Love is Patient and Kind
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
Truth Taught- Biblical love withholds judgement while extending mercy.
1 Corinthians 13:1–7 (ESV)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is one of the most loved passages within the writings of Paul. Some have said it’s one of his finest moments. It is a wonderful passage teaching us what true love is from God’s perspective. We would do well to put this text into practice and use it to guide us through this life.
As wonderful as it is it is located in a specific place in the NT. It is lodged forever in the middle of Paul’s teaching the Corinthians about spiritual gifts. He sets out to put their zeal for tongues within the broader ethical context that will ultimately disallow uninterpreted tongues to take place within the gathered assembly of the Church. The reason he is going to disallow speaking in tongues without an interpreter is it does not benefit the entire Church and it is not done out of love for others for building them up but has been used and even abused to build up oneself.
What we must see as we have made our way through the Book is that this tongues issue is not the only issue that they had problems with. If it was in isolation by itself, their only issue he may have been more accepting but it is mixed in with all the others. They were guilty of practicing and even endorsing illicit sexuality. They were greedy and very idolatrous mixing pagan practices with Christianity. They were spewing out human wisdom as if it was from God. So, now it’s time for them to be disciplined and taken down a few notches because if they were to have their version of Christianity, there would be no Gospel and no Jesus left. All they would have, is a mixture of paganism and Christianity picking and choosing which pieces to accept. The pieces they left intact were the things that glorified man and not God.
As we look together at this amazing passage, I’d like us to keep in mind something and it will be brought out in this text is that love is an act. To truly love the way God loves is to act in benevolence toward someone else.
We have been deceived by our culture to think love is a feeling that ends there. I feel love for you now but if the day comes when I don’t feel love anymore then changes will be made. So, love is not an idea that just sits there but it’s an act and behavior toward another.
This is why this Chapter is where it is, it is the mode in which all spiritual gifts are to be carried out. The gifts must be fueled by love, it is primary. The Holy Spirit coupled by love will produce a behavior that will build others up. Without love there is no true benevolent behavior, thus no working of spiritual gifts within the body, the Church.
1. Love is Primary (13:1-3)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
The beginning of Chapter 13 in verse 1 we see the purpose of the entire Chapter. 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
So, whether the Corinthians were promoting great orations spoken by gifted and trained stoics or whether they were promoting the idea of speaking in an unintelligible language of men or even an angelic language, the Apostle pushes back and tells them that if they have no love for others, their efforts at these things will be fruitless.
It seems like here in this section, the Apostle has analyzed their spiritual behavior and reduced it to one major flaw…they are doing what they’re doing and they are very busy but there is no love working. They were promoting status and influence but not love. If they would have had love for others, they would not be engaged is sexual immorality, eating at pagan temples and pressuring others to join them, not have been promoting human wisdom, not been pursuing tongues over the other gifts. They had no love for others.
So, to have love means that one will act lovingly toward others. Just like to have the gift of prophecy the person preaches. To have the gift means the gift will be exercised. To have love means you will act with love toward others within the Church.
Paul has a two-fold meaning with this first verse…first the noisy gong and clanging cymbal were just things that made noise with no real meaning…they produced an empty and hollow sound. This he says is what tongues is without an interpreter. The gift is just noise. Then there is another meaning coming from the clanging gong that took place within their former pagan worship. Here the gong just made noise in that worship. So, here again he goes back to
1 Corinthians 12:2–3 (ESV)
2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
His point is unintelligible words makes one sound like the gong of pagan worship.
Next, he moves through a series of similar sayings with the same point.
prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
For all their efforts to pursue the charismatic gifts, they had left out love. You may be the best preacher, the best Bible scholar, you may possess the faith to even move mountains, but if you don’t have love, you are nothing.
You could even make the ultimate sacrifice for Christ to die for your faith as a martyr but if there is no love, it gains you nothing.
2. What Love Truly Looks Like (13:4-7)
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Here we see the character of love from God’s perspective. Paul describes this godly love beginning with two positive points followed by a number of negatives. In this way he shows us what love is and what it is not.
