1 Corinthians 13
Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6 Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Notlar
- 3 SBL, NE, BYZ, and TR surrender my body to be burned
About this passage
1 Corinthians 13 is Paul's chapter on love, written to a church in Corinth that was divided and proud of its spiritual gifts. It sits between chapter 12 on spiritual gifts and chapter 14 on speaking in tongues and prophecy, and is part of his argument that love matters more than any gift.
The chapter has three parts. It says that gifts, knowledge and even great sacrifice are nothing without love, then lists what love is and is not, including patient, kind, and not envious or proud. It ends by saying that prophecies and tongues will pass away, while faith, hope and love remain, and the greatest of these is love.
It is a popular reading at weddings, though Paul was addressing a whole community rather than a couple. Scholars date the letter to the mid-first century. Translations differ on the Greek word agape, rendered as love or charity.
- Love
- Spiritual gifts
- Faith, hope and love
- Patience and kindness
Questions
Who wrote 1 Corinthians 13?
The letter is attributed to the apostle Paul, and most scholars accept this. It was written to the church in Corinth around the middle of the first century, with Sosthenes named as a co-sender at the start.
Is 1 Corinthians 13 about marriage?
It is often read at weddings, but Paul wrote it about how members of a church should treat one another. Its description of love fits many relationships, which is why people use it for marriage too.
What does love never fails mean?
Paul contrasts love with gifts such as prophecy and knowledge, which are partial and will end, while love lasts. Some translators render the Greek as love never ends. Readers differ on exactly when the partial passes away.