13 and now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these `is' love.
If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling; and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing; and if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing. The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, doth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil, rejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth; all things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth. The love doth never fail; and whether `there be' prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless;
Beloved, may we love one another, because the love is of God, and every one who is loving, of God he hath been begotten, and doth know God; he who is not loving did not know God, because God is love. In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son -- the only begotten -- hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him; in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love; God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us; in this we know that in Him we do remain, and He in us, because of His Spirit He hath given us. And we -- we have seen and do testify, that the Father hath sent the Son -- Saviour of the world; whoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him doth remain, and he in God; and we -- we have known and believed the love, that God hath in us; God is love, and he who is remaining in the love, in God he doth remain, and God in him. In this made perfect hath been the love with us, that boldness we may have in the day of the judgment, because even as He is, we -- we also are in this world; fear is not in the love, but the perfect love doth cast out the fear, because the fear hath punishment, and he who is fearing hath not been made perfect in the love;
for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith through love working.
and Jesus answered him -- `The first of all the commands `is', Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God out of all thy heart, and out of thy soul, and out of all thine understanding, and out of all thy strength -- this `is' the first command; and the second `is' like `it', this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; -- greater than these there is no other command.'
I rejoiced exceedingly that I have found of thy children walking in truth, even as a command we did receive from the Father; and now I beseech thee, Kyria, not as writing to thee a new command, but which we had from the beginning, that we may love one another, and this is the love, that we may walk according to His commands; this is the command, even as ye did hear from the beginning, that in it ye may walk,
This I turn to my heart -- therefore I hope. The kindnesses of Jehovah! For we have not been consumed, For not ended have His mercies. New every morning, abundant `is' thy faithfulness. My portion `is' Jehovah, hath my soul said, Therefore I hope for Him. Good `is' Jehovah to those waiting for Him, To the soul `that' seeketh Him. Good! when one doth stay and stand still For the salvation of Jehovah.
For ye -- to freedom ye were called, brethren, only not the freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through the love serve ye one another, for all the law in one word is fulfilled -- in this: `Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;' and if one another ye do bite and devour, see -- that ye may not by one another be consumed. And I say: In the Spirit walk ye, and the desire of the flesh ye may not complete; for the flesh doth desire contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the flesh, and these are opposed one to another, that the things that ye may will -- these ye may not do; and if by the Spirit ye are led, ye are not under law. And manifest also are the works of the flesh, which are: Adultery, whoredom, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strifes, emulations, wraths, rivalries, dissensions, sects, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revellings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that those doing such things the reign of God shall not inherit. And the fruit of the Spirit is: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
and this I pray, that your love yet more and more may abound in full knowledge, and all judgment,
and we, being of the day -- let us be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and an helmet -- a hope of salvation,
Every one who is believing that Jesus is the Christ, of God he hath been begotten, and every one who is loving Him who did beget, doth love also him who is begotten of Him: in this we know that we love the children of God, when we may love God, and His commands may keep; for this is the love of God, that His commands we may keep, and His commands are not burdensome; because every one who is begotten of God doth overcome the world, and this is the victory that did overcome the world -- our faith; who is he who is overcoming the world, if not he who is believing that Jesus is the Son of God?
for all of us it behoveth to be manifested before the tribunal of the Christ, that each one may receive the things `done' through the body, in reference to the things that he did, whether good or evil;
he who is loving his brother, in the light he doth remain, and a stumbling-block in him there is not;
who through him do believe in God, who did raise out of the dead, and glory to him did give, so that your faith and hope may be in God.
for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind;
if of any one the work doth remain that he built on `it', a wage he shall receive;
every one who hath been begotten of God, sin he doth not, because his seed in him doth remain, and he is not able to sin, because of God he hath been begotten.
Ye, then, that which ye heard from the beginning, in you let it remain; if in you may remain that which from the beginning ye did hear, ye also in the Son and in the Father shall remain,
to whom God did will to make known what `is' the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations -- which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,
and for all he died, that those living, no more to themselves may live, but to him who died for them, and was raised again.
I did write to you, fathers, because ye have known him who `is' from the beginning; I did write to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God in you doth remain, and ye have overcome the evil.
and the God of the hope shall fill you with all joy and peace in the believing, for your abounding in the hope in power of the Holy Spirit.
What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!
`And those upon the rock: They who, when they may hear, with joy do receive the word, and these have no root, who for a time believe, and in time of temptation fall away. `And that which fell to the thorns: These are they who have heard, and going forth, through anxieties, and riches, and pleasures of life, are choked, and bear not to completion. `And that in the good ground: These are they, who in an upright and good heart, having heard the word, do retain `it', and bear fruit in continuance.
and I besought for thee, that thy faith may not fail; and thou, when thou didst turn, strengthen thy brethren.'
And concerning the things sacrificed to idols, we have known that we all have knowledge: knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up;
Ye may not cast away, then, your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward,
for in hope we were saved, and hope beheld is not hope; for what any one doth behold, why also doth he hope for `it'? and if what we do not behold we hope for, through continuance we expect `it'.
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,