1 John 4:8 - He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:16 - And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.
Corinth was an important and wealthy city on the isthmus (narrow strip of land) separating Northern and Southern Greece. The Apostle Paul spent 18 months there on his Second Missionary Journey and established a church there. Acts 18
The Greek language solves these ambiguities by having three words for love—eros, philos, and agape(pronounced uh-GAH-pay).
• Eros is romantic or sexual love.
• Philos is brotherly love—friendship love—companionship love.
• Agape has to do with a concern for the well-being of the other person.
When Jesus says that the two most important commandments are “love the Lord your God” and “love your neighbor as yourself,” (Matthew 22:37-39) he uses the verb agapao rather than phileo. In his great love chapter (1 Corinthians 13), Paul uses agape exclusively.
Agape love requires action. It requires us to demonstrate our love in some practical fashion. An agape person will do what is possible to feed the hungry—and to give drink to the thirsty—and to welcome the stranger—and to clothe the naked—and to visit the sick and the person in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). Those are the kinds of actions we will pursue if we truly love others with agape love.
“If I dole out (psomiso) all my goods” (v. 3a). Paul uses it to speak of feeding a hungry enemy (Romans 12:20). When Paul speaks here of giving away all his possessions, the implication is that this charity is done in behalf of the poor—to give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, etc. Jesus made it clear in Matthew 25:31-46 that he values such actions, and the person who does them can expect to be rewarded (the story of the rich young man in Mark 10:17-22). However, Paul says that even sacrificial giving in behalf of the needy confers nothing on the donor if the giving is done in the absence of love.
“and if I hand over my body so that I may boast” (v. 3b). There is a textual problem here. Some manuscripts read, “if I hand over my body so that I may boast,” which could suggest selling oneself into slavery and using the proceeds in behalf of the needy. Other manuscripts read, “if I hand over my body to be burnt,” which suggests martyrdom by fire.
The arguments in favor of each option are complex, but it isn’t necessary for us to resolve them here. Whichever option we choose, the idea is of supreme sacrifice—giving oneself wholly and without reservation.
“but don’t have love (agape), it profits me nothing” (v. 3c). But Paul says that even great sacrifice, in the absence of love, gains the person nothing. In other words, God will not reward a person for sacrificial giving done in the absence of love. This should serve as a warning to people who might expect to buy their way into heaven by over-the-top charitable giving. That kind of charity, done for selfish reasons rather than out of love, won’t succeed in gaining them any benefit.
4Love is patient and is kind love doesn’t envy Love doesn’t brag is not proud 5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately doesn’t seek its own way is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
“Love is patient” (v. 4a). Is to be long-suffering, to endure irritants without allowing one’s anger to lash out in retaliation.
This kind of patience is characteristic of God, who is “merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). This love grows out of Yahweh’s commitment to the covenant relationship with Israel. In many cases, Yahweh punished Israel for its sins—but always as discipline designed to foster repentance rather than as punishment designed to destroy. Yahweh kept coming back—kept finding ways to restore Israel, God loved.
Now God calls us to that same kind of long-suffering love for each other.
“and is kind” (v. 4b). The word, like agape, is an action-word. It suggests being helpful doing good works. The patience of verse 4a involves restraint holding back negative action. The kindness of verse 4b involves action—stepping forward to solve a problem or to share a burden or to meet a need.
“love doesn’t envy” (v. 4c). In the context of this verse, it suggests an intense desire for something that belongs to someone else jealousy or covetousness or envy. A person who succumbs to cannot love the other person.
“Love doesn’t brag” (v. 4c). The person who is focused on the welfare of the other person cannot at the same time be self-centered and egotistical. Once again, love and boastfulness are like oil and water. They cannot abide together.
So the person who loves another with agape love will try to lift up the other person rather than boasting of his/her own accomplishments.
“is not proud” (v. 4d). This is the word that is sometimes translated “puffed up” (4:6). The person who loves another with agape love will try to build up the other person rather than trying to puff up his/her own reputation.
“doesn’t behave itself inappropriately” (v. 5a). It seems odd that this word is part of verse 5 rather than verse 4. It fits better with “boastful or arrogant” than with the words that follow.
“It does not insist on its own way” (v. 5b). The person who loves another with agape love cannot at the same time be selfish and demanding of his/her own prerogatives. Agape love and selfishness are mutually exclusive.
“doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil“ (v. 5c). Not being irritable or resentful is related to patience. The person who is not irritable or resentful doesn’t have a quick temper—and doesn’t harbor resentments.
Once again, this is a characteristic of God, who is long suffering and who calls us to emulate this Godly behavior.
“doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness“ (v. 6a). There is something in us that loves to watch a powerful business man crash and burn. There is something in us that is happy to see a proud person humbled or a powerful person defanged. There is something in us that loves to gossip.
But none of those attitudes have been implanted in us by God. They are evidence of our sinful natures. The person who loves with agape love will rejoice with those who are rejoicing and grieve with those who are grieving.
“but rejoices with the truth“ (v. 6b). In the context of this scripture, it refers to behavior that is true to Godly standards—upright behavior. The one who loves with agape love will not rejoice in another person’s downfall, but will rejoice when the other person does what is right.
“bears (stegei) all things” (v. 7a). Paul has been telling us what agape love does not do. Now he tells us what it does do. First, agape love bears all things. Is to forbear or to endure.
“believes all things” (v. 7b). The person who “believes all things” is the opposite of a skeptic, whose basic approach to life is to doubt or disbelieve. The one who loves with agape love is optimistic, and is disposed to believe the best rather than the worst about people.
“hopes all things” (v. 7c). The person who loves with agape love doesn’t give up easily on the other person. He/she can recognize that there is a problem, but hopes to resolve the problem. He/she maintains an optimistic, positive attitude rather than a pessimistic, negative attitude.
“endures all things” (v. 7d). It suggests a “hunkered down,” defensive posture that endures and perseveres in the face of hardship.
These verses raise a pastoral question. Is there a point beyond which a loving person is not required to bear, believe, hope, and endure? What about a person who is married to an alcoholic or a drug addict or an adulterer or a chronic gambler or a violent, abusive person?Is there a point beyond which God does not expect such people to bear, believe, hope, and endure?
Paul has made it clear that love rejects jealousy, bragging, arrogance, unseemliness, selfishness, anger, resentment, and unrighteousness. It does not bear, believe, hope, or endure lies, false teaching, or anything else that is not of God. By all things Paul is speaking of all things acceptable in God’s righteousness and will, of everything within the Lord’s divine tolerance” (MacArthur).
We need to be careful not to confuse bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring with passivity. Passivity in the face of evil solves nothing. It took military might, not forbearance, to stop Hitler. It takes well-trained police to stop violent criminals. So also, on a more personal level, it can take well-planned confrontation to deal lovingly with a dysfunctional family member.
Paul, in these verses, is commending, not passivity, but love. Note that most of this letter to the Corinthians is confrontive. The Corinthian Christians are engaged in a number of practices that are not in keeping with God’s will, and Paul is doing everything he can to persuade them to change. That kind of active, confrontational love should serve as a model for us when dealing with dysfunctional people.
Most professionals working in the addiction treatment field don’t advise family members to sit back and take it. Instead, they advise intervention—and can often help family members plan an intervention. They advise confronting the alcoholic with choices—quit drinking or lose his/her job—quit drink or lose his/her family. They don’t do this in anger, but in love. The confrontation is intended to be redemptive—is designed to help the addicted person to move away from self-destructive behavior into a more positive lifestyle—and to provide the addict’s family with a safe, wholesome environment.
Bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring need not be passive. In many situations, the loving thing is to confront the person who needs to change his/her lifestyle.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
“Love never fails” (v. 8a). Paul now contrasts love with three of the spiritual gifts—prophecy, speaking in tongues, and knowledge. Love will never come to an end, but the need for spiritual gifts is temporary. Paul is thinking eschatologically (end of time—Jesus’ Second Coming). In this verse, he contrasts what we experience in this world with what we can expect to experience once the kingdom of God is fully realized.
Yahweh models the unending nature of agape love in his covenant relationship with the Israelite people. Time and again those people failed to be faithful and time and again Yahweh punished them. Those punishments, however, were redemptive rather than destructive. Yahweh allowed the Israelites to suffer for their sins, but Yahweh always provided a way back from their suffering. He redeemed them time after time. That should serve as a model for us. We need to maintain a loving spirit that acts to redeem those who fail us.
Also, love is unending in the sense that it will continue into eternity. When the kingdom of God is fully realized, love will be the chief characteristic of all relationships.
“But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with“ (v. 8b). Unlike love, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and knowledge will come to an end when the kingdom of God is fully realized. It isn’t that they aren’t good gifts, but that they are useful only in this world. They won’t be necessary once the kingdom of God is fully realized.
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Faith and hope are important for the present, but won’t be needed in the age to come. For the time being, we know God by faith and have hope for the future. When God’s kingdom has fully come, we will know God face to face and will embrace the future.
Love is in a different category. It will be as applicable in the New Age as it is in this one. The primary difference is that we love imperfectly now, but will love perfectly then—even as God has loved us. It is the sine qua non (that without which nothing) of the Christian faith.
