Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a woman, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I am going to need to think about this some more.
3 comments:
Against Paul I tend toward the older notion that now is as face to face as we get, and if there is a world of the dead, its "glass", so to speak, is darker yet.
Hm. Well I'm not sure what I think/how I feel about a world of the dead. It seems like something that can't really be proven one way or another. If we disregard that sort of thing entirely, I still think there's a great deal to distill from this.
I have to disagree with "now is as face to face as we get."
This is probably not what you meant by the statement, but I think we're constantly trying to expand the realm of our empathy. How often do we have someone before us whom we fail to acknowledge? I think that might be more what he's referring to here. Well I at least suspect that may be what he's getting at, because of how he juxtaposed all that talk of love/charity with this whole idea of perception.
I'm not certain exactly what it's all trying to say, though, and that is why I need to think about it more.
It is interesting how he shifts from the past/present (child vs. adult) contrast to the present/future contrast (now and future "then"). At least that is what it appears on first glance. Yet another thing I want to think about
"Love never fails"...so true
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