Catholic Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)

The More Excellent Way

First Corinthians 13 is the most celebrated chapter in the Pauline letters and among the most quoted texts in all of literature. It does not stand alone but serves as the theological centre of the argument about spiritual gifts that surrounds it: the most spectacular gift is worthless without love, and love is the permanent reality that outlasts every gift. If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. The gifts Paul has spent chapter 12 commending are relativised absolutely by love.

The Portrait of Love

Paul then gives the most precise description of love in all of Scripture, defining it not by feeling but by action and disposition. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. The Catechism presents this description as the definition of charity, the greatest of the theological virtues, which is poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit and which orders all other virtues toward their proper end (CCC 1826). St. Augustine famously said: love God and do what you will. First Corinthians 13 describes what you will do when you genuinely love God: you will be patient, kind, not self-seeking, a keeper of no records of wrongs.

The Permanence of Love

Prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled, knowledge will pass away. For now we see only a 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. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Love is the greatest because it alone perfectly describes the nature of God, who is love, and because it alone survives into eternity, where faith will be sight and hope will be fulfilment, but love will continue forever in the direct vision of the God who is love.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, love keeps no record of wrongs. That single phrase undoes more damage than almost anything else in the Christian moral tradition. The record you are keeping of someone's offences against you is the thing love asks you to put down. Not because what they did did not matter. Because love does not keep records. Let it go today.

Prayer

Lord God, you are love. Pour your love into our hearts by your Holy Spirit. Make us patient and kind. Free us from envy and boasting and pride and the keeping of records. Let love be the greatest thing in our lives, the thing that remains when everything else has passed. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

13
Love
1 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. 2 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. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body,* 13:3 SBL, NE, BYZ, and TR surrender my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing.
 
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6 Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
 
8 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
 
11 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. 12 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.
 
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

*13:3 13:3 SBL, NE, BYZ, and TR surrender my body to be burned

Public Domain