1 Corinthians 13

The Explanation

Paul is writing a letter to a church in the city of Corinth. That church had a problem you might not expect: the people there were actually quite gifted. Some could speak in strange languages nobody had taught them. Others could pass on messages from God. Some knew an enormous amount about faith. And instead of being glad about each other, they were comparing. Who is the most special? Who stands out most?

Right in the middle of that argument, Paul writes this chapter. And he starts with something almost shocking. Suppose, he says, I could speak the languages of people and even of angels. But I have no love. Then I am nothing but noise. A brass gong being hit. A cymbal clanging. Loud, but empty.

He goes further. Suppose I know every secret there is. Suppose my faith is so strong that mountains move when I say so. Without love, "I am nothing." Not: then I have less. Then I am nothing.

And then the sharpest one of all. Suppose I give away everything I own to feed poor people. Suppose I even let my body be burned. If love is not behind it, it does not do me any good at all. That is hard to hear. Apparently you can do something that looks good on the outside while inside it is really about yourself.

Then Paul describes what love actually looks like. Notice that he does not say love is a warm feeling. He says what love does and does not do. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy, does not brag, is not proud. Love does not insist on its own way. Love is not quickly angry, and it does not keep a list of the wrong things others did to you. Love does not enjoy it when something bad or unfair happens, but it is glad about the truth. And then four short words that go very far: love bears, believes, hopes, endures. All things.

In the last part Paul looks ahead. Everything the Corinthians were so proud of will one day stop. Prophecies will end. Special languages will end. Even knowledge will be done away with. Not because those things are bad, but because they are pieces. "We know in part," Paul writes. It is like looking in an old mirror made of polished metal. You see something, but it is blurry. One day we will see face to face.

Paul uses himself as an example. When he was a child, he thought and spoke like a child. Now he is grown up, and some of that has been put away. He is not making fun of children. He means: what we understand now is like the understanding of a small child compared to what is coming.

Three things stay standing forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of the three is love.

What Does This Mean?

This chapter puts a strange question to us. Can something be impressive and empty at the same time? Paul says yes. You can pray beautifully, know your Bible well, sing loudly, give money, and still be a clanging cymbal.

That sounds severe. But look again at what love is according to Paul. Almost every single thing he mentions has to do with how you treat someone who annoys you. Patient. Not quickly angry. Not keeping score. Not always wanting your own way. Paul is not describing romance. He is describing what it costs to stay kind to real people.

And notice honestly: nobody does that list perfectly. Not you, not me, not Paul. That is uncomfortable, and the text does not soften it.

The Common Thread

Read that list once more, but this time think about Jesus. Patient. Kind. Not seeking his own way. Bearing all things. Enduring all things. Not keeping account of the evil done to him, even from a cross.

Paul is not inventing an impossible rule to make us feel bad. He is describing what God is like, shown to us in Jesus. And that is why the last verse matters so much. Faith and hope are for now, while we still see dimly. Love stays even when we see face to face, because love is what God Himself is. When everything else has ended, love is still there.

I cannot tell you exactly what "face to face" will look like. Paul does not describe it either. He only says we will know fully, because we are already fully known.

For You

Pick one thing from Paul's list this week. Not all of it. One. Maybe: I will not keep score of what my brother did. Maybe: I will be patient with the person in my class everyone finds irritating. Small and real beats big and impressive.

Talk About It

Paul says you can do something good without love and it counts for nothing. Can you think of an example of that from your own life?

Which item on Paul's list do you find the hardest, and why do you think that is?

Praying Together

God, You know me fully, even the parts I hide. I cannot love the way this chapter describes. Teach me. Let me start small this week. Thank You that Your love never fails. Amen.