It's also important for us to remember that we all hold our Gifts and our positions in the Body according to the will of God (1 Corinthians 12.18). The Gifts are not learned or genetically inborn talents, nor are they rewards to us from God because we are better than other members. No believer has merit before God; we are all sinners under the saving Grace of God:

Romans 3:10-12 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

The Body of Christ is both established and built by the Will of God. Since we have all that we own based upon that Will, we have no cause to glory: we are what God has made us to be.

1 Corinthians 12.24-26 "...For our comely (<<- Beautiful) parts hath no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism (<= Divisions) in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored; all the members rejoice with it..."

The Greek for "Tempered" here is SUGKERANNUMI, defined as "To commingle, combine, or mix together". God is portrayed by Paul as being a metal worker, blending various alloys of metal together, heating them to the perfect temperature, until a perfect metal structure is built. God's work in forming the Body of Christ isn't helter skelter, but is an exacting scientific labor perfect in it's accomplishment. When a sword is made by a master blacksmith the metal used to form the weapon must be alloyed together in just the right proportions. Temperatures used to heat (and cool) the metals must be exact. Failure to properly mix the alloys, or to improperly heat (or cool) the metals will cause a weapon too brittle or too soft to use. The proper alloy and the proper temperatures, on the other hand, create a weapon that is hard enough to hold it's edge for long periods of time, but isn't so hard that it shatters on impact with another sword. God is constantly blending the right amount of Gifts and Positions in the local Church Body. He also adds just the right amount of heat (called Trials in James 1.2-12) so that the alloy of Gifts in the Body blends perfectly, if we bear up under the tempering. The results of the tempering is that the Church becomes a living organism for God, able to meet any of Satan's attacks without faltering. One thing stands out above this analogy, though: we aren't inanimate objects like metals, steel, and iron. We have our free-will, which is sacrosanct with God. God gives us our Gifts but we can willingly (sinfully) refuse to attend our local Church. We can refuse to come under the tempering process of God, and in our refusal can cripple the Church of God. God can always find others to take our places, but just the same we slow down the process of the building of the Body while we bring Divine judgment upon ourselves. This is what the Corinthian Church was doing; this is what many of us are doing today. And this is the problem that Paul addresses (and warns against) in the Book of 1 Corinthians.

Colossians 2.10, 19 "...And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power..... The head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together increaseth with the increase of God..."

Ephesians 2.20-22 "...And built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself, being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.."

We're tempered by God the Holy Spirit who mixes the Body together by setting members in the Body as He desires. But that tempering always depends on us. If we establish divisions or sects among the brethren (SCHISMS is the Greek SCHISMA, meaning "Divisions or sects leading to confusion") we hinder that tempering just as the Corinthians hindered theirs. On the other hand when we attend our local Body and exercise our Spiritual Gifts, going through the tempering process of God, then our Gifts bring the whole Body together in unity of purpose and strength. The trials of this life are best weathered within the Body of Christ.

