1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Giftlessness With Love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Rejects: In these verses are listed the perversities of character with which love has nothing to do. Only agape-love has the power to restrain from doing what is wrong, hurtful and destructive (see 2 Corinthians 5:14); (a) Love is not impatient. Love suffers and waits. Love refuses to give way to anger and vindictiveness. Love waits, hoping for repentance. Love is not resentful when treated unjustly. Love is David with SaulChrist with the Pharisees. Love never gives up, never diesit goes on and on; (b) Love is not unkind. Some patiently endure wrong out of sheer obstinacy, but to be kind to the person who has done the wrong is the victory of agape-love. Barclay says, There is so much Christianity which is good but unkind. The Greek word translated kind is chresteuetai which means literally, serviceable, good, useable. In other words, kindness means action, service, giving. The greatest good a Christian can ever do this side of heaven is to be kind to people (see Luke 10:29-37). William Penn said: I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore there is any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow being let me do it now and not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. (c) Love is not jealous. Only agape-love can see all the inequalities of life and remain content with its own place. Paul had learned contentment in whatever state he found himself (Philippians 4:11-13). Where there is no love, there will inevitably be envy, jealousy and hatred. Absence of agape-love left Cain open to envy and produced the first murder in human history. In its baser form, jealousy not only desires what others have, but being unable to attain it, begrudges the good others have. It does not even care so much that it does not have these things as it wishes others had not gotten them. Agape-love rejoices when others have good fortune. (d) Love is not boastful. The Greek word here is perpereutai and is used only in this one place in the New Testament. In classical Greek it means, wind-bag or braggart and Moffatt has translated it, does not make a parade of itself. Love does not show off. Love is quiet, unassuming, and humble. When love does anything it does not do it for praise or the applause of others. Love is not conceited. (e) Love is not arrogant. The Greek word for arrogant is phusioutai, puffed-up. Love is not contemptuous of others. Love is not the Pharisee who thanks God he is not like publicans (Luke 18:9-14). Love is not obsessed with self-importance. Give a man a little earthly authority or position and one soon sees whether he has love or arrogance. (f) Love is not rude. The Greek words are ouk aschemonei, meaning literally, does not act unbecomingly, or, without graciousness. There is the type of Christian who thinks real loyalty to the Bible means one must act bluntly, candidly, without tact and charm, almost brutally. There may be candidness there, but there is no winsomeness. Love is courteous, tactful, polite, and respectful without compromising truth. Love applies the Golden Rule. Love makes it possible to be right without being rude. (g) Love never insists on its own way. The Greek reads: ou zetei ta heautes; love is willing to sacrifice its own interests for that of others. Love does not demand its own rights (even though it may have some) above those of others. Barclay writes: In the last analysis, there are in this world only two kinds of peoplethose who are continually thinking of their rights and those who are continually thinking of their duties. those insisting on their privileges and those who are remembering their responsibilities.. There can never be true love where there is the Me first attitude. (h) Love is not irritable, (Gr. paroxunetai, from which we get the English word paroxysm, which means, a fit, an attack, a convulsion of emotion). The Greek word means, literally, hyper-sharp, or, intense sharpening. The word easily in some versions, is not in the Greek text. Barclay translates, Love never flies into a temper fit. Having a paroxysm of exasperation is an indication of the absence of agape-love. The Jewish rabbis made four classifications of people dealing with provocation: (1) those easily provoked but hard to pacifytheir loss is cancelled by their gain; (2) those hard to provoke but hard to pacifytheir gain is cancelled by their loss; (3) those easily provoked and easily pacifiedthey are evil; (4) those hard to provoke and easily pacifiedthey are righteous. But agape-love is never bad-tempered. Love must be angry with sin, but never irritable with the sinner. Greatness is not in position, but in disposition! (i) Love is not resentful. The Greek phrase is, ou logizetai to kakon, literally, does not keep books or an account-ledger of evil. Love will always keep a record of the many kindnesses it receives, but never a record of wrongs done to it. Love does not nurse grudges; it makes a concerted effort to forget all wrongs done to it. (j) Love does not rejoice at wrong. The Greek word translated wrong is adikia and means, injustice. Moffatt translates, Love is never glad when others go wrong; love is gladdened by goodness. Love does not delight in exposing the weaknesses and sins of other people. Love will agonize over the sin and condemn the sin, but will always yearn to cover and protect the person who has fallen. Some people get a certain malicious pleasure in hearing about someone else's fall or trouble. Love does not do that. Love wants the truth. Love is brave enough to face the truth. Love has nothing to conceal and so is glad when the truth prevails. But love always uses the truth to build up, never to destroy.

