1 Corinthians 13: The most excellent way
Without love every gift is nothing; love is patient and kind, and when gifts pass away, love remains.
Where 1 Corinthians 13 sits
- In the story
- Act VI, Church: Acts–Jude · The Journeys, c. AD 48–57
- In the Bible
- New Testament · Letters · chapter 13 of 16 in 1 Corinthians
- In 1 Corinthians
- The most excellent way, 13:1–13 · part of You wrote: spiritual gifts
- Before
- 1 Corinthians 12: One Spirit, one body, many members
- After
- 1 Corinthians 14: Build up the church
1 Corinthians 13 summary
Paul now shows the more excellent way. If he speaks in the tongues of men and of angels but has no love, he is only a noisy gong or clanging cymbal; if he has prophecy, understands all mysteries and knowledge, and has faith to move mountains, but has no love, he is nothing; if he gives away all he has and hands over his body, but has no love, he gains nothing. Love is patient and kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant, rude or self-seeking; it is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs; it takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices in the truth; it bears, believes, hopes and endures all things. Love never fails. Prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled and knowledge will pass away, for we know in part and prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. As a man sets aside childish ways, so now we see dimly as in a mirror, but then face to face; now Paul knows in part, but then he will know fully, even as he is fully known. So faith, hope and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 in context
- Speaking
- Paul, setting love at the center of his teaching on gifts
- Written for
- A gifted church puffed up by knowledge and tongues (8:1; 14:4); through it, every church
- Around it
- The center of 12–14: between the one body with many gifts (12) and the use of gifts to build up the church (14), love is the way all gifts must be used
The sections of 1 Corinthians 13
Read 1 Corinthians 13
Love
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.
Berean Standard Bible, 13 verses. The BSB is in the public domain.
Around 1 Corinthians 13
Read alongside
- Numbers 12
- Romans 13
- John 13
- 1 John 3
- 1 Corinthians 8
Chapters that point here
- 1 Thessalonians 1
Questions on 1 Corinthians 13
What does each of the three parts of chapter 13 say about love?
Why does Paul place a chapter on love between chapters 12 and 14?
Which three things remain, and why is love the greatest (13:8–13)?
The answers are in TheoMaps Challenges.
Plus What TheoMaps holds for 1 Corinthians 13
- How 1 Corinthians 13 points to Christ
- What each of its 3 sections says, and how one leads into the next
- 2 threads and 1 promise, with the verses that join them
- 4 doctrines it teaches: sanctification, good works, saving faith and Scripture
- How it is shaped: Three strophes on love
- Why those 5 chapters belong beside it
- The answers to its questions, in Challenges
TheoMaps Plus opens every book the way Genesis is open, on the map, with Challenges to help you remember it.