1 Corinthians 13

Chapter Overview

What happens in 1 Corinthians 13

In what is perhaps the most famous chapter in all of Paul's letters, he describes love as the supreme virtue that gives meaning to every spiritual gift, defines love's characteristics in unforgettable terms, and declares that when all else passes away, love will remain alongside faith and hope as the greatest of the three.

Scripture

The Necessity of Love

Study note

Paul begins with a series of dramatic hypotheticals: speaking in angelic tongues without love is mere noise; possessing prophetic powers, understanding all mysteries, and having mountain-moving faith without love amounts to nothing; even giving away everything one owns and sacrificing one's body gains nothing without love. Every gift the Corinthians are competing over becomes empty and meaningless apart from love. This directly addresses the church's obsession with spectacular spiritual gifts.

1 I could speak every language on earth and even the languages of heaven. But if I do not have love, I am making loud, ugly noise — like a gong being hit or a cymbal crashing. 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.

2 I could have the gift of telling the future and understand every hidden truth and possess all knowledge. I could have faith powerful enough to pick up mountains and move them. But without love, I would be nothing. 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, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 I could hand out every last thing I own to feed hungry people. I could even sacrifice my body to the flames. But if I do not have love, none of it does me any good. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

The Character of Love

Study note

Paul provides a portrait of love in action through fifteen characteristics: love is patient and kind; it does not envy, boast, or act proud; it is not rude, self-seeking, or easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in evil but rejoices in truth. Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. Each quality directly addresses a specific failure in the Corinthian church, making this description simultaneously universal and pointedly corrective.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy. Love does not boast. It is not puffed up. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, keeps no record of wrongs. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

The Permanence of Love

Study note

While prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will all pass away because they are partial and temporary, love never fails. Paul compares the present age to childhood: when he was a child, he thought and reasoned like a child, but upon becoming an adult, he put away childish things. Now we see dimly as in a mirror, but one day we will see face to face. Now we know in part, but then we will know fully, even as we are fully known. Three things endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 Right now, what we know is only a fraction. What we prophesy is only a fraction. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when what is perfect comes, what is only a part will go away. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was little, I spoke like a little kid, I figured things out like a little kid, I made sense of the world like a little kid. But when I grew up, I left those kid ways behind. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 Right now, we are looking at a fuzzy reflection, like staring into a cloudy mirror. But someday we will see everything clearly, face to face. Right now I only understand part of the picture. But someday I will understand it all, the same way God already understands me completely. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Key Themes

Themes in 1 Corinthians 13

Love as the supreme virtueThe emptiness of gifts without loveThe character and actions of true loveThe temporary nature of spiritual giftsThe permanence of loveFaith, hope, and love

Apply This Today

Living 1 Corinthians 13

Use this chapter as a mirror for your own heart. Replace the word love with your name and honestly assess how you measure up. Love is not primarily a feeling but a pattern of self-giving action that requires daily practice and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. When you are tempted to value impressive spiritual abilities or knowledge above all else, remember that God values how you treat people above what you can do for him.

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