The Better Way

Paul closes chapter 12 by telling the Corinthians to desire the higher gifts, but immediately redirects them to something greater: “a still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31, ESV). Paul is not dismissing spiritual gifts. He is placing them under the governing ethic of love. Spiritual power, knowledge, and sacrifice are not proof of spiritual maturity. Love is. To make his point, Paul uses deliberate hyperbole. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Even if someone could exceed normal human limits in speech, knowledge, or faith, without love, it would be spiritually empty. Knowledge alone can inflate pride, but “love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). True spiritual maturity is not measured by what we can do, but by how we rightly relate to God and to one another. Paul pushes further. Even sacrificial acts that appear righteous outwardly mean nothing without love (1 Corinthians 13:3). This echoes Jesus’ teaching that love identifies His disciples (John 13:34–35) and fulfills God’s law (Romans 13:8–10). Love is not mere emotion. It is the expression of covenant faithfulness toward God and neighbor (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). It is the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us (Galatians 5:22). Spiritual gifts are good and necessary for the body of Christ. But gifts without love become tools for pride, division, or self-exaltation. Gifts governed by love become instruments of Christ’s work in His people. Love is what aligns our actions with God’s character. Paul will soon describe what love looks like in practice (1 Corinthians 13:4–7). But here, he establishes something foundational: even the highest imaginable spirituality, without love, is nothing. True spiritual maturity is not proven by spiritual display, but by Christlike love working through everything we do.