भाष्य सध्या फक्त इंग्रजीत उपलब्ध आहे. मराठी भाषांतर प्रगतीपथावर आहे.
1 Corinthians 13 — The Love Chapter
Between two chapters about spiritual gifts, Paul interrupts to define the more excellent way. Without love, every gift is noise. With love, everything else becomes worship. The most universally beloved chapter in Paul's letters.
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13
- v.1-3 Without love, nothing else counts
- v.4-7 What love is and is not
- v.8-13 Love alone never fails — the eternal one
Paul defines love by what it does, not what it feels. Eight active verbs in verses 4-7. Love is something you do.
"Suffereth long" — Greek makrothumeo, "long-fused." Slow to anger. Patient with people who try the patience of others.
"Vaunteth not itself" — love does not boast. The truly loving do not need to announce their love.
"Seeketh not her own" — the most counter-cultural part of love. Self-protection, self-promotion, self-fulfillment are the engines of modern life. Love runs on the opposite fuel.
"Thinketh no evil" — Greek does not mean love is gullible. It means love does not keep a ledger of wrongs. No bitter accounting.
Four "all things." Notice — not most things or some things. Love is total. It does not have an off-switch when difficulty hits.
"Beareth" — Greek stego, "covers over." Love covers what does not need to be exposed. Discretion is one of love's acts.
"Believeth all things" — not naive credulity, but the disposition to believe the best until forced otherwise.
Three eternal virtues. But love is greater for one reason — in heaven, faith will become sight (no longer needed) and hope will become possession (no longer needed). Love will remain — and grow.
Love is the only one of the three that God Himself has. He does not need faith (He knows all things) or hope (He possesses all things). But God is love (1 John 4:8). That is why it is the greatest.
Read verses 4-7 substituting your own name for "charity." "Sam suffereth long, and is kind; Sam envieth not." Now read it again substituting Jesus. The first reading exposes you. The second exposes Him. Live this week trying to make the first reading sound more like the second.
The whole chapter is a portrait of Christ. Every verb in verses 4-7 was lived by Him perfectly. He suffered long with the disciples' slowness, was kind to the woman at the well, sought not His own at Calvary. The love chapter is His autobiography.
Notice what Paul is willing to reduce to noise — even the most spectacular spiritual gift. If love is missing, eloquence is just metal banging.
The Corinthian church prized impressive gifts. Paul places love above every gift, however dramatic. A quiet, loving servant is more pleasing to God than a brilliant orator without love.