Chunks: 1 Corinthians 13

Episode 18: Transformation

In this final episode, we’ll explore two common misconceptions that might affect how we understand and apply Paul’s teaching. The first is that the Greek word agape means “Christian love”; the second is the idea that love is an action and not a feeling. And to correct both these ideas, we need the idea of transformation, both in how Paul transforms language, and how love is meant to transform us.

Episode 17: Unfailing love

As I suggested earlier, to say that love is “patient” and “kind” is not only a correction to our own unloving behavior, but a reminder of the character of God. Something similar could be said about Paul’s statement that love “never fails.” In one sense, that statement points back to what he’s said about endurance and perseverance. But it also points forward to what he says immediately after about a future in which only a godly love remains.

Episode 16: A love that endures

As I suggested earlier, when Paul says in verse 7 that love “trusts” and “hopes,” I take this as a reference to the virtues of faith and hope he mentions at the end of the chapter. But what does he mean when in the same verse he says that love always “protects” and “perseveres”? In this episode, I’ll argue that with both words, Paul is pointing to a love that endures despite the many challenges it faces.

Episode 15: The greatest of these is love

At the end of the chapter, Paul mentions faith, hope, and love together. In church history, these three have been known as the “theological virtues.” But Paul declares that love is greater than the other two. Why? Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to have a forward-looking perspective, anticipating the day in which faith and hope will no longer be needed, while the love of God remains.

Episode 14: Rejoicing in the gospel together

In verse 6 of chapter 13, Paul teaches that “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” Again, he’s making a distinction between what love doesn’t do and what it does instead—but what should we make of his contrast between “evil” and “truth”? And is it true that we “delight in evil”?