The Character of Love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

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Daniel Andrews: ‘Love is love, fair is fair, and equality is not negotiable.’ That is precisely not what Paul is saying.

  1. Love is holy.
    • God is slow to anger – Ex.34:6.
    • Love is not irritable; it has a long fuse – Prov.15:1. It is not rude or coarse or ill-mannered, as our society has increasingly become. It does not keep a record of wrongs. This same word is used in Romans 4:8.
  2. Love is humble.
    • Love does not boast, is not puffed up and proud, and is not selfseeking. The Corinthians were puffed up – see 4:6, 18-19; 5:2.
    • Prov.8:13. God the Son humbled Himself – Phil.2:6-8. That is our model! Note also John 3:30. In 1750 the congregation of Northampton dismissed Jonathan Edwards, but Edwards bore all things with magnanimity and held no grudges.
    • There is a toughness to this holy and humble love – 13:7. The NIV has ‘always’ but the ESV has ‘all things’. The meaning ends out the same. See 1 Pet.4:8; Prov.14:15.
  3. Love is self-giving.
    • John MacArthur says this is ‘probably the key to everything’. It is the divine motive behind the cross – 1 John 4:9-10.
    • Kenneth Bailey cites an Arabic proverb: ‘your friend will swallow gravel for you.’ Jonathan Edwards: ‘An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity and contradiction.’ See John 13:34-35.