Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Our Senior Pastor, Steve has been preaching a wonderful series on 1 Corinthians 13 – The Love Chapter. So desperately needed in this time of division and unrest. Reminding us of what true love is as the world around us seems to being cascading into a pit of darkness and hate.

In Steve’s message he addressed our motivations for doing good deeds being meaningless to God if not done out of love. I am nothing and I get nothing if our motivations are not purely out of love. He highlighted the point that in the Greek the word for ‘nothing’ is just that – ‘nothing’ – zip, nada, zero. There is no deeper meaning to take from the original Greek. Without love we are worthless and what we are doing is worthless.

I agree and every major translation agrees, consistently translating the Greek word Oudeis as ‘nothing’ in these verses. However, I’ve wrestled with this notion before. What does this mean? It’s like God is using a line from an old Mafia movie; If you don’t do good stuff for the right reasons “You’re dead to me!” The God of pure love considers me nothing and says my good deeds are absolutely worthless? For a teaching about love, how loving is that? This took me back to a personal study I did about the meaning of ‘nothing’ a while back. So, something like the Seinfeld show being a show about ‘Nothing’, this is a brief study about ‘Nothing’.

A Study About Nothing

I have no doubt that this statement is true. I know in my own life good deeds I have done that were poorly motivated and left a bad taste. Yet, something just didn’t jive with the God of love and forgiveness and grace that I know. Still, Jesus said some harsh words in love that are hard to hear but true. I decided to take another look.

As mentioned before The Greek word used is Oudeis, a pronoun meaning nothing – also meaning no one or no man. Hmmm? In fact, the word is translated about 50% more times in the New Testament as no man, then as nothing.
As an example, in James 3:8 it reads – “But the tongue can (Oudeis) no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

If you are a Greek scholar now is the time to correct me if there is something I am missing. But, how the scholars translate the word depends on numerous factors including the context and the words used around a certain word. In James 3:8 for example, they chose to use no man because of the reference to a human body part; the tongue. Yet, for this scripture, if you replaced no man with nothing, I don’t think you would lose much, if anything, in the translation.

But in 1 Corinthians 13:2-3, would replacing nothing with no man change anything about the meaning?

I think it might

Verse 2 in 1 Corinthians 13 says – “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (I am no man).
In this verse, Paul is referencing himself saying if he is able to exercise all these powerful gifts, what an incredible “man of God” he is! He is talking about his spiritual self-image/spiritual ego. Look at me and how special I am! But, if we replace nothing with no man, Paul could be saying, “without love, I am really no man (of God) at all. It shifts the focus from God’s condemnation of us as being nothing to Him to us looking in the mirror and seeing how shallow we really are.

Then in Verse 3 it says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing (I am useful to no man).”
Paul now shifts from the greatness for exercising spiritual gifts to even how wonderfully holy and sacrificial we are. Look at me and what I do for others! Once again, puffing up our chest with our good works and fueling our spiritual egos.

Also, if we look at the Greek verb in this verse, Opheleo often translated as ‘profit’, it also is defined as ‘to be useful’. So, if we replace ‘Profit’ with to be useful and nothing with no man, Paul might be saying, “without love, I am to be useful to no man.”

Once again, this use takes the emphasis away from God’s judgement or condemnation to creating a reality check for who we think we are in Christ.
In other words, without LOVE I am not the Godly man I think I am and I am not accomplishing the things of God that I think I am.

One other rationale for replacing nothing with no man is that Paul in these verses is referencing himself as his motivation as a man of God so using no man makes some sense.

WARNING: I am not a Greek Scholar

I enjoy digging into God’s word and considering how God can speak to me through the rich diversity of the original language.
There may be some scholarly reason as to why nothing is used rather than no man that I don’t understand but even if that is the case, the teaching holds true supported by many other scriptures.

Our motivations, even for those things that are good, must be checked if it is going to be of any use as a loving expression of who God is and for building God’s kingdom.
In Mark 10:18 Jesus said – “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” And that’s why we check our spiritual egos and motivation as James writes in James 4:8 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

God loves us through the sacrificial love of His son, Jesus Christ. As Christ-Followers, our sins are wiped clean. If we fall short, we are not nothing in His eyes.

In order to mean something to loving God and building His Kingdom we most powerfully engage and are used through a loving, cleansed and purified heart.