I Corinthians 13:1-7 God s explanation of what Love is. Love is a word that is often used in our society but is seldom truly understood. Many people claim to love others but their actions deny it. Its easy to tell someone we love them and be convincing when things are going well. However, when troubles come along and things become difficult then our true feelings sometimes come out. During these times our own selfishness and self seeking comes out instead of Love. 1
Paul, through inspiration, explains the importance of Love and how we should act toward those we truly love in 1 Corinthians 13. I want to read thru the chapter and then come back and comment on it verse by verse. 1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 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. 1Co 13:3 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. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 2
1Co 13:8 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. What a beautiful description of love. If we want to know if we love others as we should all we need to do is look to this chapter. 3
Paul wrote this letter to a local congregation that was filled with division and problems. Chapter 13 I believe to be the ultimate answer to all of the problems they had. If they had the proper love for God and man most if not all of these problems would have been solved. In verses 1-3 Paul explains to these Christians just how important love really is. Without it we cannot be saved! 1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. A man may have the miraculous ability to speak in unlearned languages of men and even the language of the angels. But, if he does it without love then it will do him no good. He would just be making a bunch of noise. It seems these miraculous gifts were a source of pride among the Christians at Corinth. 4
Paul explains to them it is better to have love than to be able to speak in tongues. He continues this thought in vs 2 1Co 13:2 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. Paul says if a person has all of the magnificent supernatural gifts but he doesn t have love then in the eyes of God he is nothing. Paul is still talking about the importance of love in vs 3 but he shifts the focus from spiritual gifts to our works. 1Co 13:3 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. If a man is willing to sell all that he has and give the money to feed the poor but he doesn t have love it will profit him nothing in the eyes of God. If a man is willing to be a martyr in the name of religion and die in this horrible way but he does not have love then he will be lost. 5
In order to be able to save our soul we must have love for God and our fellow man. Beginning in verse 4 Paul begins giving a description love. As we look at these descriptions, I want us to ask ourselves does this describe how I love others? 1Co 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; Suffers long: Love is patient. Being patient with others is not a quality that is prevalent in our society This long suffering is displayed when others are treating us wrong. Sometimes others mistreat us knowingly and others by mistake but in either case we are to demonstrate love and take it patiently. The time can come when our patience will run out. God is not saying here that we have to let others mistreat us over and over and over again. Sometimes we may need to remove ourselves from these type of dysfunctional relationships but this is never our first solution. 6
Love is Kind: Webster's defines kind as: having or showing a gentle nature and a desire to help others. When we love others we will be gentle with them and try to help them when possible. Do we demonstrate kindness towards those we claim to love? Love does not envy: We are not Jealous or envious of those we love when they do well. Cain was envious or jealous of Abel. If we truly love someone we will be happy when they do well. Love does not parade itself: This is the opposite side of envy. When we do well we won t show it off or rub it into the faces of those we love who haven t done well. Love is not puffed up: we will not be arrogant towards or think of ourselves as better than those that we claim to love. Both of these are closely related to the idea of being prideful. 7
Being proud or arrogant is something God has never been pleased with. It is listed in the 7 things that are an abomination to God in Proverbs 6 Also in Proverbs 16 it is called an abomination to God. Pr 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished. All to often pride is demonstrated instead of love when we refuse to admit we re wrong Lu 14:11 "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." We find more of the Characteristics of love in verse 5 1Co 13:5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; Love does not behave rudely: Webster s defines rude like this: not having or showing concern or respect for the rights and feelings of other people : not polite. Would those we love describe us as rude Do we say what we want and do what we want no matter the effect it may have on others? 8
Being rude is just the opposite of love being kind mentioned in vs 4. Love does not seek its own: This is my favorite description of Love. If I love someone then I am not looking out for my own best interest but the best interest of those I love. What a different world it would be if married couples would wake up each morning and think what can I do to help my spouse today? I believe divorce would almost disappear if spouses had this attitude towards one another. This description of love is sometimes misunderstood, especially when it comes to discipline. In the normal parent child relationship, the parent will discipline the child because of love. Example: a young child may be playing in the road. The parent tells the child to get out of the road because the parent knows the dangers of playing in the road. If the child goes back to playing in the road the parent should administer some type of discipline to protect the child (usually a swat on the behind) This is done out of love. The parent is looking out for the best interest of the child 9
Love is not provoked: When we love someone we will not quickly fly into a rage against them. We will maintain control of our temper and remember to be patient and kind to those we love. How many relationships have been destroyed because someone became provoked and said things they did not mean. Would those we love say that we are easily provoked? Love thinks no evil: The American Standard Version translates this phrase like this: taketh not account of evil The word translated think comes from the Greek word logizomai which means: to take an inventory, account or number. When we love someone we will not be keeping a record of all the things they have done wrong and bring them up again and again in order to cause them pain or to just win an argument. We may also think of this as holding a grudge against others for things they have repented of. 10
1Co 13:6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Love does not rejoice in iniquity: Iniquity is just another word for sin. When we love someone we are never happy when they transgress God s law. We are not happy because we know the results of sin. If it is not forgiven it will result in an eternity in Hell. That is not something we would want to happen to anyone that we love. Do we like to see others involved in sin? Does that make us feel that we are better than they are? If we love someone then we don t want to see them involved in sin. Since that is the case we certainly would not try to get them involved in sin ourselves. Can you imagine any of the Apostles trying to get someone to miss worship services with them? Or maybe trying to get another Christian to go out and have a few beers with the boys? Love rejoices in the Truth: Instead of being joyful at the sin of others, we will be happy when we see others come to a knowledge of and obey the Truth (Gospel) 11
Do we remember what John said gave him joy? 3Jo 1:1 THE ELDER, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. We should have this same desire for all of those we love. 1Co 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love bears all things: When we love God as we should we will bear patiently the problems and hardships that are often brought on us by being a Christian. When we love others as we should we will bear patiently all the things brought on us because of them. We will be willing to sacrifice our own wants and desires in order to provide the things needful for others. 12
Love believes all things: When we love someone we are not going to immediately think the worst of them. A husband may bring home flowers for the wife. The loving wife will not immediately think He must have done something wrong! The wife may fix a nice meal for the husband. The loving husband will not immediately think what does she want this time? When we love someone we should want to believe their motivations are pure We certainly won t quickly believe when others accuse them of evil. Love hopes all things: When we love someone we certainly hope things go well for them in this life. But, more importantly we hope they are able to have that home in Heaven when this life is over. How sad it is to see those we love turn their backs on God. But, as long as this life continues we can still have hope that they will come back to God. 13
Love endures all things: This is very closely related to being long-suffering and bearing all things. When we love someone we will endure all of the hardships and wrongs that are brought on us without seeking revenge. Many people become angry over wrongs they have suffered and say nothing but plot their revenge for a future time. While others burst out in anger and malice seeking revenge on the spot. When we love some one we simply will not be interested in getting back at them for some wrong they may have inflicted on us. We will endure it. Continue to treat them kindly. Continue to look out for their best interest and Hope for the salvation of their souls. Some of the characteristics of love that we have discussed are contrary to human nature. Some of these are not easy. It takes work! If we are going to be pleasing to God we must put these into practice in our lives! 14
15