“speak with the tongues.” For information on speaking in tongues, see commentaries on 1 Corinthians 12:10 and 14:5.
“love.” The Greek is agapē (#26 ἀγάπη), and it refers to the love of God. The noun form is agapē (#26 ἀγάπη), the verb form is agapaō (#25 ἀγαπάω). Agapē love is the very nature of God, for God is love (1 John 4:7-12, 16). The big key to understanding agapē is to realize that it can be known from the action it prompts. In fact, we sometimes speak of the “action model” of agapē love. People today are accustomed to thinking of love as a feeling, but that is not necessarily the case with agapē love. Agapē is love because of what it does, not because of how it feels. For example, God so “loved” (agapē) that He gave His Son. It did not feel good to God to do that, but it was the loving thing to do.
Agapē love is not simply an impulse generated from feelings, it is an exercise of the will, a deliberate choice. This is why God can command us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44; Exod. 23:1-5). He is not commanding us to “have a good feeling” for our enemies, but to act in a loving way toward them. There are Christians who say they love God, but their lifestyle is contrary to the will of God. These people mistake their feeling of affection for God for true agapē love. Of course, Agapē love can have feelings attached to it, and the ideal situation occurs when the loving thing to do also is what we want to do.
Phileō, which is translated as “love” in many English versions, is different from agapaō love (philos is the noun form (#5384 φίλος), and phileō, (#5368 φιλέω) is the verb form of the root word.) Phileō means “to have a special interest in someone or something, frequently with focus on close association; have affection for, like, consider someone a friend.”a It would probably be helpful if phileō were never translated “love” in the New Testament because it refers to a strong liking or a strong friendship.
[For more on the Greek concept of love and the difference between agapē and phileō see commentary on John 21:15.]
“sounding bronze.” The Greek is chalkos ēchōn (χαλκὸς ἠχῶν), which is literally something like “bronze ringing,” “bronze sounding out,” or “echoing bronze.” Its reference to bronze was an appropriate metaphor to use in the Epistle to the Corinthians because Corinth was famous for its bronze. Nevertheless, it is an unclear phrase to us now, because it does not clearly refer to any instrument we know of. Because of that, a number of different interpretations have been set forth to explain it. One is that trumpets and horns were made of bronze or brass in the Roman world, so it could refer to a “sounding brass” [horn]. The horn would make a loud noise, but often just for show.
Perhaps the more accurate explanation of chalkos ēchōn is that it refers to the resonating jars that were set in niches at the theaters. These large bronze jars would vibrate with the sound of the actor’s voices and help to amplify them. Corinth had resonating jars, but in the second century BC they were sold to raise money for public use. We do not know if they were replaced, but in any case, Paul and his audience would have known about them. The jars amplified the voices of actors who were just “playing a part,” so the resonating jars would be an appropriate metaphor for speaking in tongues—or doing anything else for that matter—without love.
Vitruvius Pollio was a military engineer under Augustus and knew Julius Caesar. He wrote On Architecture sometime before 27 BC It records some of his own experience and discoveries, as well as some earlier discoveries in architecture and engineering. He wrote:
…bronze vases are to be made in mathematical ratios corresponding to the size of the theatre. They are to be so made that, when they are touched, they can make a sound from one to another of a fourth, a fifth and so on to the second octave. Then compartments are made among the seats of the theatre, and the vases are to be so placed that they do not touch the wall, and have an empty space around them and above. They are to be placed upside down. On the side looking toward the stage, they are to have wedges put under them not less than half a foot high. Against these cavities openings are to be left in the faces of the lower steps two feet long and a half a foot high….
7. Someone will say, perhaps, that many theatres are built every year in Rome without taking any account of these matters. He will be mistaken in this. All public wooden theatres have several wooden floors and naturally resound. We can observe this also from those who sing to the zither, who when they wish to sing with a louder tone, turn to the wooden scenery, and, with this help, gain resonance for their voice. But when theatres are built of solids, that is of the rubble walling, stone or marble which cannot resound, the use of bronze vases is to be followed.
8. But if you ask in what theatre this is done, we cannot show any at Rome, but we must turn to the regions of Italy, and to many Greek cities. We find a precedent in Lucius Mummius who destroyed the theatre at Corinth, and transported these bronze vessels to Rome, and dedicated them, from the spoils, to the temple of Luna. Further, many clever architects, who in towns of moderate size have built theatres, have chosen, for cheapness’ sake, earthenware vessels with similar sounds, and arranging them in this way have produced very useful effects.b
People who act without love are like human-size hollow jars that make a noise but do not actually accomplish anything important to God. Love is truly “Christianity 101,” and it is imperative that we think, speak, and act, in love.
“clanging cymbal.” The word “clanging” is onomatopoetic. “Alalazon” was used of a wail or a battle cry. Although there were pagan cults that used cymbals, the use in this verse is not necessarily an allusion to that kind of use. Cymbals were used also as musical instruments. The obvious point that Paul is making is that speaking in tongues without love is just like a clanging symbol—there is a lot of noise but no actual lasting godly effect.
a)
BDAG Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. “φιλέω.”
b)
Quoted in Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Corinth, 75.
