Verses 1-3
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Although spiritual gifts are important, love is most important. Without love, even spiritual gifts are useless.
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Don't focus on gifts, focus on understanding love and being loving to others.
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- As a side note on tongues, the gift of tongues is a spiritual language, for it is spoken by angels and spirits alike. This gift, however, it seems, can also be used to miraculously speak an unknown human language, although this manifestation of the gift is not taught on explicitly in the Bible.
Verses 4-7
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Love is so important because all other Christ-like qualities extend from love. Love is everything!
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In summary, love is always patient, selfless, humble, kind, and truthful.
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Verses 8-13
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Through the spiritual gifts, knowledge, and prophecy that we currently have, we still only see things partially. We don't know the full picture yet.
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When Christ returns, or when we all get to heaven, we will see everything completely and truly “face to face” (1 John 3:2).
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Having perfect knowledge and relationship with Christ, spiritual gifts will no longer be needed.
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Love will be the only thing that continues. Love will outlast all gifts. In this way it never ends or fails.
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Verse 13. Therefore, love is greater than any miraculous power or ability, and love is more effective for God's kingdom than anything else!
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This passage does not teach that the spiritual gifts have already passed away. Spiritual gifts such as prophecy, and even the presence of apostles, will exist during the end (Revelation 11:3, 18:20). So, obviously, spiritual gifts will be around until the very end, when Christ returns.