The Most Quoted Verse in The Bible

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends . . .”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Do these words sound familiar? If I were to ask you, “where is that famous ‘love’ passage in the Bible?”, you might not know exactly where it is, but you know what I’m talking about. Even people who don’t believe in Jesus will use this passage from 1 Corinthians 13 at their wedding, they will have the quote hanging in their house, or have the words tattooed on their arm. Why is that? Because, unless you are too jaded with life, you believe that there is power in love. All of those classic romantic movies, Nicholas Sparks (need I say more?), music, shows on TV (The Bachelor and Love is Blind to name a few), the increasingly expensive wedding business, or even the over commercialization of Valentine’s Day, are all glimpses into the belief that we, as a society, have in love (or at least what we have come to believe that love is!). According to the world and any social media influencer, love is the ultimate goal. Loving your friends and family is important; finding romantic love is more important than that; and loving yourself hits it off the charts as the most valuable kind of love out there. So, why does culture quote 1 Corinthians 13? It cannot be because they believe that kind of love is truly attainable. If that was the case, then our societal divorce rates would not be so high! Rather, that verse is quoted because that kind of love is idealized. I mean, have you ever seen a love that is perfectly patient and kind? What about not at all envious, self seeking or rude? In all of the TV shows, movies, books, songs, or people (including myself) I’ve seen this is not the case. So, we take what we read from 1 Corinthians and we hold it up as this unattainable standard. This ‘thing’ that sounds really good. What if I told you that you’re right? That attaining that perfect love as an idealized feeling or in a human relationship IS unrealistic and not possible. Why would the Bible talk about something like this if it’s not possible? Well, that’s because what the Bible is explaining as love is not a thing or a feeling but a person. And, the only way to truly experience the kind of love that we all want, the kind of love we all idealize and strive for, is to know and have relationship with this person. This person who has perfect patience and kindness. This person who will never be envious, boastful, self-seeking or unrighteous. This person is Jesus.

Do we want to really understand what 1 Corinthians 13 is saying? I mean, I truly believe that most of scripture will not be fully understood until we get to heaven. But there is always much more that we can learn. Like any part of scripture, it is easy to take a well known passage like this and make it mean what we want it to mean, or to hear it so many times that we don’t think about it anymore. To understand that ‘oh-so’ quotable passage, we must ask God to speak to us, open our hearts to hear what He has to teach and take into consideration what is being said in the rest of the passage.

Let’s see what we can learn . . .

“If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

These are the verses that lead into the most quoted part of scripture. Why are they so significant to understanding the rest? It’s important to know that love can LOOK like a lot of things. But, love is not love just because of what it looks like but because of the intention behind the actions. I think a lot of times, we see what we think love should look like. We see two people standing at the altar on their wedding day, committing to be together forever, and that looks like love. We see someone serving the poor, giving an awesome Christmas gift to a friend or snuggling their child and it all looks a lot like love. In this case, the writer says love can even look like being the most spiritual person in the world. But, without love as the motivating thing behind everything we do, we gain nothing. It doesn’t mean our actions are any less meaningful! That gift you gave to a friend out of obligation (rather than the motivation of love) could still bless them and mean the world to them. But there will be no gain for you who gave the gift, without love. We must evaluate this for ourselves. No one else can know if you are serving at your church or helping a friend out of love. This means that, because God is love, He must be the motivating factor behind all of our actions. He will be the one to refine our intentions and give love to us for us to share. The next part of the passage describes what that kind of ‘God-love’ looks like and how to discern if that’s the kind of love you are expressing to those around you!

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Here it is! The famous ‘love is’ and ‘love is not’ passage. I remember the Pastor at our wedding wanting to throw this into his sermon at the ceremony. He mentioned it as we were planning out our big day. I agreed, but I almost wanted to say “no, it’s too cliche!” I feel like if I would’ve really thought about what it means, I would’ve requested that it be added in. There is a reason it’s read at every wedding ceremony! Like I said above, love is a person – Jesus. The only reason that love exists and that we are able to love one another is because He exists. This kind of love is truly not of this world. So, what is it that makes this love special?

