1 Corinthians 13

Introduction

First Corinthians 13 is perhaps the most beloved chapter in all of Paul's letters, yet it is frequently read in isolation from its context -- at weddings, funerals, and devotional readings -- as a timeless meditation on love. While it certainly is that, Paul did not write it as a stand-alone poem. It sits at the heart of a three-chapter argument about spiritual gifts (chapters 12-14). In chapter 12, Paul has insisted that every member of the body of Christ possesses gifts distributed by the Spirit, and that no gift makes one member superior to another. In chapter 14, he will give practical instructions for the orderly use of gifts -- especially prophecy and tongues -- in corporate worship. Chapter 13 is the bridge between these two discussions: it identifies love as the indispensable quality without which even the most spectacular spiritual gifts are worthless. Paul's famous closing line in chapter 12 -- "And now I will show you the most excellent way" (12:31b) -- is the direct introduction to this chapter.

The Corinthian church was intoxicated with spiritual gifts, particularly tongues, and used them as markers of spiritual status. Some members considered themselves more spiritual than others because they possessed more dramatic gifts. Paul's response is not to diminish the gifts but to subordinate them to something greater. Love (agape) is not itself a spiritual gift in Paul's lists; it is the atmosphere in which all gifts must operate if they are to accomplish anything. Without love, the most eloquent speech is noise, the most impressive knowledge is hollow, and the most radical self-sacrifice is pointless. Paul describes love not in abstract or sentimental terms but as a set of concrete behaviors -- patience, kindness, humility, perseverance -- that address the very sins tearing the Corinthian congregation apart. The chapter thus functions as both a lyrical masterpiece and a sharp pastoral rebuke.

The Necessity of Love (vv. 1--3)

BSB

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Translation

If I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a resounding piece of bronze or a clashing cymbal.

And if I have prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And even if I dole out all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Notes

• ἀγάπη (agapē, "love") -- This is the word that dominates the entire chapter, appearing nine times. In classical Greek, agapē was a relatively rare and colorless word. It was the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) and early Christian usage that filled it with theological weight, making it the primary term for God's covenant love and the self-giving love that flows from it. Paul deliberately chose agapē over erōs (romantic/passionate love, never used in the New Testament) and philia (friendship, mutual affection). Agapē denotes a love that is not driven by the attractiveness of the object or by emotional reciprocity, but by the will and character of the one who loves. It is the word used of God's love for the world in John 3:16 and of Christ's self-sacrificial love in Ephesians 5:2. Paul's point is that this kind of love -- deliberate, self-giving, other-oriented -- is the one thing without which all spiritual gifts are emptied of value.

• γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων ... καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων (glōssais tōn anthrōpōn ... kai tōn angelōn, "tongues of humans ... and of angels") -- The word γλῶσσα (glōssa) means both "tongue" (the physical organ) and "language." Paul begins with the gift the Corinthians prized most: tongues. The phrase "tongues of angels" is likely hyperbolic -- even if someone could speak the very language of heaven, without love it would be worthless. Some scholars suggest Paul is alluding to a Corinthian claim that their glossolalia was angelic speech. Whether or not that is the case, the rhetorical escalation is clear: Paul goes from the highest possible human eloquence to supernatural speech, and declares both meaningless without love.

• χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον (chalkos ēchōn ē kymbalon alalazon, "resounding bronze or clashing cymbal") -- The word χαλκός (chalkos) means "bronze" or "copper" -- here likely a bronze gong or resonating vessel. The verb ἠχέω (ēcheō, "to resound, echo") describes a hollow, reverberating sound. The word ἀλαλάζω (alalazō, "to clang, wail") is striking: in other contexts it means "to wail" in grief (Mark 5:38) or to raise a war cry. It is onomatopoetic -- the repeated al-al sound mimics the harsh noise itself. Both images evoke sound without meaning, volume without content. In Corinth, a city famous for its bronze-working, and in a culture where cymbals and gongs featured in the ecstatic worship of pagan cults (such as the worship of Cybele and Dionysus), these images would have been particularly pointed: loveless tongue-speaking is indistinguishable from pagan noise.

• καυχήσωμαι (kauchēsōmai, "so that I may boast") -- This is the reading followed by the BSB's base text (NA28), though the BSB translation renders it "exult in the surrender of my body." There is a famous textual variant here: some manuscripts read καυθήσωμαι (kauthēsomai, "so that I may be burned") or καυθήσομαι (kauthēsomai), referring to martyrdom by fire. The difference in Greek is a single letter -- χ versus θ. The earliest and best manuscripts (including P46, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Sinaiticus) support kauchēsōmai ("boast"), which is the harder reading and thus more likely original: a scribe would more readily change "boast" to "be burned" (to match the theme of self-sacrifice) than the reverse. If "boast" is correct, Paul's point is even sharper: even if I give away everything I own and surrender my body for the sake of glorying in my own sacrifice, without love it profits me nothing. Self-sacrifice can itself become a form of self-promotion.

