1 Corinthians chapter 13 has become the quintessential chapter in the Bible on the value of charity. In this remarkable chapter the reader can really get a sense of Paul’s eloquence and insight. In the first verse, the tone is set for the rest of the chapter. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” I really enjoy this imagery. Although the sounding of brass and a tinkling of cymbals can be meaningful in a context, they are not nearly as meaningful if used alone. I think this is what Paul is trying to convey in his message, that although we may be doing great things, if we do not have the pure love of Christ in our lives, these things are meaningless. In verse four, Paul changes the tone a bit and proceeds to describe different aspects of charity. In our New Testament class, our professor added an interesting insight into the verses, which I felt really strongly about. He mentioned that one could substitute the name of Christ in for the word charity throughout verses 4-13. I thought to myself, that although we could not use our own name now, it is our hope and faith that allows us to believe that through Christ, one day we can become like Him. As I substituted Christ’s name into the verses, I felt how much I rely on the Lord. In verse eight, the scripture says that, “Charity never faileth.” These three words mean a great deal to me. Though health, relationships and wealth may pass away, Christ will never fail us because he has already suffered for us and stood as proxy for us so that we may succeed through his grace. When we access this atonement, we are succeeding in our goal towards exaltation.
As I read these passages I was reminded of the personal experiences that Paul must have had as he felt this pure love toward him. The Lord, in love reached out to Paul as he was going about persecuting the Christians and trying to destroy what Christ had established. Through his miraculous conversion Paul was able to receive a first-hand understanding of the pure love of Christ. I am sure he continued to feel this love throughout his ministry for both himself and those he taught. As a missionary, I often felt this love towards those I taught, and it was this love, which brought power and authority to the testimony that I bore. If we have not charity, our words are nothing. With charity, our words carry power.

Special Collections

This last week I had the opportunity to attend a unique presentation with my New Testament class in the Special Collections section of the library at BYU. The Special Collections is a seldom-visited treasure on the BYU campus. I was frankly quite surprised at what kinds of artifacts the library had acquired.
The first piece that we were shown was an ancient clay tablet called a Cuneiform. The tablet was only about 4 inches by 3 inches. The engravings on the tablet were most likely created by a reed or piece of the wood. I noticed that the inscriptions bore a strong visual resemblance to Chinese or Japanese. The tablet had a green color and was rounded on the edges. I wondered what kind of finish or treatment that the tablet went through in order to be preserved so well for thousands of years. Our instructor mentioned to us that the engravings contained a message about a land owning transaction. He explained that much of the time, these Cuneiforms were used for law, business, history or other important aspects of life during that time period.
The next artifact to which we were privy, was a set of metal plates. The contents of the plates contained a discharge report of a Roman soldier. These plates must have been very important to him because they contained a written record that this person had Roman citizen and was able to access the rights that went along with that. It was very important that these documents be written on something that would not be easily destroyed. These plates were most likely displayed in a prominent position in the community for all to see. We were told that these plates had a portion of them sealed at first (sound familiar?) and could only be opened by someone who held the proper keys…quite an interesting tidbit.
Soon, people developed a less expensive surface upon which to make records- papyrus. The durable stems of this plant could be harvested, split open, dried and stuck together to make paper upon which a scribe could write. The most often form of record keeping at the time was in scrolls. If kept dry and out of the sunlight, papyrus could be preserved for thousands of years. There are still numerous records preserved on papyrus that have been preserved for over 2000 years; among them: the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Books came next. They were a huge adjustment from the scrolls that were used in the past. They often had very hard, durable covers, made of wood in order to protect the delicate and ornate pages contained in the book. These books were extremely valuable and only the most wealthy and learned people could afford them, let alone read them. The books themselves, with the gold-leaf ornamentation and hand-written lettering sometimes took more than 11 years to create!
Guttenberg made the process easier and more rapid. And modern printing presses are an updated version of those older pioneers. The time and effort people have given throughout history is astounding, and the records they have preserved are an invaluable insight into history.

Explanation of why Paul was concerned about circumcision.

In Galatians chapter 1, Paul begins his epistle with a sharp reproof. He says, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). To what was Paul refer to in this rebuke? The early disciples of Christ often had a hard time making adjustments to their newly formed faith. They often had a hard time reconciling the Law of Moses with the New Law. The disciples in Galatia had a hard time adjusting to the New Law in that they wanted the new converts to Christianity to be circumcised, as was the custom with the Law of Moses.
Many of the new converts in that area were not already Jewish, meaning they had not been circumcised. Not only had the disciples thrown aside the New Law and the Atonement of Christ by forcing new converts to be circumcised, but also they undoubtedly drove a few potential converts away, at the prospect of the pain that inherently accompanies circumcision.
Paul’s mission was to bring all souls unto Christ. This mission was being deterred by the stubborn and prideful converts who wanted to integrate their faith with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the next verse Paul says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). The members of the church in that area were looking beyond the mark. They were going off the path that Paul had already laid out for them.
We can learn a valuable lesson from this rebuke. So many times, we as members of the church look beyond the mark and claim that certain ideas or principles that they regard as important, is actually doctrine. Sometimes they may use words of the General Authorities (often taken out of context) as justification for their ideas. These ideas can be a major deterrent for potential converts to the Gospel. This is why, as missionaries, we were taught to teach only out of “Preach My Gospel” and the scriptures. Apostasy arises when the Gospel is twisted to meet a member’s ideals. The atonement of Jesus Christ is perfect and needs no addition to the doctrine of the gospel, and when some seek to do so, the are, as Paul mentions, accursed.