1 Corinthians 13:1-10

The Excellence of Love

1 If I speak with the 1tongues of men and of 2angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a 3clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of 4prophecy, and know all 5mysteries and all 6knowledge; and if I have 7all faith, so as to 8remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I 9give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I 10surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love 11is patient, love is kind and 12is not jealous; love does not brag and is not 13arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it 14does not seek its own, is not provoked, 15does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 16does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but 17rejoices with the truth;
7 18bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of 19prophecy, they will be done away; if there are 20tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we 21know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

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1 Corinthians 13:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 13

This chapter is taken up in the commendation of the grace of charity, or love, which is preferred to all gifts whatsoever; is described by its properties and effects, and particularly its duration; on which account it is represented as more excellent than other principal graces. The apostle prefers it to gifts, by which it appears to be the more excellent way, he speaks of in the latter part of the preceding chapter: he begins with the gift of tongues, which without charity makes a man noisy, but not spiritual, 1Co 13:1 he next mentions the gifts of knowledge of the mysteries of the Gospel, and of preaching them; and also the gift of working miracles, on the account of which a man thinks himself something, and yet with all these, not having the grace of love, he is nothing, 1Co 13:2 to which he adds alms deeds and martyrdom, and observes, that a man may do the one in the most extensive manner, and suffer the other in the most dreadful shape; and yet if love be wanting, from whence, as a principle, all actions and sufferings should flow, these will be of no avail, 1Co 13:3 and then the apostle proceeds to describe and commend this grace, by its effects and properties, and that in sixteen particulars; by which it appears to be exceeding useful, and what adorns and recommends the person possessed of it, 1Co 13:4-8 and enlarges upon the last, namely, the duration and perpetuity of it; showing that the gifts of knowledge, speaking with tongues, and preaching, shall fail, but this will not, 1Co 13:8 the failure of these gifts he proves from the imperfection of them, which therefore must be removed in a perfect state of things, 1Co 13:9,10 this he illustrates, by comparing the present imperfect state to childhood, and the future one to manhood, which he exemplifies in himself, 1Co 13:11 the imperfect knowledge of the one he compares to looking at objects through a glass, and to an enigma, riddle, or dark saying; and the perfect knowledge of the other, to seeing face to face, without any artificial help, 1Co 13:12 and he concludes this excellent commendation of charity by observing, that it is not only preferable to gifts, but even to graces, and these the more eminent, and which are abiding graces too, as faith and hope; and yet charity exceeds these, both as to its duration and use, 1Co 13:13.

Cross References 21

  • 1. 1 Corinthians 12:10
  • 2. 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 14:2
  • 3. Psalms 150:5
  • 4. Matthew 7:22; Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Corinthians 13:8; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 39
  • 5. 1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 15:51
  • 6. Romans 15:14
  • 7. 1 Corinthians 12:9
  • 8. Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23
  • 9. Matthew 6:2
  • 10. Daniel 3:28
  • 11. Proverbs 10:12; Proverbs 17:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 1 Peter 4:8
  • 12. Acts 7:9
  • 13. 1 Corinthians 4:6
  • 14. 1 Corinthians 10:24; Philippians 2:21
  • 15. 2 Corinthians 5:19
  • 16. 2 Thessalonians 2:12
  • 17. 2 John 4; 3 John 3
  • 18. 1 Corinthians 9:12
  • 19. 1 Corinthians 13:2
  • 20. 1 Corinthians 13:1
  • 21. 1 Corinthians 8:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12

Footnotes 3

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