Religion & Spirituality
Once Paul had clarified that spiritual gifts without God's love are useless -13-1-3-, and -that genuine love is supernaturally sacrificial -13-4-7-, he then exalted love as being forever superior to all of the gifts -13-8-13-. The CONTEXT compares -the perfect- -love- and the -in part- -gifts-. Paul's proclamation reveals that whereas love never fails, all spiritual gifts will come to an end. His explanation shows how spiritual gifts are only shared individually --in part-, but love -maturity- is shared universally, superceding the gifts and making them unnecessary. Paul CONTRASTS these two truths with an illustration between the immature and the mature - the gifts functioned like a child, but love is like a mature man. He continues his instruction distinguishing between present limitations -seeing dimly- knowing in part- and future connections -seeing face to face- knowing fully-. In CONCLUSION Paul summarized by exalting three lasting virtues -faith, hope, love-, but showing the total superiority of love.