Book of 1 Corinthians · Chapter 13 of 16
13 verses · 2 video commentaries from 2 courses · Berean Standard Bible
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If 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.
3If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.
6Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love 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.
9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
11When 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.
12Now 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.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor 13:1-13
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul explains that spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, or knowledge are meaningless without love. He stresses that these gifts are given for the benefit of the community, not for personal status or self-aggrandizement, and must be exercised with agape love.
Summarized by AI · Paul and Jesus: The Great Divide · Lecture 6: Paul the Moral Teacher · watch the clip
Christianity introduced and emphasized 'Agape,' a unique form of love distinct from Greek concepts like 'Philia' (friendship) or 'Eros' (passionate love). Agape signifies active love, meaning doing good for others, and it became a central principle throughout the New Testament, often misunderstood in its original context.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Does Altruism Actually Exist? · watch the clip