1 Corinthians 13
v.1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
v.4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
v.5
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
v.6
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
v.7
it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
True love believes good of others as long as it can and when it is forced to fear that wrong has been done, love will not readily yield to evidence, but, she gives the accused brother the benefit of many a doubt! When the thing is too clear, love says, “Yes, but the friend must have been under very strong temptation. And if I had been there, I dare say I would have done worse.” Or else love hopes that the erring one may have offended from a good, though mistaken, motive—she believes that the good man must have been mistaken, or he would not have acted so. Love, as far as she can, believes in her fellows. I know some persons who habitually believe everything that is bad, but they are not the children of love.
v.8
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
When we do choose to love in this selfless, sacrificing way, love will not fail to be effective. One person’s choice to love, selflessly, never fails to build up the church in a powerful way.
The other way in which love never fails is that love is eternal. Selfless love will continue in the Lord and in His people forever. It is absolutely the way we will live in relationship with each other in eternity. Examples of selfless love in the present are glimpses of the normal state of things in eternity.
This is not true of the spiritual gifts, Paul says. The gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will all pass away. By this, Paul means that eventually these gifts will not be needed.
v.9-10
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
v.12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
v.13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
According to the Greek philosophers, reason is the highest thing in us. Reason should judge love; we are to love and live according to reason. But according to Christianity, we are to love beyond reason, as God does, with agape, non-judgmental love, love that does not follow worthiness but creates it. Reason follows love rather than love following reason; only if we love will we know. When asked how to understand his teachings, Jesus replied, “If you were to do the will of my Father, you would understand my teachings.” On another occasion he said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” What we see, what we understand, of God and each other, depends on our heart, on our faith and hope and love.