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Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written to followers of Jesus in the Greek city of Corinth, in response to a report that there were divisions in the church. “For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people,” wrote Paul, “that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters” (1 Cor 1:11). Paul reminded the Corinthians of the importance of the sacrifice of Christ, and said that he “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). He encouraged the stronger members of the community to serve the weaker members, saying, “Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other” (1 Cor 10:24). Using the image of the church as a body, the body of Christ, he told them that “God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:24-25). Then he offered a powerful chapter on the meaning of love.
1 Corinthians 13 is a biblical greatest hit in many wedding ceremonies today. According to the website Forever Bride, the top Scripture verses for weddings are, from third place to first: “Ephesians 5:22-33: Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. … *WARNING* This verse often gets taken out of context. For more info, read all of Ephesians. … Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. This verse will demonstrate your level of commitment and investment to your partner. … 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud … Love never fails. The Bible shares that love is more than a feeling. It is full of action.”
While the apostle Paul was not writing specifically to wedding couples in Corinth, he certainly shared the perception of Forever Bride that love is more than a feeling that can easily shift or change. Instead, it is a decision, a choice, and a commitment to act in a particular way. The Greek word for love used in 1 Corinthians 13 is agape, which describes a universal, unconditional love that is not affected by circumstance. It is an unchanging love which begins and ends in God, as in the Gospel of John’s greatest hit, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). God is committed to his choice to show agape, and as a result God’s love is always available to us.
So where can this love be found in the world today? The answer is not obvious. In a Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown says, “If I ever had to choose a way to die, I would like to die by poison. How about you, Linus?” His friend answers, “I would like to be killed by loving kindness.” Charlie Brown says, “Yes, that would be a good way to die, but poison is much easier to get.” Charlie Brown is right — it is not easy to get loving kindness, another term for agape. It is not advertised on television or in magazines, where the typical love is eros — a word that is better translated as “desire.” We see a lot of eros in ads for jewelry, clothing, perfume and luxury cars, but not much agape. The apostle Paul is convinced, however, that agape can be found in the community of people who follow the example of Jesus.
“Love is patient,” Paul said; “love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor 13:4-5). Such love is grounded in the words and example of Jesus, who said to his followers at the Last Supper, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). “In seeking the good of the other, one finds one’s own good,” says New Testament professor J. Paul Sampley. “Love cannot be held; it cannot be seized; it is realized fully only in its being shared with someone else.” Agape is always a self-giving love, one that seeks first the welfare of the other person. This particular kind of love, seen so clearly in the life of Christ, “does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).
Paul goes on to say that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:7-8). Jesus spoke of the strength and sacrificial nature of this love when he said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). New Testament professor Susan Grove Eastman points out that “like the cross of Christ itself, love may appear weak and foolish in human terms, but without it all language and all knowledge are powerless to do anything that lasts.” This love turns out to be the most enduring power in the world, and Paul predicts that “as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end” (1 Cor 13:8). The passage is one of the Bible’s greatest hits because it tells us that self-giving love begins with God, is revealed most clearly by Jesus Christ, and remains the central quality of a community that wants to live by the words and example of its Lord.
Questions:
1. How do you understand love to be a decision, a choice, and a commitment?
2. What are the qualities of the love that Jesus commands us to show one another?
3. Where do you see evidence that love is an enduring power in the world?
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