That Which Shall Remain


1 Corinthians 13:8-13
8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When 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. 12For 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. 13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

After giving to us an extensive description of the characteristics of love, Paul now sums up the permanent nature of love. Those exciting and amazing gifts of the Holy Spirit will pass away when Jesus returns for us. There will no longer be any need for them when we live in perfect love with the Savior for eternity.

Paul describes the Love of God in the same verbiage as is used for His Word by saying that it will never “fail”, “fall”, or “end”. All of these adjectives fall in line with the Greek word used here. Joshua and Isaiah say the same thing about God’s Word.

Joshua 21:45
45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Isaiah 55:10-11
10“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Here and now we know and experience the truth that love is the greatest of powers. But our experience of love is but a shadow of the full force of God’s love. We are shrouded by sin and struggle. And so we see “in a mirror dimly” but that too shall be completely clear when we see God face to face.

Paul explains in 13:9, our knowledge and our prophetic insights are at best only partial. This does not mean that the knowledge provided by divine revelation is false, distorted, or imperfect. But while the knowledge we have is liberating and life-giving, it is still only partial. Our darkened minds find it difficult to comprehend God’s truths. And his Word still provides only glimpses of what will be fully revealed in eternity, when we will see “face to face”.
Lockwood, G. J. ©2000. 1 Corinthians (p. 471). Saint Louis: CPH.

Finally, when God chooses to send Jesus back to restore all things and bring us into eternity with Him, everything else will fall away – except for love. There will no longer be any need for faith or hope. All will have been revealed and we will live in perfect knowledge and understanding. We will no longer have to wait in confident expectation for the Savior to return. But love – love will remain forever, because God is Love and He is eternal.

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