1 Corinthians 13

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1 Corinthians 13 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

The Greeks had four different words to describe love.

1. ‘Eros’ described erotic love. It was the word used to describe sexual love.
2. ‘Storge’ referred to family love. It described the love between father and son or between family members in general.
3. ‘Philia’ is best described as brotherly love or deep partnership. The opposite of philia would be phobia.
4. ‘Agape’ is the love Paul is describing here in 1 Corinthians 12.

Agape love is very unique. It is a commitment type of love that does not change. It is a self-sacrificial type of love that does not demand or even expect to be paid back. It is a love that does not make sense; it’s a love extended to the unlovable. According to Alan Redpath, we get our English word agony from agape. “It means the actual absorption of our being in one great passion.” The word has more to do with denial of self than an emotional feeling.

So, considering all this, it really does make the passages stand out in a new way.

If we are not denying ourselves for the sake of others, our lives are nothing.

We could have prophecy, knowledge, faith, good deeds, and even give our lives up – but if we do not have agape love, it has all been for nothing. It sounds almost contradictory, but there were early Christians who bragged about their ability to endure suffering for Jesus. They viewed suffering and dying as a martyr as the most important aspect of a Christian life. In many ways, they did it for themselves. Though all these traits Paul has listed are important, none of them are more important than agape love.

How do we even begin to do this?

“Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22). “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). Because of God’s love toward us, we are able to love one another.”

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