1 Corinthians 13:7 Reverse: Love respects and urges men to do that which is positive good. Love cherishes the righteousness that can only be done when agape-love of God is working through believers. (a) Love cherishes the bearing of all things. The Greek word is stegei. It means primarily, to protect, or preserve by coveringto keep off something that threatens, thus it came to mean to endure. Love would rather protect than attack. Love gets under the load of life and bears it to the limit. We must learn to bear offences done to us if we ever expect to be able to forgive. C.S. Lewis writes, To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casketsafe, dark, motionless, airlessit will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. the only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. We must bear one anothers burdens if we wish to fulfill Christ's law of love (Galatians 6:1-5). We must bear the distasteful task of attempting to restore wandering brethren (James 5:19-20). (b) Love wants to believe all things. Agape-love is not blind gullibility. It does not follow every kind of doctrine. Love speaks the truth (see Ephesians 4:11-16). Love is discriminating and rejoices only in the truth. But love is not innately suspicious. Love strives to ascribe the best motives to others in their actions. Love looks for the best in everyone and everything. Love takes people at their word and always hopes in their trustworthiness, as long as it can, and then mourns over those who stumble and fall. (c) Love tries to find hope in all things. When love is disappointed in someone in whom it believed love will yet hope for better things. Love never despairs completely of anyone. Jesus never considered any man hopelesshe tried to the very end to reclaim Judas Iscariot. Hope does not, of course, try to persuade itself that a thief is honest or that the criminal is innocent, but it knows God is not willing that any man should perish. So love always hopes for repentance. (d) Love endures all things. The Greek word is hupomenei, literally, remaining under. This does not mean passive resignation, but the kind of spirit which conquers its setbacks, trials and circumstances by faith in God. It is the kind of dogged constancy which hangs-in in spite of hardships and obstacles. It is the enduring love shown by the patriarch Job, who said, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth. It is the overcoming endurance of the apostle Paul who said, For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

The Christians at Corinth were eager for manifestations of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:12) but they did not have agape-love. Paul admonished them to strive to excel in building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12), but their passion for the spectacular miraculous gifts, to satisfy their egomania, was dividing and tearing down the church. In his attempt to stop this self-destruction, Paul inserts this parenthetical treatise on love and states emphatically that Christians would be much better off to have love whether they ever had a miraculous gift or not. He proves, in fact, that while Christians may get along without any miraculous gifts at all (1 Corinthians 13:8-13), they can never get along without agape-love. Love will more than make up for any lack of giftedness anyone may ever have, miraculous or otherwise. John the Baptist had no miraculous gifts, but he had love. The women who ministered to Jesus had no miraculous gifts such as the apostles had, but they had love. Dorcas had no miraculous gifts, but she had love. Love surpasses all other ways of edifying, or building the church. It surpasses all gifts of teaching, preaching, liberality, ruling, organizing, mercifulness, or whatever. Love is the supreme way. No Christian who really loves is inferior.

Applebury's Comments

Text

1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 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.

Commentary
What Love Does (4-7)

Love suffers long and is kind.If we would know the meaning of love, see it in action. Love has the quality that lasts and it is kind. These two characteristics of love if put into practice would by themselves stop most of the wrangling in churches. In all probability there were in Corinth some short-tempered men who could not look with kindness on the fact that some members of the church seemed to be more prominent than they. This was the foot saying, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. We should think of the kindness of God our Saviour and be kind to one another (Titus 3:3-5; Ephesians 4:31-32).

