What is Love? Part 1 – The Love Chapter

Love is an incredibly important part of Christianity, and, for that matter, human life in general. The concept of love probably receives more attention than any other intangible the world has ever known. In the King James Bible, the words "love" and "charity" (both of which mean love) are, in various forms, found 512 times. That is significant, as it stands as one of the most expressed concepts in the Bible (some rivals include evil, righteousness, and, of course, God Himself). The Bible actually states that God is love (1 John 4:16), and the greatest commandments are to love God and love others (Matthew 22:35-40). It is apparent, then, with the emphasis God places on love that we should understand what love is. Fortunately, two significant passages reveal what God's love actually is.

The Love Chapter

Many call 1 Corinthians 13 the "love chapter" because it deals with the attributes of love. Therefore, it is a significant source of information regarding God's thoughts on love.

¹Even if I speak all the languages of men and angels, but I do not have love, I become like noisy brass or tinkling cymbals. ²Again, if I have prophecy, understand every secret, and know everything, or if I have so much faith that I could move mountains, but I do not have love, I am no one. ³If I give everything I have, piece by piece, to feed the poor, or if I give up my body to be set on fire, but I do not have love, I have no advantage. ⁴Love is patient and acts kindly. Love is not fiercely jealous, love does not brag about itself, and is not arrogant. ⁵Love is not rude and obnoxious, does not look out for itself, has a good temper, and does not think wrongly. ⁶Love is not glad to see sin, but it celebrates truth. ⁷It covers everything, trusts everything, hopes in everything, and endures in everything. ⁸Love never goes away, but if there are prophecies, they will end; if there are languages, they will stop; if there is knowledge, it will fade away… ¹³So, now, these three endure: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1 – 8, 13

As you can see, there is much content in this passage. However, this chapter is invaluable to the understanding of God's love.

The Worth of Love (Verses 1 – 3)

The first few verses of this chapter speak of how important and valuable love is. It starts with a unique and impressive act some Christians can perform: speaking in tongues.

• "Even if I speak all the languages of men and angels, but I do not have love, I become like noisy brass or tinkling cymbals." This is a rather direct statement. People have always considered speaking in tongues to be highly significant and impressive, but here Paul teaches that love is far more. Love is so important that, if you can do such an incredibly spiritual act as speaking in tongues, but you do not love people, you are doing nothing but making noise. However, with love, you can communicate, whether using tongues or not, the glory and love of Jesus Christ in order to spread the Gospel. Thus, love gives meaning to language.
  
• "Again, if I have prophecy, understand every secret, and know everything, or if I have so much faith that I could move mountains, but I do not have love, I am no one." This is another impressive idea. Paul speaks of someone who knows the future, the past, everything about the earth, everything about heaven, and everything about God; and has complete faith. Yet, he tells us, such a person is no one if he does not love people. The Greek word for "no one" is oudeis, which actually means no person at all. It would be tantamount to saying the person does not exist. Therefore, Paul tells us that knowledge and faith, when without love, make you of absolutely no consequence. Thus, love gives meaning to your life.
  
• "If I give everything I have, piece by piece, to feed the poor, or if I give up my body to be set on fire, but I do not have love, I have no advantage." This statement may seem strange. How could someone who sold everything they own to feed hungry people not have love? Quite simply, either they could be doing it for recognition and praise, or they could just be doing it to feel good about themselves. Either way, such is pride, not love. The statement about giving up his body was almost certainly a reference to one of the many ways martyrs died, in this case when people burned them alive. The last phrase, "I have no advantage," also refers to profit or gain. This may be a reference to Heaven. Other passages indicate that what you sacrifice on earth, possessions or your life, will bring you treasures in Heaven. However, this passage seems to say that they will not bring you any reward if you do not love. Thus, love brings rewards in Heaven.
  

As you can see, the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13 greatly demonstrate the incredible worth of love. Love makes your words meaningful, makes your life meaningful, and makes your eternity rich. That sounds very valuable to me.

The Character of Love (Verses 4 – 8)

The next section of this chapter explains what love is like. The qualities here generally characterize love.

1. "Love is patient…" The Greek word for "patient" in this passage is makrothumeo. That word is a combination of two other Greek words. The first means "long" or "lengthen," and can apply to either size or duration. The second means "temper" or "anger." Thus, the word here means to draw out the time it takes to make you angry. It speaks of holding back and restraining yourself when you are taunted, ridiculed, aggravated, or otherwise displeased. The entire idea here is to delay, sometimes indefinitely, an action that may displease someone else even if you are being displeased.
   
2. "Love…acts kindly." A more literal rendering of the Greek may be "Love…is kind." However, that does not accurately convey the meaning of the word used for "kind" (which is chresteuomai). In fact, even this wording does not do it justice. Chresteuomai refers to performing acts of kindness. These acts are the result of love. The word is based on another Greek word, chrestos. This word actually means, in its literal interpretation, "employment." Do you see the idea, here? Love treats kindness as a job. It feels obligated to perform acts of kindness towards other people, the payment being rewards in Heaven.
   
3. "Love is not fiercely jealous…" The Greek word (I just love those) here is zeloo. It is the origin of our word "zealous." It refers to a passionate, heated desire for something another person already has, so much as to create personal feelings against whoever already possesses it. The heat part is like anger. This type of jealously is powerful and angry. Love is not prone to it, however. Love is happy when someone else is blessed, and it will not harbor a grudge against its object for having blessings.
   
4. "Love does not brag about itself, and is not arrogant." This one is actually a bit obvious. Love is not selfish or conceited. It does not raise its own fame or standing, and does not hold itself as higher than anyone else. Why does it act so? It does not brag because it knows that it can only do good things through Christ, the Source of Love, and it is not proud because it prefers others to itself.
   
5. "Love is not rude or obnoxious." What a statement that is! Love is not rude or obnoxious. Actually, both are expressions of one Greek word, aschemoneo. This word means, "to behave unseemly." It is related to a Greek word that means "formless" or "shapeless." What does such mean? Simply put, love does not act out in ways that are not edifying or helpful to itself or the people around it. To be rude or obnoxious is to aggravate the people around you, which is useless for good and actually aiding in conflict.
   
6. "Love…does not look out for itself." Have you ever heard the saying, "Look out for number one?" That is, in reality, not a bad concept. However, in love, "number one" is not yourself, but the object of love. Love does not bother working things out on its behalf or going out of its way to aid itself. Its primary concern is the good of others. Also, note that the Greek word, zeteo, was often used by the Jews to allude to worship. Love cannot worship itself.
   
7. "Love…has a good temper." This is actually a positive rendering of negative Greek. In the Greek, it says that love does not possess the quality known to the Greeks as paroxuno. This is a compound word, combing terms meaning "close" and "sharp" or "swift" (the second word actually comes from another word meaning "acid"). The image here is someone who is always on his last nerve. It would be a short trip from calm to loud and mean. Love is patient, as shown before, and it will not quickly come back with a smart or snarky comment or a violent action when provoked.
   
8. "Love…does not think wrongly." What could this mean? Well, it is a difficult statement to translate when trying to maintain the structure of the original texts. The meaning is made much clearer when the two Greek words are examined. First is logizomai, which means to take inventory, conclude, reason, or estimate. The second word is kakos, which means "worthless," "depraved," or "injurious." It is apparent, then, that these two words hold much more meaning than they at first appear. The idea here is someone whose mind is always on "negative mode." They assume the worst, they contemplate pointless ideas, and they plan trouble. Their every thought is based on something negative, whether it is corrupt, futile, or cynical. Love is not like so. It expects the best, contemplates truth, and plans good things. Love thinks rightly.
   
9. "Love is not glad to see sin." Many translations use the term "rejoice" as what love does not do here. However, this is inadequate. The Greek word is chairo, which was often used as a cheerful greeting. Many people gladly welcome sin. When they see wrong, they cheer it on or even join in. Love is not happy or welcoming when it sees wrongdoing. Love will defiantly reject sin, not gladly greet it.
   
