Theological Commentary: Click Here
1
Corinthians 13 is typically classified as the Love Chapter. That makes sense, as love is the focus of
nearly every sentence in this chapter!
Of the thirteen verses in this chapter, the word love doesn’t appear in
only five of them, and in one of them the pronoun it, used multiple times,
directly refers to love. This chapter
directly teaches us about love.
The question,
though, is why? Remember the greater
context of 1 Corinthians. Paul is
concerned about division and controversy.
He is concerned about the unfair treatment of some and the preferential
treatment of others. He is concerned about
the unity of the church. What better
concept to use to teach about unity than the idea of love?
After all,
what is true love all about? True love
is about the selflessness that comes when we put ourselves aside and think
about others first. Love is gentle. Love is kind.
Love does not boast. Love is not
arrogant. Love is not rude. Love bears all things and love endures all
things. Look at what all of those things
have in common. Each of those things are
accomplished when we put others ahead of ourselves.
When do we
have division? We encounter division
when people forget to love first. When
do we get a lack of trust? We get a lack
of trust when we forget to love one another first. When does the community break down? The community breaks down when we seek our
own agendas and forget to love the other person first.
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