4 Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;
And most of all be warm in your love for one another; because in love there is forgiveness for sins without number:
As saints of God, then, holy and dearly loved, let your behaviour be marked by pity and mercy, kind feeling, a low opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and a power of undergoing all things;
My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another.
And our desire is that you will keep control over those whose lives are not well ordered, giving comfort to the feeble-hearted, supporting those with little strength, and putting up with much from all.
In a clean heart, in knowledge, in long waiting, in being kind, in the Holy Spirit, in true love,
He who keeps a sin covered is looking for love; but he who keeps on talking of a thing makes division between friends.
And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.
My brothers, it is because of you that I have taken Apollos and myself as examples of these things, so that in us you might see that it is not wise to go farther than what is in the holy Writings, so that no one of you may be lifted up against his brother.
Last of all, see that you are all in agreement; feeling for one another, loving one another like brothers, full of pity, without pride:
Envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting, and such things: of which I give you word clearly, even as I did in the past, that they who do such things will have no part in the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith,
Let us not be full of self-glory, making one another angry, having envy of one another.
Though some are preaching Christ out of envy and competition, others do it out of a good heart:
Full of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may undergo all troubles with joy;
He has an over-high opinion of himself; being without knowledge, having only an unhealthy love of questionings and wars of words, from which come envy, fighting, cruel words, evil thoughts,
Gently guiding those who go against the teaching; if by chance God may give them a change of heart and true knowledge,
Be preaching the word at all times, in every place; make protests, say sharp words, give comfort, with long waiting and teaching;
For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.
But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true. This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One. For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing. But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.
Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?
And love of the brothers to fear of God, and to love of the brothers, love itself.
In this we see what love is, because he gave his life for us; and it is right for us to give our lives for the brothers. But if a man has this world's goods, and sees that his brother is in need, and keeps his heart shut against his brother, how is it possible for the love of God to be in him? My little children, do not let our love be in word and in tongue, but let it be in act and in good faith.
And in place of feeling sorrow, you are pleased with yourselves, so that he who has done this thing has not been sent away from among you.
Now Rachel, because she had no children, was full of envy of her sister; and she said to Jacob, If you do not give me children I will not go on living.
Now David had said, What was the use of my taking care of this man's goods in the waste land, so that there was no loss of anything which was his? he has only given me back evil for good. May God's punishment be on David, if when morning comes there is so much as one male of his people still living.
A blessing on your good sense and on you, who have kept me today from the crime of blood and from taking into my hands the punishment for my wrongs. For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.
Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands. And the king of Israel said in answer, Say to him, The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms, but when he is taking them off.
His ways are ever fixed; your decisions are higher than he may see: as for his haters, they are as nothing to him.
The only effect of pride is fighting; but wisdom is with the quiet in spirit.
The ornament of a man is his mercy, and a poor man is better than one who is false.
Do not be quick to go to law about what you have seen, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbour has put you to shame? Have a talk with your neighbour himself about your cause, but do not give away the secret of another: Or your hearer may say evil of you, and your shame will not be turned away.
Her mouth is open to give out wisdom, and the law of mercy is on her tongue.
The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride. Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of wrath, and the form of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: and he gave orders that the fire was to be heated up seven times more than it was generally heated. And he gave orders to certain strong men in his army to put cords on Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and put them into the burning and flaming fire. Then these men had cords put round them as they were, in their coats, their trousers, their hats, and their clothing, and were dropped into the burning and flaming fire. And because the king's order was not to be put on one side, and the heat of the fire was so great, the men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were burned to death by the flame of the fire.
But be loving to those who are against you and do them good, and give them your money, not giving up hope, and your reward will be great and you will be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to evil men, and to those who have hard hearts. Be full of pity, even as your Father is full of pity.
And the brothers, moved with envy against Joseph, gave him to the Egyptians for money: but God was with him,
Because you are still in the flesh: for when there is envy and division among you, are you not still walking after the way of the flesh, even as natural men?
For I have a fear that, when I come, you may not be answering to my desire, and that I may not be answering to yours; that there may be fighting, hate, angry feeling, divisions, evil talk about others, secrets, thoughts of pride, outbursts against authority;
So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk,
If then there is any comfort in Christ, any help given by love, any uniting of hearts in the Spirit, any loving mercies and pity, Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind; Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself; Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,
With right behaviour as in the day; not in pleasure-making and drinking, not in bad company and unclean behaviour, not in fighting and envy.
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,