The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13)
Trivia: According to the Bible, when is it OK to beat your slaves?
1 Corinthians 13:1-13, New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
This is Bible passage is often read at weddings, although it sounds much better when other translations are used.
1 Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings or of angels. If I don’t have love, I am only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. 2 Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don’t have love, I am nothing at all. 3 Suppose I give everything I have to poor people. And suppose I give myself over to a difficult life so I can brag. If I don’t have love, I get nothing at all..
4 Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs. 6 Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. 7 It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up.
8 Love never fails. But prophecy will pass away. Speaking in languages that had not been known before will end. And knowledge will pass away. 9 What we know now is not complete. What we prophesy now is not perfect. 10 But when what is complete comes, the things that are not complete will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I had the understanding of a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a foggy mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face. What I know now is not complete. But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.
13 The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13, New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
Here is the episode from the Bible in Fewer Words podcast that includes this passage.
11 1 Follow me, as I follow Christ.
2 I praise you for obeying me.
3 The head of every man is Christ. The head of every woman is a man. And the head of Christ is God.
4 If a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors his head.
5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.
6 A woman who refuses to cover her head must have her head shaved.
7 A man shouldn't cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.
8 Because the man wasn't made from the woman, but the woman from the man.
9 And the man wasn't created for the woman, but the woman for the man.
10 So the woman should have power on her head because of the angels.
13 Judge for yourself: Is it proper for a woman to pray uncovered?
14 Isn't it unnatural for a man to have long hair?
15 But a woman's long hair is her glory.
20 When you come gather together, you're not coming to eat the Lord's supper.
21 You're coming to eat and get drunk.
22 Don't you have houses where you can eat and drink?
23-24 On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and said, "This is my body."
25 And he took a cup and said, "This is my blood."
27-29 If you eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, you'll be guilty of his body and blood, and you will be damned.
30 That's why so many of you are weak, sick, and dead.
34 So if you're hungry, eat at home.
I'll deal with the rest of your problems on my next visit.
12 4 There are many gifts of the Spirit.
10 Some have the gift of doing miracles, some prophesy, some discern spirits, some speak in tongues, and some interpret tongues.
23 We honor the less honorable parts of our bodies, and make our less comely parts more comely.
31 Covet the best gifts.
13 1-2 If I speak well, prophesy, understand mysteries, and know everything, I’m nothing if I don’t have love.
3 If I give everything to the poor, and give my body to be burned, it’s not worth anything unless I have love.
4 Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or show off, and isn’t proud.
5 It behaves well and isn’t selfish. It doesn’t provoke or have bad thoughts.
6 It doesn’t rejoice in fighting but rejoices in the truth.
7 It supports and believes everything.
8 And it never fails. But prophecies fail, speech stops, and knowledge goes away.
11 When I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 Now we see through a glass, darkly. Later it’ll be face to face.
13 There are three things that last forever: Faith, hope, and love And the greatest of this is love.
14 1 Try to be charitable, but try even harder to get spiritual gifts, like prophesy.
2 Those who speak in unknown tongues, are speaking to God, not people. No one understands them.
5 I'd like you all to speak in tongues and prophesy.
Prophesying is better than speaking in tongues, especially when there isn't an interpreter around.
18 Thank God I speak in tongues more than any of you.
20 Don't be childish in your understanding.
22 Speaking in tongues is a sign to unbelievers.
23 If everyone speaks in tongues at church, unbelievers will think you are insane.
27 So don't have any more than two or three speaking in tongues at the same time.
And have someone interpret what they say.
28 If no interpreter is present, don't speak in tongues. Talk to yourself and God.
33 Because God isn't the author of confusion.
34 Don't let your women talk in church. They aren't permitted to speak, but must be obedient, as the law of Moses requires.
35 If they'd like to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home. Because it's a shame for women to speak in church.
37 The things that I write to you are the commandments of God.
38 But let those who are ignorant stay ignorant.
39 Therefore, covet to prophesy, and don't forbid people from speaking in tongues.
15 3 Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
4 He was buried and rose again on the third day.
5 Cephas (Peter) and the twelve saw him.
6 After that, he was seen by more than five hundred at once.
7 Then he was seen by James, and later by all the apostles.
8 And last of all, he was seen by me.
14 If Christ didn't rise from the dead, then our preaching and your faith are useless.
15 And we are false witnesses, because we said he rose when he didn't.
16-19 So if the dead don't rise, then neither did Christ, your faith is useless, dead Christians are dead, and we are the most miserable people on earth.
20 But Christ was the first to rise from the dead.
21 As death came from one man, so did the resurrection of the dead.
22 As we all died because of Adam, we'll all live after we die because of Christ.
23 First Christ rose from the dead, then the rest of us will rise when he comes again.
29 If the dead don't rise, why do we baptize dead people?
32 If the dead don't rise, let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
35 But someone will say, "How can dead people become alive again? What body will they have?"
36 You fool! Seeds don't sprout unless they're dead.
38 God will give you whatever body he pleases when he raises you from the dead.
51 I'll show you a mystery: Not all of us will die, but we all will be changed.
52 In a twinkling of an eye, the trumpet will sound, and all the dead people will rise with new bodies, and we will be changed.
16 14 Do everything with love.
20 Greet each other with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand.
22 Let everyone who doesn't love Jesus be anathema.
First Corinthians 11:3 says that the head of every woman is a man and the head of every man is Christ.
So a wife should obey her husband as though he were Jesus?
First Corinthians 11:6 says that a woman who refuses to cover her head should have her head shaved?
Christians don't follow this teaching today. Why not?
First Corinthians 11:7 says that a man is the image and glory of God and the woman is the glory of the man.
So a man is to God as a woman is to man?
First Corinthians 11:14 says that it is unnatural for a man to have long hair.
Does anyone believe this today?
In First Corinthians 14:18, Paul brags about speaking in tongues more than anyone else.
Most Christians don't speak in tongues today. Why not?
First Corinthians 14:34-35 says that women shouldn't talk in church. If they want to learn something, they should ask their husbands at home.
Is this because God thinks women are less interlligent than men?
In First Corinthians 15:29, Paul says we should baptize dead people.
Only Mormons do that today. Shouldn't all Christians?
First Corinthians 15:36 says that seeds don't sprout unless they die.
But isn't that is incorrect? Dead seeds don't sprout; only living seeds do.
In First Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul says that some of his contemporaries will still be alive when the end of the world occurs.
Since he was wrong about that, couldn't he be wrong about everything else?
Paul ends his letter saying that anyone who doesn't love Jesus should be cursed. (1 Corinthians 16:22)
Is that the way Christians should treat non-Christians?
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