10. "Love…celebrates truth." This one is actually rather straightforward. Love likes truth, not lies, or falsehoods. This is especially true with the Gospel truth. Love will always rejoice when people come to the truth of the Gospel. The Greek word used for truth here is actually used many, many times in the New Testament. On many occasions, it is used to specify God's truth, which love celebrates.
    
11. "It covers everything." This statement does not make much sense if you do not know the Greek, an unfortunate limitation of language. The Greek word used for "cover" is actually referring to covering and bearing. The idea here is essentially forgiveness and privacy. When you see someone do wrong, you do not tattle or gossip. When someone does you wrong, you cover it up in your heart and leave it be, forgiving them.
    
12. "It…trusts everything." The meaning behind this verse is the innocent view love has towards what it is told. When love meets people, it trusts them until they are shown untrustworthy. When love hears something, it trusts as long as it remains credible. Finally, when love meets Jesus, it puts its faith and trust in Him and believes the entirety of His Word.
    
13. "It…hopes in everything." Love never loses hope. At all times, love expects the best. This does not always include believing that a certain positive outcome will take place, but it does at least hold to the promises that goodness and mercy will follow it (Psalm 23:6) and all things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). Love never loses faith.
    
14. "It…endures in everything." This is, fortunately, the simplest one to explain. Love will always stand firm. If it is ridiculed, scorned, rejected, injured, or attacked, it will hold its ground and continue to exhibit these other characteristics. When love is surrounded by violent spiritual warfare, it stands in the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:13).
    

That is the basis for the character of love. Love applies these things to its every action. It lives and breathes these qualities. This is how God loves us and how He calls us to love Him and others.

The Strength of Love (Verses 8, 13)

Love, in its pure form, will not vanish, quit, or end. It lasts for as long as the giver and receiver of love last. These last two verses explain this truth.

• "Love never goes away." This is true. The Greek word here for "goes away" is ekpipto, which means to drop away, to be driven out, or to fade in strength. Love will never abandon its object, nothing can scare or coerce it to give up, and it will never lose its power. When God empowers you to love someone in all trueness, the love will never leave. God's love for you will never leave.
  
• "If there are prophecies, they will end." As amazing and powerful as prophecies are, as much as they reveal about God and His plan, they will not last forever. One day, all prophecies will have been fulfilled, and prophecies will no longer hold power. Thus, love is stronger than the future and time.
  
• "If there are languages, they will stop." Speaking in tongues is primarily for communicating with other people the truth of God, although is also can be personally edifying, as the very next chapter explains. Regardless, a day will come when there are no more separate languages. After the formation of the New Heavens and New Earth, we will all speak on language of Heaven, which will carry both the spiritually edifying properties and ability to communicate of current tongues. Thus, love is more powerful than words.
  
• "If there is knowledge, it will fade away." Knowledge, be it of physical or spiritual things, is very valuable. It is helpful to edify and teach people, good for bringing them into spiritual maturity. However, all knowledge fades. Things are forgotten, facts change, and understanding advances. In the end, all will be revealed and relative knowledge will be outdated. Love, however, will survive perfectly. It surpasses knowledge, and it knows that others need caring. Thus, love is more useful than knowledge and understanding.
  
• "So, now, these three endure: faith, hope, and love." In contrasting with the three things that cease (prophecies, languages, and knowledge), Paul provides three things that will never fail. Faith never fails as opposed to prophecies. Although prophecies will eventually come to pass, faith in God's plan and love must continue even when the prophecies are over. Hope never fails as opposed to languages, for, although speech ends after a time, hope in the future completion of salvation in Christ can never fade away. Finally, love will endure beyond knowledge, which will quickly become worthless.
  
• "The greatest of these is love." Love is more than faith and hope. In fact, while faith and hope will endure, they are not always necessary. When we meet Jesus, we will have sight and no longer need faith. When we meet Jesus, we will no longer need hope because we will see our salvation. However, our love for Christ and His love for us will endure through eternity. That is what will make Heaven so incredibly wonderful.
  

There you have it. Love is invaluable, has good character, and is completely strong. This is the picture of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Of course, that is not all there is to say about love. In my next post, I will continue speaking on love with the fruit of the spirit.