In these first three verses Paul showed that love is superior to the spiritual gifts he listed in chapter 12.
"It is hard to escape the implication that what is involved here are two opposing views as to what it means to be spiritual.' For the Corinthians it meant tongues, wisdom, knowledge' (and pride), but without a commensurate concern for truly Christian behavior. For Paul it meant first of all to be full of the Spirit, the HolySpirit, which therefore meant to behave as those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be his holy people' (1:2), of which the ultimate expression always is to walk in love.' Thus, even though these sentences reflect the immediate context, Paul's concern is not simply with their over-enthusiasm about tongues but with the larger issue of the letter as a whole, where their view of spirituality has caused them to miss rather widely both the gospel and its ethics."298
"All four classes of gifts (xii. 28) are included here: the ecstatic in v. 1; the teaching (propheteia) and the wonder-working (pistis) gifts in v. 2; and the administrative in v. 3."299
13:1 Probably Paul began with tongues because of the Corinthians' fascination with this gift (cf. ch. 14). That is where the problem lay. He also built to a climax in verses 1-3 moving from the less to the more difficult actions. Evidently Paul used the first person because the Corinthians believed that they did speak with the tongues of men and of angels (cf. 14:14-15).
Speaking with the tongues of men and angels does not refer to simple eloquence, as the context makes clear (cf. 12:10, 28, 30). The tongues of men probably refer to languages humans speak. The tongues of angels probably refer to the more exalted and expressive language with which angels communicate with one another. They may refer to languages unknown to humans, namely ecstatic utterance. However throughout this whole discussion of the gift of tongues there is no evidence that Paul regarded tongues as anything but languages. Throughout the New Testament, "tongues"means languages.
Of course humans do not know the language of the angels, but it is an exalted language because angels are superior beings. The Corinthians evidently believed that they could speak in angelic languages. Paul's point was that even if one could speak in this exalted language and did not have love (i.e., act lovingly) his or her speech would be hollow and empty.300Gongs and cymbals were common in some of the popular pagan cults of the time.301They made much noise but no sense.
13:2 Prophecy was a higher gift than glossolalia but was still inferior to love (cf. 14:1-5). Earlier Paul wrote of the importance of understanding life from God's perspective and grasping the truths previously not revealed but now made known by His apostles (2:6-13). Nevertheless the truth without love is like food without drink. Possession of spiritual gifts is not the sign of the Spirit, but loving behavior is.
Even faith great enough to move mountains is not as important as love (12:9; cf. Matt. 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6). A mountain is a universal symbol of something immovable.
13:3 Even what passed for charity, self-sacrifice for less fortunate individuals, is not the same as real love (Gr. agape). It is inferior to it. It might profit the receiver, but it did not profit the giver.
Paul's personal sufferings for the salvation of others were also worthless without love (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-29; 12:10). Even one's acceptance of martyrdom might spring from love. Notwithstanding if it did not it was valueless in the sight of God and would bring no divine reward to the one who submitted to it (cf. Dan. 3:28; Rom. 5:2-3; 2 Cor. 1:14).
Paul was not setting love in contrast to gifts in this pericope. He was arguing for the necessity and supremacy of love if one is to behave as a true Christian.
"Love is the indispensable addition which alone gives worth to all other Christian gifts."302