• ψωμίζω (psōmizō, "to feed, to dole out in morsels") -- This verb means to break bread into small pieces and feed someone by hand, morsel by morsel. It conveys not just giving but personal, hands-on, painstaking generosity -- doling out one's possessions piece by piece to feed the hungry. The word appears only here and in Romans 12:20 (quoting Proverbs 25:21) in the New Testament. Paul envisions the most radical possible generosity: giving away everything one has, one handful at a time. Yet even this -- exhaustive, personal, sacrificial giving -- is nothing without love as its animating motive.

The Character of Love (vv. 4--7)

BSB

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Translation

Love is patient; love shows kindness. It does not burn with envy; it does not brag; it is not inflated with arrogance.

It does not behave disgracefully; it does not seek its own interests; it is not provoked to sharp anger; it does not keep a record of wrongs suffered.

It does not rejoice over injustice, but rejoices together with the truth.

It bears up under all things, trusts through all things, hopes through all things, endures all things.

Notes

• μακροθυμεῖ (makrothymei, "is patient, has a long fuse") -- This verb is composed of makros ("long, far") and thymos ("passion, anger, wrath"). It literally means "to be long-tempered" -- the opposite of being short-tempered. In the Septuagint, this word and its cognates are used to describe God's own character: "The LORD is slow to anger (makrothymos) and abounding in steadfast love" (Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalm 86:15). Paul places this attribute first, and it is no accident: the Corinthians were a community riven by impatience with one another -- factions, lawsuits, fights over status at the Lord's Supper. Love begins by bearing long with the failures and offenses of others, precisely as God does.

• χρηστεύεται (chrēsteuetai, "shows kindness") -- This verb appears only here in all of Greek literature -- Paul may have coined it from the adjective χρηστός (chrēstos, "kind, good, useful"). The adjective chrēstos is used of God's kindness in Romans 2:4 ("the riches of his kindness") and Luke 6:35 ("he is kind to the ungrateful and evil"). It is noteworthy that chrēstos sounds nearly identical to Christos ("Christ") in spoken Greek -- a phonetic similarity that early Christians were aware of (cf. the common misspelling Chrestianoi for Christianoi in ancient sources). Love is not merely passive endurance; it actively does good to others.

• φυσιοῦται (physioutai, "is inflated, puffed up") -- This is a signature word in 1 Corinthians, appearing seven times in this letter (4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4) and only once elsewhere in Paul (Col 2:18). Derived from physa ("bellows"), it pictures something swollen with air -- impressive in appearance but hollow inside. In 8:1, Paul made the programmatic statement that "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Here, as part of love's character description, he states that love is the opposite of inflation: it does not swell with self-importance. The word is placed in sequence with περπερεύεται (perpereuetai, "boasts, brags"), which appears only here in the New Testament. Perpereuomai describes the outward display, while physioō describes the inward attitude: love neither parades itself before others nor harbors an inflated self-regard.

• οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ (ouk aschēmonei, "does not behave disgracefully") -- The verb ἀσχημονέω (aschēmoneō) means "to behave in an unbecoming, indecent, or shameful manner." It derives from the alpha-privative a- plus schēma ("form, outward appearance"), meaning literally "without proper form." Paul uses the related noun in 7:36, speaking of a man behaving "improperly" toward his betrothed. In the Corinthian context, this likely refers to the various ways members were shaming one another: humiliating the poor at communal meals (11:22), causing disorder in worship (14:40), filing lawsuits against fellow believers (6:1-8). Love does not act in ways that shame or dishonor others.

• οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν (ou logizetai to kakon, "does not reckon/count the evil") -- The verb λογίζομαι (logizomai) is an accounting term meaning "to calculate, reckon, credit to an account." Paul uses this word extensively in Romans 4 for God's act of "crediting" righteousness to Abraham by faith (Rom 4:3, 4, 5, 6, 8, etc.). Here the image is of keeping a ledger of wrongs: love does not keep a running tally of offenses suffered, does not maintain a mental account book of grievances. The word kakon ("evil, wrong") is neuter singular, treating wrongs as an abstract category. This is love's accounting practice: it refuses to make entries in the debit column.

• πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ἐλπίζει, πάντα ὑπομένει (panta stegei, panta pisteuei, panta elpizei, panta hypomenei, "bears all things, trusts all things, hopes all things, endures all things") -- The fourfold repetition of πάντα (panta, "all things") creates a powerful rhetorical climax. The verb στέγω (stegō) is ambiguous: it can mean "to cover" (as a roof covers a house, from stegē, "roof"), "to bear up under," or "to keep confidential." The first sense -- covering and protecting -- fits well: love throws a protective covering over the faults of others rather than exposing them. The verb ὑπομένω (hypomenō, "to remain under, endure") literally means "to stay under" a burden rather than fleeing from it. It is the word used for Christ's endurance of the cross in Hebrews 12:2. The sequence moves from passive protection (stegō) through active trust and hope (pisteuō, elpizō) to steadfast endurance (hypomenō): love does not give up on people.

The Permanence of Love (vv. 8--12)

BSB

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.

Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Translation

Love never falls. But if there are prophecies, they will be rendered inoperative; if there are tongues, they will cease of themselves; if there is knowledge, it will be rendered inoperative.

For we know partially, and we prophesy partially; but when the complete comes, the partial will be done away with.

When I was an infant, I used to speak as an infant, I used to think as an infant, I used to reason as an infant. When I became a man, I put an end to the ways of infancy.

For now we see through a mirror, in a riddle; but then, face to face. Now I know partially; but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.

Notes

• οὐδέποτε πίπτει (oudepote piptei, "never falls") -- The verb πίπτω (piptō) means "to fall, collapse, fail." Some manuscripts read ἐκπίπτει (ekpiptei, "to fall out, fall away"), which was likely a scribal clarification. The image is of something that stands firm, that never topples or collapses. While prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are all temporary scaffolding for the present age, love is the permanent structure. The word piptō is used elsewhere for flowers withering (James 1:11, 1 Pet 1:24), stars falling from the sky (Matt 24:29), and walls crumbling (Heb 11:30). Love does none of these things -- it never decays, withers, or gives way.

• καταργηθήσονται ... παύσονται ... καταργηθήσεται (katargēthēsontai ... pausontai ... katargēthēsetai, "will be rendered inoperative ... will cease ... will be rendered inoperative") -- Paul uses two different verbs here, and the grammatical distinction may be significant. Prophecies and knowledge are said to be καταργέω (katargeō, "to render idle, abolish, make inoperative") -- they will be actively superseded, made obsolete by something greater. But tongues are said to παύω (pauō) in the middle voice (pausontai), meaning "they will cease of themselves, they will stop on their own." The middle voice suggests that tongues will simply wind down and come to a natural end, whereas prophecy and knowledge will be actively replaced by the direct, unmediated knowledge of God. The verb katargeō is one of Paul's favorites (used 25 times in his letters) and carries the sense of something being rendered functionally obsolete -- not destroyed but simply no longer needed.

• τὸ τέλειον (to teleion, "the perfect/complete thing") -- The neuter adjective τέλειος (teleios) means "complete, mature, fully developed, having reached its intended end" (from telos, "end, goal"). It does not primarily mean "flawless" in the modern English sense of "perfect." The question of what to teleion refers to has generated enormous debate. In context, Paul contrasts it with τὸ ἐκ μέρους (to ek merous, "the partial"): our current knowledge and prophecy are fragmentary, but when "the complete" arrives, the fragmentary will be superseded. The analogy of childhood growing into adulthood (v. 11) and the mirror giving way to face-to-face vision (v. 12) both point toward the eschatological consummation -- the return of Christ and the final state when believers will see God directly. The phrase "face to face" echoes Moses' encounter with God in Numbers 12:8 and Deuteronomy 34:10.

• νήπιος (nēpios, "infant, small child") -- Paul uses this word four times in verse 11. In Greek, nēpios refers specifically to a very young child, often an infant or toddler who cannot yet speak properly (the word may derive from nē- "not" + epos "word" -- literally "not yet speaking"). Paul used the same word earlier in this letter to describe the Corinthians' spiritual immaturity (3:1: "I could not address you as spiritual people, but as infants in Christ"). The three verbs -- ἐλάλουν (elaloun, "I used to speak"), ἐφρόνουν (ephronoun, "I used to think/feel"), ἐλογιζόμην (elogizomēn, "I used to reason") -- are all in the imperfect tense, describing habitual past action. The verb phronēo involves the whole orientation of the mind and feelings, while logizomai (the same accounting word from v. 5) involves deliberate calculation and reasoning. The analogy is not about gifts being bad -- childhood is not bad -- but about them being appropriate to a stage that will be outgrown.

