During my undergraduate studies, there were many students in my dorm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My hometown was a small oil town in the Alleghany Mountains much north of Pittsburgh. There were clearly culture differences. One evening, I was using the pay phone located in the middle of the hallway adjacent to the lounge. Several girls could overhear our conversation. I asked my dad to pick me up that weekend at the red light in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania, a town nearby my home. After I hung up, the girls who were listening were laughing at me. When I inquired why this was so amusing, they giggled and asked, “How does he know which red light in Johnsonburg?” I proudly stated, “Because there IS only one!” We all had a good laugh. My friends could not imagine such a thing. I, on the other hand, had no problem with it since I never thought only one red light in a town was so odd. We were raised in different cities and cultures.
Most who want to study the Scriptures have heard that it is very important to gain understanding of passages while keeping in mind the context of the particular section. Context applies not only to what the verses before and after are remarking, but also the wider context of the book—including cultural and historical information. The Bible is written by those who were immersed in the culture and customs of their day. Let us take a few minutes to look at one well-known verse through a 1st century lens.
Beginning with a verse that describes actions taken without love, let us look at how Yahweh magnified the point about love.
1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become as a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
The Corinthians were mostly pagans before they became Christ followers. This should give us pause to realize that Paul had to correct a lot of error worshipping Yahweh due to their ingrained practices of idol worship. Pagans do not love their idols, they mostly fear them and try to placate them with offerings. The practices are rote habits with little or no emotional connection other than fear and a sense of “I need something, give it to me”.
Paul puts forth in chapters 1 through 12 that we are to obey what they were taught and not fall into old practices. Then Paul stops discussing the dos and don’ts with thirteen verses about love—a vital concept we must grasp. To receive the full benefit of having love, the words “noisy gong” and “clanging cymbal” are used to describe how much, without love, the action is worth. As westerners, we tend to start to think through these things by our own mindset. My understanding of cymbals and gongs is that they are mostly loud, and I want to put my hands over my ears. These clanging instruments can be enjoyable when played by a symphony orchestra with acoustics. The reverberations last for a while and, depending on the tone, can be soothing. If one has attended a grade school band or orchestra concert, it seems that the cymbals could ring for days from the awkward noise in the gymnasium. To obtain a richer understanding of this verse, we need to investigate noisy gongs or cymbals from a Corinthian mindset.
The Greek words for “sounding bronze” are chalkos ēchōn when literally translated would mean “bronze sounding out” or “echoing bronze”.1 Corinth was well known for its making of bronze artifacts and instruments. A trumpet that is bronze makes a loud sharp noise, and many times it was played for show or to get attention. An example could be a line of costumed trumpeters that blew their long, shiny trumpets (with hanging flags) when royalty entered a certain place. These events were
full of pomp. Corinthians listening to this sentence in the letter might remember the bronze instruments announcing someone or an event. The blasting sounds definitely drew everyone’s attention. We use trumpets to introduce the Kentucky Derby even today. Maybe Paul is saying that speaking in tongues could be done as a big announcement of here I am performing for you.
Kenneth Bailey describes that Corinth was the bronze capital of the area making great bronze statues and sundry artifacts. In more recent years, one visitor had this to say of his visit. “…as soon as I approached from a distance of about half a kilometer, I only needed to follow the racket! On arrival I found myself in the middle of more than two hundred craftsmen hammering slabs of copper or bronze into cooking pots, drinking vessels…the noise was deafening.”2We can only imagine the clamor. Those living in and around Corinth experienced the deafening racket.
Corinth, as the center of making bronze, produced many important vessels. The Revised English Version Bible explains that during that historical period, theaters incorporated large bronze jars that were strategically placed around the theaters. The bronze jars were mathematically designed and would magnify and differentiate sounds that reverberated from jar to jar. These specific jars were placed at very crucial points throughout the theater to resonate with the actors’ voices. Some of the jars were quite large, some almost human sized. These jars “amplified the voices of actors who were just ‘playing a part.’”1 In this context, the resonating jars would be an appropriate metaphor. It could mean without love, even speaking in tongues can be just playing a part.
This insight tells us that if I speak with tongues of men or even if speaking a language of angels and I do not do it out of love, then what I speak is as meaningless and annoying as the banging of many hammers on brass in Corinth’s bronze shops. The resonating jars were important, along with the instruments and other household items that were put to good use. The items themselves were purposeful. How they are used is in question.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
The second verse now includes prophecy, mysteries, knowledge, and great faith. That just about sums up everything. Those who experienced either living near or hearing about Corinth understood what Paul was referring to. 1 Corinthians 13:2 and 3 tell us again that if we are doing what is right according to Scripture, but without love in our heart for Yahweh, Jesus, and others, then it is worthless and annoying to Yahweh as is a sharp and annoying loud noise. He pointedly adds, without
being done in love, “I am nothing.”
Another way to study verses is godly meditation. Asking helpful questions like, “What meaning is there in this for me today?”, or “How do I apply this in my life practically?” Ask Yahweh to give you understanding and think of other places in Scripture that support this verse. In Matthew 6:5, Jesus gives us an example of appropriate actions taken, but with a shallow and distant heart.
Matthew 6:1-6 “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “So, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will
be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Paul in 1 Corinthians is clearly telling us that we can be obedient, yet without any merit in what we are doing. The same is true with what Jesus was expounding to his disciples. When I want the deed done to be resonated throughout the church and community (resembling resonating bronze jars strategically placed), my good actions then become like an actor playing a part. The action is just a play—not real, devoted love. Some actors are so skilled at their craft that we can believe that that actor is really the part they are playing. That makes no difference; it is still just a play with actors. It is not reality. In the larger context of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul is instructing and reproving the Corinthians about practices that have crept into their worship that are not to be done. Paul’s writing stops rather abruptly to discuss in chapter 13 the concept of why we do what we do. It is because of love–love for Yahweh and love for one another. A very important verse that again magnifies the concept of doing what we do out of love is 1 Corinthians 13:13, “but now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Being a noisy gong or clanging cymbal relates to all the practices that Paul puts forth before and after chapter 13. In fact, we can extrapolate this concept to the whole Word of God.
The connecting verses of 1 Corinthians 13:2-12 tell us how to love so we do not have to guess. We can fool people; many have for many years, putting on a façade of being loving, yet doing works without love is meaningless. It looks good but is deadly. Without love, there is no life; there is nothing of value in what we say or do. God is love, and as such, we are to imitate our Heavenly Father and love as He does. Have fun searching the Scriptures with the context of the culture and customs of
their day.
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