Paul states in the latter part of our Corinthian text the model of our fellowship in the Body. We should "have the same care one for another", suffering if one member suffers, rejoicing if one member rejoices. In the human body when you get a headache your whole body suffers: the same should be true of the Body of Christ. If we were to understand how important that Body is to us; if we were to realize God's standard of perfection is realized only in the Body- then we would attend the Body and exercise our Gifts as we ought to. Our ignorance of the importance of the Body, and our devotion to it, causes us more harm than any of the myriad other sins that we might commit. When we ignore our own spiritual Gifts to seek out another more spectacular one; when we emphasize one Gift (Tongues) to the exclusion of others; when we let selfishness and self edification rule our actions in the Body; when we allow laziness or sinfulness to keep us from attending the Body; when we refuse to seek out maturity so that we can operate our spiritual Gifts to the edification of the Body; when we do any of these things, we cripple the Church as well as ourselves. The Charismatics are the best examples of what this type of crippling can do. Brownsville and the Toronto Blessing aside, I have personally witnessed the effects of selfishness within the Body. On a whim I attended a Charismatic Church in Biloxi, Mississippi. I was totally shocked at the spiritual ignorance of the whole flock! When I attended their "Sunday School" the 'Teacher' read his lesson from a book (not the Bible). He then asked another woman who, he said, had the spiritual Gift of "Being able to find things in the Bible" (there is no such Gift) to tell him where a certain passage of scripture was. Of course, she couldn't tell us where the passage was, but she could badly paraphrase the text. The Sunday Service was awful; it was so spiritually cold in that Church that you felt like you were in a refrigerator. On another occasion I attended another well known Charismatic Group in Morehead City, North Carolina. The guest speaker talked about the Spiritual Gifts, which I thought was good. But toward the end of the message he began emphasizing the Gift of Tongues, teaching that they were necessary for the "completion of your salvation". At the end of that service all those in attendance were invited to come forward, so that they could be 'taught' how to speak in Tongues. My brethren, there is no such thing! Tongues are not a learned Gift, just as no Spiritual Gift is learned. YOU CANNOT TRAIN TO OBTAIN A SPIRITUAL GIFT: you either have it, or you don't. And God the Spirit decides the issue with finality. Don't think that I don't know what I'm talking about when I warn against Charasmania. I was saved (yes, I am saved, having accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour) in a "Church of God of Prophecy". In this Church, just as in all the Charismatic Churches, you're looked upon as a second class Christian until you speak in "Tongues". I did eventually achieve a breakthrough, making myself "Speak in Tongues" in front of the congregation so that I could finally complete my salvation. But in the three years that I was with this group I never learned any significant Bible Doctrine that I could apply to my life. For three years I neither matured nor digressed. What finally caused me to leave the Church was the false doctrines that they taught about salvation (you can lose your salvation by sinning). I went to talk to the Pastor about it before I left the Church: my mind wasn't really made up, and if he could have answered my questions about their doctrines I might still be there today. But the Pastor went fishing the day that I made an appointment to see him. Instead, He left the assistant Pastor to talk to me. Since he couldn't and wouldn't answer my questions I left the Church, and have been growing in the Lord ever since. I don't condemn them, I feel sorry for them. Just as I feel sorry for all of the Churches throughout the world under the spell of Charasmania. But should we feel sorrier for the Charasmania Churches, or for those who reject all of the spiritual Gifts as valid for the Church today? Both doctrines are equally damaging, both Church Bodies are just as crippled. The balance, that is, the true doctrine concerning the spiritual Gifts, is to be found in the scriptures.

1 Corinthians 12.27-30 "...Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?..."

Though we've covered this before, I feel we need to look at it one more time. In the above text Paul begins a rather interesting sequence of questioning. The King James Version doesn't fully bring out the emphasis of the original Greek construction. With each of his questions Paul uses the negative Greek particle ME. When the negative ME is used in the interrogative construction, it poses a question that demands a negative or "No!" answer from it's audience. The best translation of this text, putting the proper emphasis on the ME is:

",,,All are not apostles, are they? (of course not!) All are not teachers, are they? (of course not!) Not all are workers of miracles, are they? (No!) Not all have the Gifts of healing, do they? (No way!) Surely, all don't speak with tongues and interpreter do they? (surely not!)..."

The proper translation of the text emphasizes what Paul has been bringing out all throughout 1 Corinthians 12: the Gifts are blended in the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit of God for the edification of the saints. This very blending insures that not all believers in the Body possess the same Gift (not even Tongues, as the Charismatics would have us to believe). The Gifts are tools that were given to the Body for it's edification. To say that any one Gift is possessed by all believers in the Body is to emphasize your own ignorance as to the blending of the Gifts, the edification of the body, and the purpose of the assembly of the saints. The Gifts and positions that each member of the local Church holds works together to help the whole Body stand healthy and strong in the Devil's world. No one Gift is so important that it's solely necessary for the survival of the Body. On the other hand, no Gift is so unimportant that it's no longer needed to, in some way, sustain the Body. ALL of the Gifts are necessary for the function of the local Church, but only when they work together in the Church to edify the Body. Rather than emphasize one Gift (Tongues) the Corinthians (and we today) need to emphasize ALL of the Gifts as they are divided by the Spirit to the saints. Any other approach is Biblically unsound, and directly contrary to the teachings of the Apostle Paul.

Before going into 1 Corinthians 13 (1 Corinthians 12.31 actually, according to context, belongs in 1 Corinthians 13. We will study it there) there are several points that I want to re-emphasize. I know that you've heard some of these points again and again. For those of you who understand these points, bear with me. I know it gets tedious: it's tedious for me to keep repeating myself. But if every time I move on without re-emphasizing what's already been covered, Charismatics (and fringe Charismatic Groups) jump back in with an argument that's already been covered. So I have to keep re-emphasizing. So let me emphasize these points yet once more:

