Passage Explorer

1 Corinthians 13

Setting the scene
Who wrote it
Paul
Who it was for
The church in Corinth
What was happening
Love: the more excellent way that makes every gift worth something
Read the full background in the book overview

What’s happening

Paul says that if he speaks in the tongues of men and of angels but has not love, he is a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If he has prophecy, knows all mysteries and all knowledge, has all faith to move mountains, gives away all he has, even hands over his body to be burned, but has not love, he gains nothing. Then he describes love: it is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. "Love never fails." Prophecies will pass away, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass away, for we know in part and prophesy in part; when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When Paul was a child, he spoke, thought, and reasoned like a child; when he became a man, he put childish ways behind him. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I also am fully known." "But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three. The greatest of these is love."

Why the setting matters

This chapter is often read alone, as a poem for weddings, but it sits in the middle of Paul's argument about spiritual gifts in chapters 12 to 14. The Corinthians prized tongues, knowledge, and spiritual status, and Paul says that without love these are worth nothing. Each line of the description of love can be read as a contrast with Corinthian behavior: they were jealous, boastful, arrogant, insisting on their rights, and quick to take offense. The "mirror" (13:12) in a Greek city like Corinth, famous for bronze work, was polished metal, which gave a blurred reflection, so "seeing dimly" is a good picture of present knowledge. "When the perfect comes" (13:10) is debated: most read it as the final coming of Christ, when we see face to face, while others think it refers to the completion of the church or of Scripture; the surrounding verses about "face to face" fit the first better. The chapter does not say that gifts are bad, only that they are partial and temporary and that love is permanent.

Read 1 Corinthians 13 (World English Bible)

Who’s in this chapter

Paul

Describes the way of love, using himself as an example.

The believers in Corinth

Eager for gifts, and called to love.

Talk it through

  1. Paul lists impressive acts, including martyrdom, and says they are worthless without love. What does that say about how we measure faithfulness?
  2. Read the description of love as a mirror for the Corinthians' behavior. Which lines hit hardest?
  3. "We know in part." How does that help in disagreements about what is true or important?
  4. Why is love "the greatest" of faith, hope, and love?

Read 1 Corinthians 13

World English Bible

1If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.

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, and endures all things. 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. 13But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.

Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources