What do contracts, leases, and cease-fire agreements have in common? An end date. Contrast those with what we read in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12, that agape never fails, or as the song says “never runs out, never gives up on me!” The demonstration of agape does not have an end point. It keeps going. It doesn’t have an expiration date. Its longevity does not depend on someone’s timetable, or feelings, or plans. It is lasting. It is permanent. The proper demonstration of agape reflects its nature: it is not time-bound. It does not expire. We never reach a point where agape is no longer effective or necessary. Or a place where it will not be operative.
A bunch of things are going to end as useful tools in the hands of God for ministry in the Body of Christ. Here’s a representative list: prophecies, speaking in different unlearned languages, and supernatural knowledge applied to help certain people in certain situations. Those are contrasted with agape, which does not have an end point. The demonstration of various kinds of giftings will cease. But agape keeps on going. It has no shelf-life. But we do! We are built with limitations. Our human-ness implies finite-ness. Boundaries. Conclusions. Restrictions.
Everything is leading up to a grand conclusion. When it occurs, all of the things that are intermediate, and which never quite reach completion will be done away with. “We know in part, and we prophesy in part.” All of these useful ministry functions will disappear! They won’t last! But agape will.
Paul fits in an illustration about being a child in order to drive home the permanence of agape love. We don’t “stay child”, but we move on. When a person is a child, the speaking, thinking, reasoning are all in line with the levels of such activity common to a child. But for the adult, those levels and activities don’t remain. They disappear. Or they are “abolished.” That’s because they reach a natural end-point. The fulfillment of “being a child” is “being an adult.” And once that adult stage is reached, the child stage, and all things associated with it, disappear. The incompleteness of child gives way to the completeness of adult. And so is coming a future when all of our limitations will end, as will all of the things that are necessary in this life on the path to growth. But agape will still be in operation, and it will be full and complete.
“For we see through a mirror indistinctly, but then face to face.” This part of the agape love contrast points to incompleteness, and to the not-yet-fulfilled future that we are longing for. Seeing ourselves in a mirror reflects a process that is underway, a process that we are undergoing as humans. One day that process will be over. All we see here is incomplete. We haven’t yet reached our destination. But one day we will, and that includes our quest for wholeness and full knowledge—and full demonstration of agape love!
Freddy Boswell 