1. The Holy Spirit distributes Gifts to every member of the Body of Christ. These Gifts are given to the believer at the point of his salvation, and are given based on the will of the Spirit; not on the merit of the believer. There is no "elitism" in the Body: all of us were sinners, are sinners, and will never have merit in God's eyes apart from Grace.
2. There is no common spiritual Gift exercised by the all of the members of the Body of Christ, either as a sign or for any reason. Tongues were used as a secondary sign of the entrance of the new ministry of the Baptism of the Spirit, but only in the earliest formation of the Church. By the time of the Corinthian Church's formation Tongues were no longer used as a sign of the Baptism, though all believers still received that ministry. It has been over nineteen hundred years since Tongues were used as a sign of anything other than the Filling of the Spirit.
3. All of the spiritual Gifts (even Tongues) are exercised by believers empowered under the Filling Ministry of the Holy Spirit. You receive the Filling Ministry of the Spirit automatically once you're in fellowship with God. Sin quenches the Filling of the Spirit, and the quenching of the Filling naturally quenches the operation of the spiritual Gift of the believer. Repentance and confession of your sin (1 John 1.8-9) removes this quenching, so that you are once again under the Filling and can operate your spiritual Gift for the edification of the Body.
4. All believers automatically receive the Baptizing Ministry of the Spirit at the point of salvation. The Baptism brings you into union with Christ: that is, it enters you into the universal Body of Christ. If you haven't received the Baptism then you aren't saved. If you are saved, then you have received the Baptism. The Baptism, though God initially introduced it to the Church as experiential, is now non experiential. That is, there is no sign or portent that "clues you" to the fact that you've received it. Since it was a newly introduced ministry at the time of the formation of the Church, God used Tongues as a secondary sign to signify it's entrance. But after it was introduced to the satisfaction of the early believers the secondary sign of Tongues was ceased by God. Tongues still exist as a valid Gift for the Church today, not as a sign of the Baptism, but as a missionary tool to witness of the Grace of God to "other tongued" unbelievers.
5. All Gifts are given for the purpose of edifying the Body of Christ. Gifts were never given by God to edify one member of the Body only. There is no scriptural teaching that allows a "personal prayer Tongue" for any believer (we will argue this further in I Corinthians 14), as such doctrine is contrary to the edification teachings of 1 Corinthians 12. Tongues were given as an evangelistic/ missionary tool to benefit the whole Body, not just a part of the Body.
6. Anything that claims to be a spiritual Gift isn't a true Gift if it doesn't edify the Body of Christ. God established the spiritual Gifts for the sole purpose of edifying the Body, not to tear it down, bring confusion, or create divisions in the Body. Anything that disrupts, creates schisms, or brings confusion in the Body is not of God, for God is not an author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14.33). If the carnal and immature Corinthians were all speaking "Tongues", and this was bringing confusion to the Body; and if God isn't the author of confusion; then what they were exercising wasn't a spiritual Gift at all. What they were involved in was a Satanic or a psychological counterfeit.
7. Experience is never a test of a Gift's genuiness. Satan himself is portrayed as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11.14-15), and his disciples are false ministers of light. God is never the author of confusion, Satan is. If any alleged Gift causes confusion in the Body of Christ then it most likely originated from Satanic oppression. Christians have been deceived by Satan many times throughout history, and continue to be deceived by him today. In the early Church the Apostle Peter himself wouldn't preach or witness to Gentiles because he considered them unclean. Only when God made it clear that the Gentiles who believed were just as saved as Jewish believers did Peter and the early Church accept them as believers (Acts 10.9-28, 34-48). After this many of the Jewish believers taught the false doctrine that all believers had to be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15.1-6). The Apostles, after much debate, testified against this Satanic doctrine, and returned salvation to belief in Jesus Christ alone (Acts 15.7-35). Revelation 1-3 teaches us about several early Christian Churches that were deceived by Satan in one way or another. Another sect of Christianity even today believes that they are ruled by an infallible man (the Pope); that certain saints should be prayed to; that praying to the Virgin Mary is better than praying to Jesus, because "the Lord will certainly do what His mother tells Him"; that a lost person can be prayed out of hell by a living saved person's prayers and donations to the Church; that the Holy Communion actually becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus after consecration; that the ordinance of water baptism is a major key to salvation; that confession of sin must be made to God's human representative on earth, and not directly to the Father; that a dying sinner may receive a special dispensation from the Church on his deathbed and go to heaven because of this dispensation (not because of his belief in Jesus); and that salvation can only be obtained through attendance of this one particular Church. Of course, I'm taking about the Roman Catholic Church. But how can we condemn this religious organization, certainly Satanically oppressed, when many of the Churches in Protestant Christianity teach doctrines just as false and harmful? In the early 1900's a small group of Protestant believers gathered together, and worked themselves up into an emotional ecstasy seeking the "blessings of God". While in their ecstasies they all began to "Speak in Tongues", lo and behold, just like the early Church did. When they received this experience they went to the scriptures and looked for Biblical confirmation of what they had experienced. That's where believers always mess up. Experience is not, I repeat, IT IS NOT the test of validity in Christianity. Satan can cause you to have "experiences" if you release the control of your will to the flesh. Just because you and all your friends have "spoken in Tongues to receive the Baptism", this does not mean that your experience is true or Christian. You must first turn to the scriptures as to what true Christian modus operandi is. If you can study the scriptures with a clear unprejudiced mind, and the scriptures teach that what you had was a true Christian experience, then you can continue in what you do with confidence. But if the scriptures cast a shadow of doubt over your experience, if they teach against it in any way at any point, then you're involved in a Satanic counterfeit. Don't approach the scriptures thinking; "I experienced it; I know it's true; so let me find scriptural confirmation for what I felt". The whole Charismatic movement is based on this false presupposition, and the whole Movement suffers because of it.

