(e) Spiritual Gifts
(ii) The most excellent Gift of Charity
In this chapter we enter into the purest atmosphere and breathe the most fragrant odours. Passing from the previous Chapter s with their tale of faction and scandal and shame to this passage with its description of Christian love is like passing from the enchanted ground of the 'Pilgrim's Progress' to the land of Beulah within sight of the Celestial Gate.
The Revised Version reads 'love' for charity throughout the chapter The Gk. word is translated 'love' in most places of the NT., so is the corresponding verb always. The RV change (1) is desirable for consistency; (2) gives the Apostle's meaning better-love being much more than almsgiving or kindly judgment, which are now the usual meaning of 'charity'; (3) shows St. Paul and St. John are agreed in attaching the highest value to love, thus enforcing the 'great commandment of the Law' as declared by our Lord. The Gk. word translated 'charity' in AV does not exist in classical Greek. It is found first in the Septuagint. The corresponding verb means to desire the good of one whom you esteem; and the noun is appropriately applied to the spirit which seeks not its own but others' good, and sacrifices itself for others.
1-3. Great gifts (e.g. tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith) and even good deeds are of no avail without love: cp. Matthew 7:22. What a man is, is more important than what he has.