• δι᾽ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι (di' esoptrou en ainigmati, "through a mirror, in a riddle") -- The word ἔσοπτρον (esoptron, "mirror") refers to the ancient mirrors of Paul's day, which were made of polished bronze -- and Corinth was famous for producing some of the finest bronze mirrors in the ancient world. Unlike modern glass mirrors, these gave a real but imperfect reflection: recognizable but somewhat dim and distorted. The word αἴνιγμα (ainigma, from which we get "enigma") means "a riddle, a dark saying, an obscure image." It appears only here in the New Testament, but in the Septuagint it translates the Hebrew word used in Numbers 12:8, where God says he speaks to Moses "face to face" and not "in riddles" (en ainigmasin). Paul is drawing on this exact contrast: our present knowledge of God is like looking at a bronze mirror and seeing a real but puzzling image; in the age to come, we will see prosōpon pros prosōpon ("face to face") -- directly, without any mediating surface.

• ἐπιγνώσομαι καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην (epignōsomai kathōs kai epegnōsthēn, "I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known") -- The verb ἐπιγινώσκω (epiginōskō) is the intensified form of ginōskō ("to know"), with the prefix epi- adding a sense of thoroughness or directness: "to know fully, to recognize completely." Paul contrasts his present partial knowledge (ginōskō ek merous, "I know from a part") with the future full knowledge (epignōsomai, "I will fully know"). The passive ἐπεγνώσθην (epegnōsthēn, "I have been fully known") is aorist, pointing to a completed act: God has already fully known Paul. The future promise is that believers will one day know God with the same directness and thoroughness with which God already knows them. This is not omniscience but intimate, unmediated relational knowledge -- the kind of knowing that belongs to the face-to-face encounter.

The Greatest of These (v. 13)

BSB

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

Translation

But as things now stand, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Notes

• νυνὶ δέ (nyni de, "but now, as things now stand") -- The adverb νυνί (nyni) is an emphatic form of nyn ("now"). There is debate over whether this "now" is temporal ("in the present age, as opposed to the age to come") or logical ("so then, in summary"). If temporal, Paul is saying that in the current age -- before the "perfect" arrives -- three things abide as permanent realities: faith, hope, and love. If logical, it simply summarizes the argument. The temporal sense fits better with the flow of the chapter: prophecy, tongues, and knowledge belong to the present but will pass away; faith, hope, and love are the enduring realities. Some have asked whether faith and hope will still "remain" in the age to come, since "faith is the substance of things hoped for" (Heb 11:1) -- once we see face to face, what need is there for faith? Paul does not resolve this question here; his point is that these three outrank all the spiritual gifts the Corinthians are fighting over.

• πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη (pistis, elpis, agapē, "faith, hope, love") -- This triad appears repeatedly in Paul's letters (Rom 5:1-5; Gal 5:5-6; Col 1:4-5; 1 Thess 1:3, 5:8) and represents the core orientation of the Christian life. Πίστις (pistis) is trust in God and his promises; ἐλπίς (elpis) is the confident expectation of what God will yet do; ἀγάπη (agapē) is the self-giving love that flows from God's own character into the lives of believers. Paul's declaration that these three "remain" (menei, present tense of μένω, "to abide, stay, remain") stands in deliberate contrast with the gifts that will be "rendered inoperative" (katargēthēsontai). The verb menō is the same word John uses for abiding in Christ (John 15:4-10). These three are not temporary tools but permanent features of life with God.

• μείζων δὲ τούτων ἡ ἀγάπη (meizōn de toutōn hē agapē, "and the greatest of these is love") -- The comparative adjective μείζων (meizōn, "greater") is the comparative form of μέγας (megas, "great"), functioning here as a superlative ("greatest"). Paul does not explain precisely why love is the greatest, but the chapter as a whole provides the answer: love is the one quality without which all other gifts and virtues are worthless (vv. 1-3), it is the most comprehensive description of Christlike character (vv. 4-7), and it is the one reality that will never fail or be superseded (v. 8). Faith and hope are oriented toward what we do not yet see; love is already the very nature of God himself (1 John 4:8, "God is love"). Love is both the source from which faith and hope flow and the destination toward which they point.

• μένει (menei, "remains") -- It is grammatically noteworthy that Paul uses the singular verb menei ("remains") with three subjects (faith, hope, love). This may suggest that the three form a unity -- they are not three separate items but a single cluster of realities that together define the Christian life in this age. Alternatively, the singular verb may simply agree with the nearest subject or treat the triad as a collective unit. Either way, the emphasis falls on their permanence: while the Corinthians are quarreling over which flashy gift makes them most spiritual, Paul directs their attention to the three quiet, enduring realities that actually matter -- and crowns love as the greatest among them.