4 Love suffereth long, `and' is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins:
Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering;
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all.
in pureness, in knowledge, in long suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned,
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; But he that harpeth on a matter separateth chief friends.
and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not.
Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not `to go' beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.
Finally, `be' ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded:
envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.
Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy;
he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but doting about questionings and disputes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth,
preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is not `a wisdom' that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.
Or think ye that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?
and in `your' godliness brotherly kindness; and in `your' brotherly kindness love.
Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? `My' Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.
And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you.
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.
And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on `his armor' boast himself as he that putteth it off.
His ways are firm at all times; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.
By pride cometh only contention; But with the well-advised is wisdom.
That which maketh a man to be desired is his kindness; And a poor man is better than a liar.
Go not forth hastily to strive, Lest `thou know not' what to do in the end thereof, When thy neighbor hath put thee to shame. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor `himself', And disclose not the secret of another; Lest he that heareth it revile thee, And thine infamy turn not away.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And the law of kindness is on her tongue.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; `and' the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: `therefore' he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, `and' to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their `other' garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
And the patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt: and God was with him,
for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?
For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means `there should be' strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;
Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; `doing' nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself; not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
In this chapter the apostle goes on to show more particularly what that more excellent way was of which he had just before been speaking. He recommends it,
1Cr 13:1-3
Here the apostle shows what more excellent way he meant, or had in view, in the close of the former chapter, namely, charity, or, as it is commonly elsewhere rendered, love-agapeµ: not what is meant by charity in our common use of the word, which most men understand of alms-giving, but love in its fullest and most extensive meaning, true love to God and man, a benevolent disposition of mind towards our fellow-christians, growing out of sincere and fervent devotion to God. This living principle of all duty and obedience is the more excellent way of which the apostle speaks, preferable to all gifts. Nay, without this the most glorious gifts are nothing, of no account to us, of no esteem in the sight of God. He specifies,
1Cr 13:4-7
The apostle gives us in these verses some of the properties and effects of charity, both to describe and commend it, that we may know whether we have this grace and that if we have not we may fall in love with what is so exceedingly amiable, and not rest till we have obtained it. It is an excellent grace, and has a world of good properties belonging to it. As,
1Cr 13:8-13
Here the apostle goes on to commend charity, and show how much it is preferable to the gifts on which the Corinthians were so apt to pride themselves, to the utter neglect, and almost extinction, of charity. This he makes out,