In 1 Corinthians 13:13 he says, “Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love.”
In 1 Corinthians, Paul describes various spiritual gifts and ways we can demonstrate Godly living in the world. He touches on the gift of tongues, prophecy with understanding and faith that could move mountains.
The Purpose of Faith
So what is faith? The writer of Hebrews gives us the biblical definition of faith by stating in Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is a prerequisite for hope and love, “Now, these three remains, faith, hope, and love, so in a sense, faith is a belief in something and a requirement to possess other things. As Jesus said in Matt 17:20 “…if your faith as small as the mustard seed…” you can accomplish amazing things for God. The mustard seed must be watered each day for it to grow. Seemingly, nothing happens for a very long time, but one day the seed bursts into the biggest tree in the garden. The purpose of faith is to lead us to know the heart of God and then trust His ways to guide us. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
The Purpose of Hope
Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future – it expects it to happen – and it not only expects it to happen, but it is also confident that it will happen. There is a moral certainty that the good we expect and desire will be done.
The Greatest is Love
We have seen the crucial importance of both faith and hope for Christian living. Why did Paul state that love is the greater than these? The context of this verse makes it clear that without love, we are nothing. As faith without works is dead (James 2:26), so “Christianity” without love is dead. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and thought I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it, it profits me nothing (1 Corinthians 1:1–3)
In the next few verses, Paul described what true love is. Love is not defined according to human standards but by God, who is love. When someone is transformed by God’s love, then he or she will reflect this love to others. God’s Word commands, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7–8).
Jesus taught that all of the Old Testament commandments can be summed up in love—first love for God, and then love for mankind (Matthew 22:34–40; Romans 13:8–10). Love is the essence of Christianity, and as we read in 1 Corinthians 13:8, love never fails. Actually, the Greek word is ekpiptei, which means to fall away or perish. This is another reason why love is greater—because it never ends!