Right Perception: Pursue Love or Gifts?
"Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the Church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?" (1 Corinthians 12:27–30 NIV)
Growing up in a more conservative expression of a church, I was taught that the last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 was contrasting spiritual gifts with love. I read the verse like this: Desire gifts but choose love, because love is better than gifts.
Our community thought that choosing love over gifts was taking the more excellent way, the higher path. This interpretation made us feel noble to think, "Some pursue power, but we pursue love."
In my many years of ministering around the world, I have observed that this is at least similar to how many Believers would view this verse. But, what does the verse actually say?
"Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:31 NIV)
There can be no doubt that love is the greatest and purest human expression of the divine.
The final verse of 1 Corinthians 13 says, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (v. 13 NIV). Chapter 13 also reveals that spiritual gifts will not be needed in our future completed state but that love will remain.
Again, my conservative training at least implied, "So, why bother with temporal, partial, and childish things like spiritual gifts; just pursue love." It may sound noble, perhaps even a little superior, but this is not the point or the emphasis of our primary text.
Not One or the Other, but Both
The earnest desire for spiritual gifts is a command, not an option. Furthermore, the Greek word for "earnestly desire" is "zéloó," which can also be interpreted as "to be heated," "to boil," and "to exert one's self for" (Strong's G2206). The Passion Translation captures this idea as a red-hot, burning pursuit: "But you should all constantly boil over with passion in seeking the higher gifts."
It's clear that choosing to pursue greater gifts is a high and virtuous road, not a lower or lesser one.
After years of study, I have come to ask, "What if love IS the most excellent way, the path, the treasure map leading to the discovery of greater or higher gifts?" I believe this interpretation is closer to what Paul and the Holy Spirit intended to communicate. He was not contrasting love with spiritual gifts; he was demonstrating the necessity of the divine union of the two. The idea is similar to what Paul shared in Galatians when he wrote, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6 NIV). That sounds like the same idea to me. Isn't pursuing spiritual gifts just "faith expressing itself through love"? (Photo via Unsplash)
Coming to a Conclusion About Love and Gifts
With this interpretation in mind, there are several healthy conclusions we can draw.
1. Love Is the Pathway Into Greater or Higher Gifts
While training people, I often tell them that when they feel like they have no spiritual insight to share with another person, simply fall back into the Father's love for that person. If you enter the stream of love flowing from Heaven towards a person, you can tap into the needed gifts in order to help them experience the love of God. Love is the bridge through which spiritual information is exchanged. It is Heaven's dominant frequency, where the signals of His divine leading can be picked up. Tune into the frequency of God's love for others.
2. Love Is the True Nature of Spiritual Gifts
We often think of the nature of spiritual gifts as power, and therefore contrast it with love. But chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians clearly teaches that the nature of spiritual gifts is designed and intended to be love. Divine abilities are simply a further expression and demonstration of the love of God. A word of knowledge or a prophetic word helps someone feel seen, known, and loved. Each of the manifestation gifts of chapter 12 are given so that a person might receive tangible expressions of God's love.
3. Love Is the Purpose
When we see love as the very purpose of prophecy, we keep the goal in mind. Chapter 13 gives us fourteen heavenly definitions of love, so there can be no mistake what the target is and isn't. Gifts without love are nothing, because they were always meant to walk in divine union. When flowing in a spiritual gift, aim for God's definition of love, and you will always hit the target.
Now we can rightly read Paul's conclusion in chapter 14: "Follow the way [the path, the treasure map] of love [as you keep boiling over in love with spiritual gifts], especially prophecy" (1 Corinthians 14:1 NIV, brackets mine).
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Dan McCollam
The Prophetic Company Global
Email:Â prophetictrainer@gmail.com
Website:Â www.propheticcompany.com
Dan McCollam travels internationally as a prophetic speaker and trainer. One of his great passions is to create prophetic cultures where everyone can prophesy, activate their spiritual gifts, mobilize their prophetic words, and discover their unique purpose in life. Dan is co-founder of the Bethel School of the Prophets in Redding, California and The Prophetic Company Global group of activation-based trainers. He has authored over twenty-five books, manuals, and resources on supernatural life, prophetic gifts, and worship.
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