The greatest of these is love
Where formation lands
As this stage on Christ's character comes to its close, Paul names the one thing that crowns and outlasts all the rest: now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Of all the qualities God forms in us, of all the fruit and virtue and growth, love stands at the summit. Love is where the whole of formation is finally heading.
Paul has already made the stakes unmistakable. If I have the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong. If I have all knowledge and all faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and even my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. Every spiritual gift, every act of devotion, every impressive attainment — without love, it all comes to zero. Formation that is not finally love is no formation at all.
This is the test of everything. All the character God has been forming — the fruit, the holiness, the maturity, the mind of Christ — is meant to issue in love, and is worth nothing if it does not. Love is the point, the goal, the greatest. And love, by its very nature, reaches outward to others, which is why the journey now turns from the character formed in us to the love lived out among us — for no one is formed in love alone. The greatest of these is love. Is it the greatest in you?
“Now remain faith, hope, and love, these three. The greatest of these is love.”
— Paul, to the Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 13:13 (WEB)
Let love be the greatest in you — the summit and test of all the character God forms — for formation that is not finally love is nothing.
“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing.”
When we take stock of our formation, we instinctively tally the impressive things — the gifts, the knowledge, the attainments — and miss that Paul has named a single, ruthless test. The interior work is to let love be that measure: to weigh all the fruit and holiness God has grown by whether it has finally made us people who love, knowing that the most dazzling spirituality without love comes, by his reckoning, to exactly nothing. And since love always turns outward toward others, it is the one thing that cannot be finished in solitude.
As this stage closes, weigh all God has formed in you by the one test: has it made you a person who loves? Take one quality you have grown in and aim it deliberately at love for actual people, letting love be the greatest.
Pride loves an inventory of gifts and knowledge, because it lets a soul feel advanced while its love stays small and, by Paul's reckoning, its whole spirituality comes to nothing. But love made the greatest is the summit of Christ's character and the one thing that makes all the rest worth anything — and it reaches outward, past the isolating grip that wanted to keep formation a private affair.
As the whole stage on Christ's character closes, Paul names its summit and its test: the greatest of these is love. Of all the fruit, virtue, holiness, and maturity God forms in us, love stands highest, and love is where all of formation is finally heading. Every other quality is meant to issue in love, and is worth nothing without it.
Paul makes the test absolute. The most dazzling gifts, the deepest knowledge, the most heroic sacrifice — without love, they all come to zero; the soul that has everything but love is nothing. This is the measure of everything God has been forming in you: not the impressiveness of your gifts or attainments, but whether it has made you a person who loves. And love by its nature reaches outward, toward others, which is why the journey now turns from the character formed within us to the love lived out among us — for no one is formed in love alone. The greatest of these is love. Honestly: is it the greatest in you?
- Do I measure my formation by gifts and attainments, or by love?
- Without love, does my spirituality come, by Paul's reckoning, to nothing?
- Is love the greatest in me — and is it reaching outward to others?
Lord, I measure my formation by gifts and knowledge, when the greatest of these is love, and without it I am nothing. Let love be the summit and test of all you form in me, reaching outward to others, for no one is formed in love alone. Make love the greatest in me. Amen.