New Testament
1 Corinthians
Paul wrote to a young, gifted, quarrelling church in the port city of Corinth, sorting out their divisions, their freedoms and their worship. It is where we find the great chapter on love, words read at countless weddings and meant for every ordinary day.
1 Corinthians 13
Faith That Can Move Mountains
“If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:4Love Is Patient
“Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,”
1 Corinthians 13:7Love Endures All Things
“bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:11I Put The Ways of Childhood Behind Me
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.”
1 Corinthians 13:13Faith Hope Love
“But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three. The greatest of these is love.”
More about 1 Corinthians
First Corinthians is Paul writing to a church he knew and loved, and worried about. Corinth was a busy port city, wealthy, cosmopolitan and morally loose, and the young church there had soaked up a fair amount of its surroundings. They were gifted people, genuinely so, but they were also quarrelling, splitting into factions, arguing over leaders and freedoms and the right way to worship. Paul does not write them off. He rolls up his sleeves and works through their problems one by one, and in doing so he leaves us a letter that is wonderfully practical about what it actually means to live as the church in a messy world.
Much of the letter is Paul answering specific questions they had sent him, which gives it a back-and-forth feel, almost like reading one side of a long correspondence. He tackles their divisions, their lawsuits, their confusion about marriage and singleness, about food and conscience, about order in their gatherings. Along the way he reminds them that their very bodies matter to God, that each believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit and was bought at a price (6:19-20). It is a striking thing to say to people in a culture that treated the body casually, and it still cuts against the grain today.
Then, right in the middle of all this troubleshooting, Paul lifts his eyes and writes the chapter that has been read at countless weddings ever since. He has just been talking about spiritual gifts, and he stops to say that without love they amount to nothing. You could have faith enough to move mountains, but without love you are nothing (13:2). Then comes the description so many of us half know by heart: love is patient, love is kind (13:4), it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (13:7). It is not a sentimental passage. Set against the bickering of Corinth, it is a quiet rebuke and a high and beautiful calling.
The chapter ends by setting love above even the greatest virtues. Faith, hope and love remain, Paul writes, and the greatest of these is love (13:13). He has just said that we now see only in part, as in a dim mirror, and that one day we will see fully; for now, he urges them to put childish ways behind them (13:11) and grow up into love. If your church or your family feels more like Corinth than you would like, take heart. Paul wrote this letter for exactly that situation. He did not give up on them, and the way forward he points to is not cleverness or strength but love, patiently practised, day after ordinary day.
Questions about 1 Corinthians
- Why did Paul write 1 Corinthians?
- Paul founded the church in Corinth and then moved on, and while he was away he heard troubling reports about it and also received a letter with questions. First Corinthians is his reply. The church was divided into factions, tolerating serious moral problems, suing one another, and confused about marriage, worship and spiritual gifts. So the letter is largely Paul addressing real, specific problems in a young and struggling congregation. That is what makes it so useful. It shows us early Christians who were far from perfect, and a pastor who loved them enough to be honest, patient and clear about how they ought to live.
- Is 1 Corinthians 13 only about romantic love?
- It is read at so many weddings that many assume so, but no. Paul wrote chapter thirteen to a quarrelling church, right in the middle of a discussion about spiritual gifts. The love he describes, patient, kind, not envious or proud, bearing and enduring all things, is the love that ought to hold a community together. It applies beautifully to marriage, of course, but its first home is the church and indeed any relationship. Set against the rivalry and pride of Corinth, the chapter is a challenge as much as a comfort. It tells us that without love, even our most impressive gifts count for nothing.
- What does it mean that the body is a temple in 1 Corinthians 6?
- In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul tells the Corinthians that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who lives in them, and that they are not their own, for they were bought at a price. He is writing to people in a culture that treated the body as something to be used however one pleased. Paul says the opposite: the body matters, because God's own Spirit dwells there. It is a call to live with self-respect and reverence rather than carelessness. The point is not that the body is shameful but that it is sacred, belonging to the God who redeemed the whole of us, body included.
Topics in 1 Corinthians
The themes these verses speak to. Follow one to find related verses from right across the Bible.