In the context, that means something very different then what you are trying to say (the way I read it anyway). Good job on quoting one of the aproximately three passages of the Bible I am actually familiar with in detail, by the way.Originally Posted by Crusader
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
I always took it to mean either
a.) Death - the afterlife is perfect, this life is partial, or
b.) The Rapture - the second coming of the Christ.
I'm glad to hear you're familiar with these verses, cuppajoe_9. I'll post all of Corinthians 13 here because I like it so much. It is commonly referred to as the "Love" chapter, and is quoted at weddings etc.
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
“As Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame . . .”
Why disqualify the rush? I'm tabled. I'm tabled.
Good question...... working on a nearly as good answer......
I always took the meaning to be something like "here knowledge is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here man is fleeting, here woman is fleeting", without love (or 'charity' as the King James prefers). I take issue with Crusader's editorial "special".
Yeah, it's not bad.
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
1 Corinthians 13 should never be construed as merely an abstract teaching on love but as a continuation of Paul’s attempt in chapter 12 (and also 14) to teach the “children” of Corinth competing with their new spiritual gift “toys” that they were not understanding the purpose of those gifts. They were provided as tools to support the emerging gospel message, but they were not an end unto themselves. Chapter 12 ends with Paul telling them to (1Co 12:31) ....”earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”, and then proceeds to tell them that love is their greatest and never ending gift. (1Co 13:8a) “Love never ends.”
But.... (1Co 13:8b) “As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. (1Co 13:9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part,” The gifts on which they were so intent would pass because they were only a temporary necessity during the partial revelation of God’s word. (1Co 13:10) "but when the perfect (the complete NT revelation of God’s word) comes, the partial (supernatural intervention) will pass away.”, because with that full revelation, there is no need, as some here have said, for “magic tricks”.
So.... finally to your question....
The supernatural event of the Resurrection is the fulcrum upon which all of Christianity balances. Without it, there would be no Christians in Corinth to which Paul would have been writing his letter.
Verse 12 depends on verses 11 and 13. (1Cor 13:11) “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. (1Co 13:12) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Paul is saying that the childish Corinthian Christians could only see the full gospel message dimly, and even he as a mature Christian only knew in part because of the direct revelation given to him. He also knew that the New Testament would be complete only after his death and the death of all the Corinthians. Therefore they all would know fully, just as God fully knows them now, when they were face to face with Christ. But in the mean time, they have their partial gifts, the fellowship with the apostles and other disciples, and (1Co 13:13) “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Because above all else...... love endures.
I find it hard to convey how strange I found all of the foregoing - and how sad! It is as if you found yourself one day face to face with the magnificent, multifarious earth and the vastness of the universe and for some reason or reasons you chose to carve out the narrowest path through all of this and to program in advance which foot you would put forward first and which one next and so on and so on; instead of filling your lungs full of fresh air, you chose to take small, shallow breaths...
Hmmm, I'd be interested to know how you figure exactly that Shea & her husband took the "narrowest path". You do not them and could not possibly have any idea at what point they decided to become religious and what other paths they may have tried going down before hand. You are making one hell of an assumption based on one post, something which it is generally not wise to do.
There once was a scotsman named Drew
Who put too much wine in his stew
He felt a bit drunk
And fell off his bunk
And landed smack into his shoe ~(C) Ms Niamh Anne King
That was in response to reading that very long list of prescriptions from Scripture, which seemed to cover every situation that a Pilgrim might encounter save, perhaps, whether to have wild or farmed salmon.
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