Love is patient and kind- with this, he shows us that true love is at times passive and at times active. The passive side is patience and longsuffering toward others. The second is active goodness shown to others.
God is the best example of this.
Romans 2:4 (ESV)
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
God’s loving longsuffering holds back His wrath for a time in order to show His people great kindness and mercy. Paul is actually showing us what God’s love looks like.
There are times when we too in love hold back passing judgement on others or demanding even what is right. We must give time for example for the Holy Spirit to work. Sometimes the best thing to do is allow them time to discover. Then there are times when active mercy is shown. God shows kindness to those who deserve judgement. This is how we, as God’s people should interact with others.
Then we are shown what love is not…
Love does not envy-
Here Paul is using this to further show the Corinthians that their divisions over preferred teachers is not loving at all. There should be no rivalries within the Church. Envy is jealousy over someone else’s role or gifts. Love does not envy others…
Love does not boast-
Literally, love does not desire to call inordinate attention to oneself. It also means love is not being a braggard. This was exactly what many of the Corinthians were doing. They were not loving one another. Many in Corinth were leading others astray by bragging that their knowledge was superior, their wisdom was superior and their gifts were superior. They had built a wall between themselves and true wisdom.
Love is not arrogant-
Here is the idea of being puffed up. Arrogance is not a Christian behavior. Rather than thinking too highly of yourself we are to esteem others greater than us. Here again is a description of those in the Corinthian Church who were the troublemakers. They were affirming unchristian things and prideful about it.
Love is not rude-
Love does not behave shamefully. This is the picture of the arrogant women in Corinth who did not think that behaving as women in humility was something they needed to do but rather usurped the role of the men. This is pushy and forceful. Love is not like this.
This is also those who were abusing the Lord’s Table and not letting everyone participate but because of their position of wealth thought they had the right to eat all the food and drink all the wine before everyone could enter into the Lord’s Supper.
Love does not have to have its own way-
The picture here is of those who were eating and drinking at the pagan temples and wanting the rest to join them even if there were those among them whose consciences were being damaged as a result.
We do not always get to have our own way.
Love is not irritable-
Love is not easily angered…here its irritable. Love is not easily provoked to anger. As with God’s example, love is longsuffering.
Love is not resentful-
Keeping an ongoing account of wrongs committed. Love forgives and lets go rather than keeping track.
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing-
Rather than rejoicing when wrongs are committed, the Christian rather rejoices when the truth is proclaimed and when correct behavior is manifested. We do not gossip about others or find happiness when someone else fails. Love stands on the side of the Gospel and rejoices in Christ.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Here we see in general the character of true love…The Christian bears up, believes, hopes and endures. This is a proverb about love based on what we have been told. For the good of others within the Church, love acts this way.
I we are going to see what love truly looks like then we must look into the love of God. True love withholds judgement to extend mercy.
4 Love is patient and kind;
Here is perhaps one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, John 3:16. I want us to see just how clearly God is our example of what Paul describes as true love. Love withholds and extends.
John 3:16–17 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
What does God withhold? Perishing or judgement. The world of sinners deserved complete and final judgement. However, because God loves sinners, He withholds judgement.
What does God give instead? Because He loved sinners, He gives them His only Son. So, love is shown when God withholds wrath and extends mercy through Jesus His only Son.
Look at the result of God extending love and withholding wrath…
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). Notice the amazement John expresses here. What kind of love is this that we should be called the children of God? He can’t get over it. He doesn’t take this love for granted. He doesn’t hold that anyone who’s a creature is automatically a child of the Creator. John knows that to be counted a member of the family of God is a privilege granted by grace alone, and that it’s the greatest privilege any mortal could ever experience. And our being called the children of God as an expression of the incredible love of God is grounded in our adoption. We are not by nature children of God. Only by adoption are we regarded as the children of God.
We learn from God’s example that something wonderful happens when love is displayed rather than wrath.
Perhaps God is calling you to show love to someone who really and rightfully has earned your wrath. What might God do when we act as He has toward those who have sinned against Him?
Remember biblical love is acting for the good of others even to esteem them greater and more important than yourself.
Exalt Christ
Resources Used:
1 Corinthians by Gordon Fee
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