Love envies not.Love is not jealous of the honor or success of others. But there was jealousy in the Corinthian church because one had the gift of tongues while others had gifts that were less desirable to them. But all the gifts were distributed by the same Spirit according to His will for the benefit of all the church. Love is the antidote for jealousy in the church.

love vaunteth not itself.Love does not brag about its gifts, possessions, honors, or accomplishments. It is this spirit of the braggart that tends to produce jealousy in a church. Bragging about ability to speak in tongues was destroying the body of Christ at Corinth. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31).

is not puffed up.It isn-'t inflateda thing that arrogance and pride produce. Some of the Corinthians were puffed up over position, but failed to carry out their responsibilities in the church (1 Corinthians 5:2).

doth not behave itself unseemly.The conduct of love is not unbecoming to a Christian. Christianity is rooted and grounded in love. But much of the conduct of the church at Corinth was unbecoming to men professing to love God and claiming to be the objects of His love. They were guilty of practicing division, immorality, going to law before heathen judges, and wrangling over the possession of spiritual gifts, especially the gift of tongues. If one's conduct is unbecoming to a Christian, he needs to be shown the most excellent way, the way of love.

seeketh not its own.Selfishness was the root of much of the trouble in the church at Corinth. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? The body is not one member, but many. There is work enough and honor enough for every member of the church. Love is the axe to use to cut the root of selfishness before it bears bitterness and strife to the shame of those who call themselves the body of Christ. Paul had this to say to the Philippians, in lowliness of mind each counting others better than himself; not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:3-5).

is not provoked.It is not love that makes one irritable. We stand amazed at the gentleness of Jesus in situations that would have provoked most men, but He was the embodiment of love. The church at Corinth needed to be more Christ-like in so many ways, especially in the use of spiritual gifts. Sharp disagreement over the relative value of tongues and prophecy was making the church appear ridiculous in the eyes of the pagan community to which it was supposed to be bringing the gospel of redemption.

taketh not account of evil.Watch that man who sets down in his notebook every evil deed done to him whether real or imaginary for the purpose of getting even. Love is not his master. Whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. The church needs to remember that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth.Is it possible that there were some in Corinth who were rejoicing over the fact that the leader of the party to which they belonged had the gift of tongues even though he might have been misusing it for personal glory? Did some rejoice in the assumption that they could practice unrighteousness with impunity because they were members of the church? Love cannot rejoice in the unrighteous conduct of misguided church members. Love does rejoice with the truth. John says, I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children walking in the truth, even as we received commandment from the Father (2 John 1:4).

beareth all things.Paul spoke of bearing the hard things that he faced in his work as an apostle to the Gentiles in order to win some to Christ. The root from which the word beareth comes means a roof or a cover. Love wards off insults and injuries; love won-'t mention the unlovely traits in others; love won-'t remember the unkind deed, but is always ready to forgive. The church at Corinth with its imagined slights over the distribution of the spiritual needed so much to be shown the most excellent way.

believeth all things.Some people cannot believe that there is any good in those who do not support their views or belong to their party or follow the leader they believe to be superior. Some who followed Apollos discredited every thing that Paul did. Love looks for the good in others and is willing to believe that others not only mean well but actually do some good. Some elders cannot bring themselves to believe that the deacons are really concerned about the church. Some deacons cannot believe that it is an honor to serve in the body of Christ, but long for the promotion to the position of elder. But love for the Lord, and love for His church, and love for the lost believes that it is a privilege to serve in the most inconspicuous way that Christ might be exalted and that the lost might be saved.

hopeth all things.Gentiles once had no hope and were without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12), but in hope we were saved (Romans 8:24). Had some of the Corinthians forgotten these vital issues? Israel lost hope of the promised land as they faced the trials of the journey. Some of the Corinthians were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12). But love could say with Peter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). Is there any wonder that the Corinthians were striving for supposed superiority in the possession of spiritual gifts instead of walking the most excellent way of love?

endureth all things.Love is like the good soldier who stands up under every attack of the enemy. Love is the way to defeat schism in the body of Christ, for it leads to obedience to Him rather than human leaders.