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⭐""Love" here doesn't just mean to have affections for. It is from the Greek root word agapao, which many are more familiar with through the noun agape. To agape-love someone is a choice. It is to choose to see them in a favorable light. To choose to delight in them. And to choose to faithfully act on their behalf. When we agape-love God, we see Him as honorable, true, and loving. We trust Him and respond to that trust with obedience."




Jesus adds more nuance to this love. "Heart" is from the Greek root word kardia, and means the center of one's life, whether physical, spiritual, or mental. The heart drives one's beliefs, emotions, thoughts, and intentions. "Soul" is from the Greek root word psychē which is similar to the heart, but focuses on the vital force that keeps us alive. "Mind" is not found in the original Old Testament quote (Deuteronomy 6:5), but is certainly appropriate to add for an audience influenced by more logical Greek culture. It comes from the Greek root word dianoia and, again, has a similar definition to heart but with a more mental bent.

So, "heart…soul…and mind" cover every aspect of our personalities, being, and thoughts, and everything which influences our feelings, beliefs, desires, and intentions.

"Strength" is a little different. It is from the Greek root word ischyos, and means force, power, and ability. The original Hebrew is from the root word me'ōde, which is also translated as "greatly, exceedingly, and diligently." This "strength," also translated into English as "might," is the effort and passion with which we love God. Where the heart, soul, and mind direct how we feel and what we do, might is the force that determines the extent.

...God's laws are not meant to control us, they are meant to describe what it means to love...  "Love God" is the basis for all the laws, including loving others: we cannot know how to properly love others if we don't first love God... To know God, to understand and accept and live out of the knowledge that He is God and there is no other, is the foundation for love.

⭐ritual means nothing without obedience of the heart. The scribes have spent centuries adding to the Mosaic law, trying to create a hedge so that the people will obey God and God won't punish the nation. Here, the scribe not only ignores those extra laws, he dismisses the ceremonial law as irrelevant compared to the ethical law of know God, loving Him, and loving others...
The supremacy of love to offerings and sacrifices is well established in the Old Testament. God established the sacrificial system to cover the sins of the Israelites and allow them a ceremonial outlet with which to show their thankfulness. But the sacrificial system would be all but unnecessary if they just obeyed the law (1 Samuel 15:22; Proverbs 21:3), and the ultimate point of the Law is to show how they are to love God and others (Hosea 6:6)...
if we know God, love God, and love others, we will fulfill the whole Law... this three-fold commandment even trumps the system of offerings and sacrifices God developed to cover the sins of the Israelites and honor Him.

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⭐‼️Godly love, from a godly perspective, is defined by what Christians do or do not do. It is not primarily about feelings; nor is it mostly the words which describe them. Love is action: the choice to do or not do in relationships with all other Christians... Paul describes love as a series of action verbs, seven positive and seven negative. These define the character of godly, self-sacrificing love, from the Greek term agape... [which] describes God's unconditional love for His children and how He intends for us to love each other. 

Love is patient. Love actively waits for others without resentment. This would include being patient in the face of being hurt or mistreated.

Love is kind. Beyond mere politeness, kindness involves acting for the good of others even when it does not benefit ourselves.

Love does not envy. Envy was alive and active in the Corinthian church, perhaps including the envy of the spiritual gifts and financial success of others. Love sets self aside and celebrates the successes of Christian brothers and sisters.

Love does not boast. Boasting is the work of self-promotion in obvious and subtle ways. Love quits that job and goes to work praising God and other believers, instead.

Love is not arrogant or "puffed up." Arrogance involves confidence in oneself above all others and the expectation that everyone else should feel the same way. Love removes the obstacle of self from the purpose of serving others well.

Love is not rude. To be rude is to act "indecently." Rudeness was on display in the church in Corinth in their disorderly worship services and selfish communion meals (1 Corinthians 11:17–22), as well as in the man who was sleeping with his father's wife (1 Corinthians 5:1–2). Rudeness insists on self-expression and self-gratification at the expense of the feelings and experience of others.

Love does not insist on its own way. It is not self-seeking. Love yields. Much of the Corinthian church's problems would have disappeared if they focused on looking for ways to meet each other's needs before satisfying their own.

Love is not irritable or easily angered. A quick temper is often evidence of viewing other people as obstacles to reaching one's own goals. Love views serving other people as the goal itself, removing one reason to flare up when they get in our way.

Love is not resentful. It does not keep a record of wrongs. Natural human instinct is to keep score, to get even, to hold on to hurt feelings against those who have mistreated us. Christlike love follows the pattern of Ephesians 4:32, recognizing the great sin God has forgiven in us through Christ and turning to do the same for those who sin against us.

Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, or unrighteousness or injustice. In short, love does not delight in evil. Paul may have been referring to several specific issues among the Christians in Corinth, but this statement is true in all cases. Anytime a believer finds him- or herself tempted to root for or enjoy injustice or wrong choices, we can know we are not motivated by love for God or for each other.

Why would anyone rejoice over wrongdoing? Perhaps we root for someone who has been wronged to get revenge. Perhaps we pick a side and cheer for one believer to defeat another in a lawsuit (1 Corinthians 6:1–11). Perhaps we enjoy seeing two people connect in a romantic relationship despite its sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1–2).

In such cases, our motive is not love for brothers and sisters in Christ.

Love does rejoice with the truth, however. The truth, no matter how difficult it may be, is always the best path through any situation. It is the way of and to Christ, who is the Truth (John 14:6). Wanting what is true to be understood and accepted by others is one way we express love.

Paul has piled on descriptors to show what Christian love does and does not do, it has become clear that love sets itself aside for the good of others. More precisely, those who love as Christ does set themselves aside to meet the needs of other Christians. It turns out, loving as Jesus loves is hard.

Now Paul shows that God's love is, in a sense, inexhaustible. It places no limits on its commitment to other believers.

Love bears all things. Love doesn't say, "this far and no further." Love is not limited by what is reasonable or by what other people would be willing to put up with. This does not mean that someone should allow him- or herself to continually be wounded, physically or otherwise, by other believers or family members. Sometimes love bears pain from a safe and legal distance, but truly godly love doesn't quit when others become annoying or difficult to deal with.

Love believes all things. Does this make love gullible? No, the choice to believe those who may be deceiving us removes the burden to catch others in the act of lying and projects onto them a respect they may or may not deserve. The one who is loved carries the burden to be truthful or to be held accountable to God, rather than to us.

Love hopes all things. Love roots for victory in others, for good to win, for truth to come out. In the Bible, hope is more than just a wish, it is a confidence that God will do as He says. Paul began this letter by saying to the Corinthians that Christ will "sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8). His confident hope for them was one evidence of his love for them.

Love endures all things. Christians face hard times. Those who choose to love as Jesus does do not stop loving when life becomes difficult. Love for God and others endures through tough days and long nights.



 

ESV NIV NASB CSB NLT KJV NKJV 

1 Corinthians

13

Verse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 Corinthians 13:8

ESVLove never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

NIVLove never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

NASBLove never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

CSBLove never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

NLTProphecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

KJVCharity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

NKJVLove never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

What does 1 Corinthians 13:8 mean?

Paul ends his description of God's kind of love, using the Greek term agape. This is an unselfish, sacrificial, active love, different from romantic or brotherly love, which use the terms eros and phileo, respectively. Wrapping up this section, Paul introduces a statement that may make believers feel it is truly impossible to love as God does, after all: Love never fails.

However, the truth of this statement does not mean no human can ever love as Christ does. It is true that believers will sometimes fail to love. When we do choose to love in this selfless, sacrificing way, love will not fail to be effective. One person's choice to love, selflessly, never fails to build up the church in a powerful way.

The other way in which love never fails is that love is eternal. Selfless love will continue in the Lord and in His people forever. It is absolutely the way we will live in relationship with each other in eternity. Examples of selfless love in the present are glimpses of the normal state of things in eternity... God's love... and our reflection of it to each other, will go on endlessly.


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We're used to thinking of temptation as an enticement to do something wrong. At its core, however, all temptation is an attempt to draw someone away from God. Jesus explains this could be by keeping them from serving (Mark 9:38) or discouraging them from approaching Jesus (Mark 10:13–16). We need to seriously consider our church culture and whether we have established rules that keep others from fulfilling their God-given responsibilities of serving Him or learning more about Him.


Jesus is saying that we should take practical steps to prevent real sin. The examples He gives—to cut off hands or feet, or pluck out eyes—are all things we do to ourselves. Our first reaction when facing temptation should be to control ourselves, not other people. That's not always our first instinct. In contrast, when faced with a fellow believer who can afford a nice car, we may sing the praises of a more modest life to cover up our own jealousy. When beset by sexual temptation, we may rail against people who dress in a way that grabs our attention. When driving, we may get angry at other drivers, pedestrians, and the traffic engineers who set the timing on traffic lights rather than admit we have an issue loving other drivers made in the image of God.

Whatever temptation we are faced with, we need to go to God with it first. It may be that He will lead us to gently rebuke someone who unwittingly tempts others to sin; Jesus does say that it would be better to die than lead someone into sin (Mark 9:42). But we must never blame them for our lack of self-control. Our sin nature is our own, and is to be dealt with through the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), practical steps, the encouragement and prayers of fellow Christians, and the work of the Holy Spirit.