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1 Corinthians 13

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The Necessity of Love for Spiritual Gifts 1–3

1
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. ​
2
And 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 have not love, I am nothing. ​
3
And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. ​

The Defining Characteristics of Love 4–7

4
Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, ​
5
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; ​
6
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; ​
7
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ​

Love Endures; Gifts Are Temporary 8–13

8
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. ​
9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; ​
10
but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. ​
11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. ​
12
For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. ​
13
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Corinthians 13

Verse 1

tongues of men and of angels — Glossa, tongue or language, the gift first given at Pentecost (Acts 2:4). Without agape (love, here 'charity') even the finest speech is 'sounding brass' (chalkos) or a 'tinkling cymbal' (kumbalon): sound with no meaning of its own.

Verse 2

remove mountains — Prophecy, 'all mysteries', 'all knowledge' and 'all faith' cover the gifts of chs. 12–14. Mountain-moving faith is Christ's own figure (Matt 17:20). Even so, 'I am nothing' (oudeis): without love the person himself counts for nothing.

Verse 3

give my body to be burned — Two acts of extreme sacrifice: 'bestow all my goods' (psomizo, to feed out in morsels) and the surrender of the body. Both still 'profit' (opheleo) nothing without love (agape). It is love that is counted, whatever the cost of the deed.

Verse 4

suffereth long, and is kind — Makrothumeo, to be long-spirited, patient with persons; chresteuomai, to act usefully and kindly. Longsuffering and gentleness both stand in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). 'Envieth' is zeloo, zeal turned to jealousy; 'vaunteth' is perpereuomai, to boast.

Verse 5

seeketh not her own — The Corinthians' lawsuits are the background (1 Cor 6:1–7). Paul gives the same rule earlier: 'Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth' (1 Cor 10:24). 'Thinketh no evil' is logizomai, to reckon, to keep account.

Verse 6

rejoiceth in the truth — Sunchairo, to rejoice together with the truth, set against adikia, unrighteousness. Love takes no pleasure in wrong; it matches 'Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good' (Rom 12:9).

Verse 7

beareth all things — Stego, literally to roof over, to cover and so endure; Paul uses it of himself in 'suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel' (1 Cor 9:12). It heads four verbs: bears, believes, hopes, endures (hupomeno, to stay under).

Verse 8

never faileth — Love 'never faileth' (ekpipto, to fall away), while prophecies 'fail' and knowledge 'vanish[es] away', one verb, katargeo, to render idle. Tongues 'cease' (pauo), a different word. Katargeo recurs in vv.10–11.

Verse 9

we know in part — Ek merous, out of a portion: knowledge and prophecy give only a share of the whole. This is the reason for their passing in v.10, and it prepares the contrast of v.12, 'now I know in part; but then…'

Verse 10

that which is perfect — Teleios, complete or full-grown; the same word is 'perfect man' in Eph 4:13. Set against 'in part', it is the completeness of the day when 'face to face' (v.12) replaces the partial; 'done away' is katargeo, as in v.8.

Verse 11

put away childish things — Nepios, an infant, the word of 'babes in Christ' (1 Cor 3:1); in this letter it occurs only there and here. The child's speaking, understanding and thinking give way to the man's; 'put away' is katargeo, the verb of vv.8 and 10.

Verse 12

through a glass, darkly — Esoptron, a mirror (cf. 'a glass', Jas 1:23), and ainigma, an enigma or riddle. Of Moses the LORD said, 'With him will I speak mouth to mouth… and not in dark speeches' (Num 12:8). 'Known' is epiginosko, full knowing; compare 1 John 3:2, 'we shall see him as he is'.

Verse 13

faith, hope, charity — The three appear together in 1 Thess 1:3, 'work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope'. Meizon, 'greatest', is the comparative of 'great'. 'Now abideth' (menei) sets them against the gifts of v.8 that fail, and love ranks highest.