Paul starts out this section by encouraging the Corinthians to covet or desire only the "best" gifts. "Best" is the Greek KREISSON (Also spelled KREITTON), the comparative of AGATHOS, meaning "'Benevolently good". KREISSON should be translated "more beneficial, better in degree of service or edification to the Body". Paul spent the majority of chapter twelve teaching us that all gifts are equally important to the Body of Christ. No one Gift is more important than the other. If this is true, then why does Paul now tell us to desire the more beneficial Gifts? To understand this statement you again have to look at the situation at Corinth. God the Holy Spirit divides sixteen spiritual Gifts among the members of a local Church. These Gifts, when exercised together, edify the Body to the glory of God. But the believers at Corinth were ignoring the Spirit's divisions of Gifts, and were all seeking to exercise one Gift, the Gift of Tongues. This was contrary to the Spirit's will and division of the Gifts, and broke down rather than edified the Body of Christ. By telling the Corinthians to desire the more beneficial Gifts, Paul was telling them to repent from seeking one Gift enmasse, and to exercise the Gifts that God divided to them to use. They were to seek out and use their OWN Gifts, not to seek the Gifts of another. By doing this the Body of Christ would be edified. The Body is never edified when only one Gift is emphasized, but when all Gifts are used by the members who possess them. This is the emphasis that Paul makes when he tells us to seek only the KREISSON, or more beneficial Gifts.

"And yet I show unto you a more excellent way..." Among the Corinthian believers, as with many Charismatic types today, the spiritual Gifts are emphasized without regard as TO THE GOAL of the Gifts. Everybody wants a Gift and wants to exercise a Gift because it makes us seem important and impressive. But the Gifts were never given to puff up our ego. The Gifts are given to edify the Body of Christ, given to the Body by a LOVING God. We should want to exercise our Gifts to the edification of the Body because we LOVE the members of that Body. The spiritual Gifts were given to us in love, and we are to exercise them because we love the Church. The overall goal of the Gifts is therefore Love. This is the point of I Corinthians 13.

"THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels...." The Charismatics, just as the Corinthians of Paul's day, often ignored the main theme of Paul's message and pick out any scripture that seems to support their false doctrines. The theme of 1 Corinthians 13 is that, even though we may have and exercise spiritual Gifts, if we don't exercise them in love toward the brethren (not just to selfishly satisfy our egos), then these Gifts serve no purpose in the Body of Christ. But Charismatics ignore the entire theme of chapter thirteen, preferring to emphasize the first eleven words of the text. The conception of the Charismatics is that, since Paul said that he spoke with the Tongues of men AND OF ANGELS, that the Gift of Tongues is an expression of both angelic and earthly languages through the believer possessing this Gift. First, such a conclusion is a show of blatant disregard for the main theme of the chapter. Second, this conclusion is based on only a skin deep look at the translation and at the context of the scriptures. The word "Though" in the above text is the Greek EAN + the subjunctive mood verb. EAN + the subjunctive is used in Greek constructions where a HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION is being stressed. It is a writer's device, in this particular context, used to get the much greater point across. Paul's words could be better translated (bringing out the emphasis of the EAN + subjunctive mood):

"... Hypothetically speaking, if I speak in angelic and earthly languages, but do so without love, my words are useless musical noises such as a percussion instrument or a set of chimes..."

