The three readings selected for the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany are Jeremiah 1:4-10 (17-19); 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13 and Luke 4:31-44. Selected to analyze from a L&G perpsective is 1 Corinthians 12:4, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself; is not puffed up…”

This passage is a splendid example of how difficult it is to preach consistently Law and Gospel sermons. Using theological language, this passage is in the context of sanctification, not justification. That is, the passage has to deal with how the Christian behaves not how he becomes a child of God. In fact, keeping in mind the context of Corinthians, this passage is the behavior only of a child of God. It is truly a waste of time to preach this to unbelievers, if, for no other reason, is the fact that this passage is speaking of the fruit of the Holy Spirit which only a believer can receive properly.

If the sermon simply reveals what true love is, it’s kinda like having a recipe for cookies but only writing about how good they taste, not what are the ingredients or how they are to be put together and baked. Paul has spent a lot of time prior to chapter 13 talking about nothing other than Christ crucified (verse 2:2). To put it another way, the final product cannot be created until the individual ingredients are well known. You can’t preach sanctification until you exhaust justification.

There are three uses of the Law; the first concerned with the government while the second and third with the Church. The second accuses each of us of failing to meet God’s requirements. However, these passages in chapter 13 are not used to accuse someone of falling short of the glory of God. Instead, they are to be viewed as an answer to the question of believers who ask, “What pleases you God?” Simply preaching about what love is will not produce that love anymore than talking about how a person can fly like a bird will result in such flying.

The third use of the Law is information to the believer who sincerely wants to do the will of God out of a free and unbound will. That is, knowing that there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s favor or keep our salvation, we are now free to do good works without any compulsion or necessity to do so. For when you will gain nothing in your salvation by doing a good work, you are truly free to do them unlike others in every other religion in the world who have to do good works in order to be saved.

The analogy to bring forth is again the behavior of children. What a difference it is to a child to have to obey parents in order to be fed, clothed and housed in contrast to even the disobedient child who receives these gifts from loving parents. That the parents love the child spontaneously covers a multitude of sins. That God’s love for each of us resulted in Christ’s death on the cross indeed covers a mulititude of our sins.

Preaching about loving one another is not an exercise of explanation but rather a proclamation of the reality of what already is in place. For you and I who know and practice sin are incapable of doing even one good work, yet we now have a Savior Who took upon Himself our sin and exchanged it with His righteousness and salvation. Proper preaching of this chapter on love is not to answer the question of what we are to do to get right with God. Instead, chapter 13 is an answer to those who already have been declared right with God who now want to know what is pleasing in His sight. It’s not sanctification first and then justification; it’s justification first and then sanctification.