood, these other gifts are appropriate for the present, but must be given up in due time. Paul wants the Corinthians to put away the things of their spiritual childhood, and instead act in love. 

Paul deemed it necessary to persuade the Corinthians to better practice the virtue of love because he understood love as the answer for how to strengthen the church. Paul writes that “‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1). Although Paul said this statement when speaking on food offered to idols, his words here reflect not only the heart of the entire letter, but also the heart of his understanding of love as a virtue. More than just another virtue to live by ethically, Paul sees love both as the primary evidence of Christian life and as an edifying, transcendent agent. The way Paul describes love is simultaneously foundational and transcendent. Without love, you have nothing, yet this fundamental importance is precisely because of the singular ability of love to extend past the present and into eternity. Together, the necessary nature of love and the enduring nature of love combine to define love as the supreme virtue from the Pauline perspective. This love manifests itself as concern for others that they be built up in Christ (Fee 695). Based on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, my understanding is that to act in love is the ultimate expression of being a person of the Spirit and a follower of Christ. Thus, love is a virtue that is uniquely marked by action. Agapē, love itself, is the “still more excellent way” (12:31), or “the way that is beyond comparison” (Fee 697). 

If love is to be recognized as the core of truly Christian ethics, then “Christian” and “Christ-like” must be understood as interchangeable synonyms. In this view, agapē as expressed through care for others is paramount because of the concrete and absolute expression of love that Christ provided through his death on a cross. Jesus’ life, ministry, and even his very body are marked by this love. Love is what enables us to avoid dissension and instead be united with the same mind – the mind of Christ, as reflected in Paul himself. In the first verse of chapter 11, Paul writes “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” To be a Christ-like individual means to imitate Christ in exhibiting the sacrificial virtue of love.