There is no proof that Tongues are an expression of angelic languages within this context. In fact by looking at other scriptural texts we can see that Tongues, every time they were exercised, were exercised as an EARTHLY LANGUAGE unknown by the speaker using the Gift of Tongues, but understood by those whom the Gift was exercised upon. We've been in the Book of Acts before, but it doesn't hurt to return there once again to see exactly what is the nature of this Gift of Tongues.

Acts 2.4-8 "...And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with OTHER tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, OUT OF EVERY NATION UNDER THE HEAVEN. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, BECAUSE THAT EVERY MAN HEARD THEM SPEAK IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, behold, ARE NOT ALL THESE THAT SPEAK GALILEANS? AND HOW HEAR WE EVERY MAN IN OUR OWN TONGUE, WHEREIN WE WERE BORN?..."

In the first occurrence of the Gift of Tongues in the early Church, Tongues were known earthly languages, unknown to the speaker possessing the Gift but known to the hearer. The crowd at the day of Pentecost "marveled" or were astonished because these Galileans (all speaking by birth Koine Greek) were speaking the languages of these visiting Jews. The Jews visiting Jerusalem were born and grew up speaking Parthian, Median, Elamitian, Mesopotanian, Judean, Cappadocean, Pontian, Asian, Phrygian, Pamphylian, Egyptian, Libian, Cyrenian, Roman (Italian and Koine Greek), Cretian, and Arabian (see Acts 2.9-11). There were, in all, sixteen different earthly languages spoken by those using Tongues; all of these not learned or known by the speakers, but understood clearly by those who were being evangelized. There was no angelic or heavenly languages expressed.

There's no reason to believe that the "Tongues" exercised in Acts 2 are any different from the normal output of the Gift anytime it's exercised. In Acts 10.46-47 the Gentiles, who had a different earthly language that they usually spoke from the Apostles, when speaking in Tongues caused the Apostles to say:

Acts 10.46-47 "...For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?..."

First, the audience couldn't have understood that the Gentiles were magnifying God unless they understood what was being said. Second, if the Gentiles were speaking in the language that they normally spoke to magnify God, then this would not be a miraculous enough sign for the Jewish believers to accept the Gentiles as having received the Baptism. The Jews had, for hundreds of years, recognized Gentiles as dogs and unbelievers. They particularly disliked the Roman Gentiles (which these Gentiles were), for Rome was the present conqueror of Israel. Because of this hatred and prejudice between the Jews and the Gentiles, there was no way that Peter would lightly accept the word of a Roman that he was saved. Only by a miraculous sign (the Gift of Tongues) would Peter be convinced that these Gentiles had every right to be baptized in water and received into the local Church. The sign of Tongues exercised by the Gentiles was recognized by Peter as the same sign he received on the day of Pentecost. These Gentiles, under the Filling of the Spirit and the operation of Tongues, spoke an earthly language that praised God. Peter (as well as the others) knew that the Gentiles had no way of knowing this language (perhaps it was Hebrew) outside of the miraculous power of God. But the language was understood by the Apostles so that the immediate water baptism of these Gentiles was authorized.

If the Biblical Gift of Tongues was an expression of angelic languages, then we would certainly see this demonstrated somewhere in the historical Book of Acts, or taught elsewhere in the scripture. Yet in every context where Tongues is given in the book of Acts (and throughout the whole Bible) Tongues are an earthly language unknown to the speaker, but known to the evangelized. The only place where an "angelic" tongue is discussed is in a hypothetical statement in 1 Corinthians 13.1: here because of it's very hypothetical nature it is not to be taken as a fact (such as the Charismatics do). Tongues are never an expression of heavenly/ angelic languages.

1 Corinthians 13.4-8a "...Charity sufferth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth..."

Paul gives a point by point guide to true agape love (which was lacking in Corinth, and lacks in many of our Churches today). Agape love is:

1. Long-suffering and forbearing. It always acts with useful kindness, not with jealous motivation.
2. It is never characterized by jealousy or envy. Agape love and jealousy cannot abide together in the same house. Popular writers and television authors portray jealousy as a sometimes beneficial emotion. God says different. Agape love is useful, but jealousy and envy motivated actions are always useless in the edification of the Body.
3. Agape love never brags about it's accomplishments, nor makes itself superior above other believers. Charismatics should pay strict attention to this particular portion of text the next time they teach that believers "without the Tongues experience" are incomplete in their Christianity. Such a statement doesn't originate from agape love, but from a false sense of spiritual pride. Pentecostals do the same thing when they proudly brag about how they've kept themselves "pure from the world". Such bragging never comes from agape love, and such believers are more worldly than they think!
4. Agape love never acts in an ungodly manner toward other believers. When we malign or belittle other believers, this is a sign that we've got agape love in a box on the back shelf of our spiritual lives.
5. Agape love never plots against other people, whether they are believers or unbelievers. The object of agape love is to build up others, not to tear them down.
6. Agape love doesn't become easily irritated or exasperated with other believers in the flock. It bears with the weaknesses of the younger believers, and seeks to help these less mature to a greater state of spiritual maturity. It doesn't allow frustration or negative emotional outbursts to destroy the flock of God.
7. Agape love doesn't take an inventory of evil, keeping track of wrongs done to it. There is no "list of revenge" kept by the follower of Agape love. This believer allows God to repay the evil done to him, rather than stepping out as a vigilante making repayment himself.
8. Agape love isn't glad when it observes an injustice or an immoral act, even if this act comes on one of it's enemies. Agape love is only satisfied with the truth and with edification of the Body.
9. Agape love endures or puts up with all things. It is an expression of a relaxed mental attitude on the part of the agape love believer toward others around him.
10. Agape love confides and trusts in others in the Body. It knows that the Body of Christ is a living organism, and that we all must work together for the protection of the whole. It understands the importance of EVERY member to it's spiritual well being.
11. Agape love bears the burdens of others, being a confidant when needed by other members. It never tells the secrets that others have confided in it, nor does it display the secrets of others like some malicious kid with a new toy. Agape always asks itself, "How will my brother feel if I do this?", and then refuses to act in a way as to undermine trust in itself, causing others to lose confidence in it.
12. Agape love is a standard of God, and as a standard of God it will never pass away

Agape love is something that will never pass away, because it's so intricately interwoven into the nature of God. Many people make love out to be God, and this isn't true. But God IS agape love, that is, this is a character trait that is inseparable from what makes God God. The love of God, agape love, is characterized by a burning desire to do the highest good for it's object outside of emotional influences. "Doing the highest good" for others is often painful, both to the giver and the recipient of agape love. The earthly father despises paddling or restricting his child when he misbehaves. But regardless of his feelings (or the feelings of the child) he punishes that child for his sins because he loves him. Parents who allow emotions to guide the disciplining of their children have no capacity for love; either parental or agape love. Jesus taught the far reaching scope of agape love in:

Luke 6.27-35 "...But I say unto you which hear; love (<<= AGAPE) your enemies, do good to them which hate you. Bless them which curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him which smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also, Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketii away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love them which love them. And if ye tend to them of who ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies,, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil..."

Agape is a type of love unseated in the emotion, such a love that allows us to do good to our enemies regardless as to how we feel about them. Emotional love (called PHILEOS, or friendship love, in the Greek) doesn't pervert agape love. You can exercise phileos-love and agape love at the same time; you just cannot allow phileos-love control now you exercise agape love toward all. Agape love is tough love; tough on the giver and often tough on the receiver. It "tells it like it is" insofar as it always seeks to do the highest good for others. Jesus never said we had to like our enemies; He didn't even say that we had to exercise phileos-love toward them. But we are commanded to always exercise agape love toward everyone, even our enemies, regardless as to how we feel about the objects of our love.

I've often been asked by other Christians, "Why doesn't our Church grow and prosper? I feel like there's something lacking among the congregation, But I don't know what it is!". I really believe what's lacking among the believers in America today is, for the most part, a lack of agape love. Agape love doesn't require emotional involvement, but it does take up a lot of the believer's time. When one member of the Body has to be away from his family, and none of the congregation are willing to see to the needs of his wife and children while he's away; this is a lack of agape love. When one member is sick, and needs the moral support of the other members, and none will come; this is a lack of agape love. When the Ruler of a Church, or the subordinate Pastor-Teachers in that Church teach a lie rather than the hard truth; this is a lack of agape love. When one member is out of line, and into sin, and none will rebuke and correct this member; this is a lack of agape love. When the members of the Body put their own needs selfishly before those of the other members, and when only a handful in the congregation care enough to reach spiritual maturity and exercise their spiritual Gifts; this all is a serious lack of agape love. Lack of agape love was the root of sin that led to the spiritual immaturity of the Corinthian Church. And lack of agape love is, I believe, what seriously hinders the Church in America today.

We'll take a break here, and continue this study momentarily.