As usual, the translation of scripture from Greek to English leaves some incompleteness. Not misunderstandings, because everything translated in our English Bibles is true to what was originally written, but between languages there are things missing. In this case, the word “love” has one meaning for us. According to Google, “love” means: “ an intense feeling of deep affection.” In Greek however, it has four meanings. Firstly, there is Eros love. Cue expensive weddings, Valentine’s Day and Bachelor fans . . . Eros love refers to romantic, sexual love. Secondly, we have Storge love. This is love between family members. Thirdly, we have Philia which is a deep love between friends. The last word for love, is Agape. This is the kind of love that is God. This is the kind of love (‘Agape Love’) that is described in 1 Corinthians 13: A love that is unchanging and that is not dependent on the actions or the character of the one receiving it. It can be completely rejected and yet, agape love still remains. It is a love that is completely unselfish, given freely and never ending. It doesn’t have to do with emotion; emotions constantly change but agape love does not ever change – no matter how many 2 am disagreements, fights or mistreatments. This is the kind of love that we see in the life of Jesus. And this the kind of love God gives us. So often, in both Biblical times and now, we have rejected God. The whole Old Testament shares stories of people, time and time again rejecting relationship with God. It all started with Adam and Eve choosing sin and themselves in the garden over Him and this leads to the rejection of God by millions of people today (dare I even say billions?) as they seek to do their own thing and live their own way. Even after all of this rejection, God still sent Jesus. Jesus, who died and suffered for YOU to restore your relationship with God and to save you from eternal punishment. The greatest and most unselfish act of love in all of history done for you and with nothing asked for in return – just for you to accept it.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

God freely gives love and He is the source of all love. When we experience love, we are experiencing God. The reason that our culture celebrates, believes in and desires love is because it is a touch from the Creator Himself (whether or not we realize that). Rather than just desiring fragments of love here on earth (which, by the way, are good gifts from God!) we should get to know Love in His truest form and accept God’s love so that He can fill our hearts. This is the kind of love being shared about in 1 Corinthians 13. This love can continue to be lived out on this earth only with the help of God Himself living in and through His people. Jesus is love and shares that perfectly. The word Christian means ‘little Christ’ so, the more we seek Him and become like Him, the more we can share that love too.

“Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love – but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope and love are all so important in our day to day life with God. Faith is ‘the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1). As a friend once told me, “Jesus is invisible. We can’t see Him and so we need to gather together as believers to remind ourselves that the invisible Jesus is alive and REAL!” Christians need to have faith – after all, it marks the very moment that we become a Christian and it drives us forward in our relationship with God day by day. ‘Hope’ and faith go hand in hand. The world uses hope when it says things like: “I hope my team wins.” Worldly hope is wishing for the best and waiting to see what happens in hopes that things turn out. Biblical hope is not a hope-so but a know-so. Faith and hope are supernatural gifts given to Christians by God. We could not get through day to day life without them! So, why is the greatest of these love? Because one day faith and hope will pass away. In eternity and in the presence of God, faith will not be needed. Why would we need faith – a confidence in things not seen (in the invisible Jesus!) – when we will finally see it all in heaven. God will one day be in front of us and seen by us. Faith will be made complete! The same goes for hope. As Christians we have trustful expectation that God will come through will all his promises. One day, in heaven, we will be living in the reality of those promises. Love, on the other hand, is who God is. God is eternal, and so is love (vs. 8). We have only a glimpse of love now, but in heaven with God, love will be made known to us in fullness, and we will be in the presence of Love Himself forever. What a wonderful thought – being in Heaven with God and other believers, swimming in this love.

“Dear friends, let us love one another; because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His one and only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is made complete in us . . . God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in Him.”

1 John 4:7-12, 16

The next time you hear 1 Corinthians 13 read at a wedding or you look at that ‘love is patient and kind’ farmhouse sign above your bed, I hope you take a moment to reflect. To have gratitude for the love that you have been gifted in your life, but also to remember the whole reason that you are able to love. When you snuggle your child and that feeling of love overtakes your heart, think of how your Heavenly Father holds you and extends unlimited patience and kindness to you. When you serve the poor, ask God to show you the love that Jesus had for the poor when He served them on earth. When you give a gift to a friend, pray that God’s love would fill them and bless them. Let your Christian life and walk with God be motivated from this beautiful and eternal love gifted to you in Him. Thanks be to God!

Written by: Justine Joy

**If you don’t know much about this love that God has for YOU and you’d like to know more, I would love to chat with you personally. Check out the ‘contact’ page and fill out the information and I would love to connect with you!