The Love Chapter

Text and Content

The Love Chapter refers to the whole of 1 Corinthians 13:1–13. Its content falls into three parts.

• Verses 1–3, the necessity of love: Paul says that even if one has the tongues of men and of angels, prophecy and all knowledge, faith that could remove mountains, and the generosity to give away all one's possessions to the poor, without love one is nothing.
• Verses 4–7, the character of love: Beginning with "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not," Paul lists what love does and what it does not do.
• Verses 8–13, the permanence of love: Paul says that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will cease, but love never fails. Now "we see through a glass, darkly," but then we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:11–12). The chapter ends, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

Background

Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth. The Corinthian church was troubled by factional strife (1 Corinthians 1:10) and by conflict over spiritual gifts. The prevailing view is that the letter was written from Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8).

Chapter 13 stands between chapter 12, which deals with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and chapter 14, which deals with tongues and prophecy. At the end of chapter 12, Paul says, "yet shew I unto you a more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31), and he then presents love as that way. The word "love" here translates the Greek agapē.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The Old Testament commands love for God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love for one's neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus joined these two as the greatest commandments (Mark 12:28–34). In his other letters Paul likewise calls love the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8–10) and "the bond of perfectness" (Colossians 3:14). Faith, hope, and love are also grouped together in 1 Thessalonians 1:3. The First Epistle of John declares, "God is love" (1 John 4:16).

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• The meaning of "that which is perfect" (v. 10): This is a key verse in the cessationism and continuationism debate. Some Reformed scholars who hold to cessationism read it as referring to the completion of the canon or the close of the apostolic age. Pentecostal and charismatic interpreters, along with many commentators, take it to refer to the time of the Second Coming and hold that the gifts continue until then.
• Manuscript variation in verse 3: Some manuscripts read "that I may boast" in place of "to be burned," so the wording differs among translations.
• Popular explanations of agapē: Sermons often draw a strict distinction between agapē as divine love and eros and philia as human love. However, the verb form is also used of Demas, who loved this present world (2 Timothy 4:10). For this reason some scholars consider it difficult to distinguish kinds of love on the basis of vocabulary alone.
• The original context of the passage: It is frequently noted that the Love Chapter was originally written about relationships and the use of gifts within the church community rather than about love between husband and wife.

In the Korean Church

The name "Love Chapter" parallels the custom of calling Hebrews 11 the Faith Chapter and 1 Corinthians 15 the Resurrection Chapter. The passage is frequently read at wedding services and is widely used for Scripture memorization. A number of gospel songs take verses 4–7 as their lyrics.