Lessons #461 and 462
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Some characteristics of love (1 Cor 13:4-7)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
This section of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is certainly concerned with some characteristics of love but before we examine this passage, we need to make general comments about the subject of love. Our first comment is that all believers should be interested in the subject of love. It is true that many people, especially those in marriage relationship, are interested in the subject but believers should be more interested in the subject for at least two related reasons. First, it is because of its importance in our relationship to the Lord. The Scripture is clear that the most important of the commands in the Scripture is for believers to love the Lord. Second, we are also commanded to love each other as that which distinguishes believers in Christ. These two reasons are given firstly during the interaction between a Pharisee that is an expert in the Law and the Lord Jesus as narrated for us in Matthew 22:36–40:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Secondly, as we stated, the Lord Jesus communicated to His disciples that love for each other is to be the hallmark of believers that would cause the world to recognize that they belong to Him as we read in John 13:34–35:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Although believers in many cultures are failing to obey this instruction of the Lord Jesus, the reality is that love is a topic that we need not only to understand but to apply if we are going to have the right kind of relationship with the Lord. Furthermore, if we are going to have the right kind of relationship with others, especially our fellow believers, we need to understand and apply love. You see, the reason many local churches have problems among their members is the absence of love. Some of us have problems with fellow believers that we are ready to slander them because we do not love them. Others are willing to hurt their fellow believers for the same reason. Still others are greedy so that they want everything for themselves at the expense of others for the same reason that they do not love others. I am saying to you that if we should analyze the ills of any society, we will find that at their root is the absence of love since sin controls us humans. Of course, when we put it this way, we mean that it is because people have not known God’s love in that they are not believers or if they are believers, they do not understand the implication of God’s love towards them. It is impossible for anyone to truly have love as God intended and harm others. Thus, love as a subject is an important one.
A second comment is that there is confusion especially in the time we live regarding the subject of love. This is in part due to at least two related reasons. The first is the influence of the entertainment industry. There are many things that are portrayed in the movies or on the television that confuse this matter of love. The second is due to things written either by social scientists or by novelists. Many things are written to make people think of this ideal romance called “love” that exists nowhere. Many of the people that watch the dramatization of love on the television or read the romantic novels are not able to differentiate reality from fiction. So, as many minds become filled with some of the unrealistic and misleading conception of love given either in movies or in novels, they begin to dream of love and want to be loved in the fashion that they see it portrayed and when this does not happen, they become frustrated and bitter which often leads to murder and all kinds of problems in life. Related to these reasons is that we live in a society where humanistic thinking has taken over. Therefore, there is this great emphasis of freedom, to say or express how you feel. When people are encouraged to express how they feel without reminding them of consequences of actions of a person the result is always confusion; this is one of the reasons people are confused about love. We are being encouraged to live by our emotions as against thought.
A third comment is that it is difficult to define love and so it is the least understood word in the English language. I would not be exaggerating if I say that almost everyone uses this word, but only a few truly understand the meaning and still only a fewer number of people actually enjoy it in this life. In a sense, love is an elusive concept that is very difficult to put in words of one or two sentences. To prove my point, you could consult any English dictionary to see how love is defined. Take for example; Webster’s Dictionary defines love using several sentences as: “affection based on admiration or benevolence; warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion; unselfish concern that freely accepts another in loyalty and seeks his good; the attraction based on sexual desire: the affection and tenderness felt by lovers.”
There are several reasons that it is difficult to define love. First, it is because of the Greek noun (agapē) and its related verb (agapaō) that is more frequently used in the NT to describe “love.” We have already considered the noun and concluded that it is used predominantly in the NT to refer to the quality of warm regard for and interest in another hence may mean “esteem, affection, regard, love.” This definition does not in a sense tell the full story of what love is as the passage before us bears out.
Second, it is difficult to define love in one or two sentences so to say, because the Scripture also indicates that love is demonstrative. The Holy Spirit through Apostle John makes this point in relationship to Jesus Christ and to believers in general. The Holy Spirit through the apostle tells us how to recognize love in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ as we read in 1 John 3:16:
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.
John was not being theoretical because the word “know” that he used is translated from a Greek word (ginōskō) that here is related to observation and experience. Hence, he wrote based on his observation and experience as the Holy Spirit guided him. For example, he observed Jesus’ demonstration of love in washing of the feet of His disciples that not only taught of His love but also His humility, showing that love cannot withhold any good service from its recipients because of arrogance as recorded in John 13:1:
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
We cannot help but imagine that when our Lord was washing the feet of the disciples that John was saying to himself, “this is love; the master washing the feet of His disciples. If it is not love that led Him to serve His disciples, what is it then?” That is likely how John felt. This incident added to the process of knowing what love is but to John the climax of what love is, is what happened on the cross. In other words, John says to understand love, one must look to the cross and that is why he writes in 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. He is saying that Christ went to the cross because of us. He is saying that love is related to the cross. The cross tells the story of love. So, if one wants to understand the nature of love in action, he must look to the cross. At the cross we see a sacrifice offered for the undeserving. We see the power of God demonstrated in providing salvation for us. If we simply consider these facts, we may state that John is saying that love in action is sacrificial. Love in action is not concerned with what others think of the person demonstrating it. It is not concerned with shame because our Lord did not mind the shame of dying on the cross when He provided for us eternal life. Thus, to know true love in action is to truly understand the significance of what happened at the cross. Speak about the cross, may I emphasize that there are at least two factors we consider when we think of love as related to the cross. It is sacrificial and it is unconditional. Anyhow, John continued to convey that love is demonstrable when he communicated that love we exhibit must be demonstrable as he wrote in 1 John 3:17–18:
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
John first set the scenario that challenges the concept of love in the situation of a fellow believer in need. He then tells us that love is demonstrable when he issued the exhortation let us not love with words or tongue but with actions. You see, there are those who just like to talk but no action. John says that such does not apply with love. Love must involve action for one to truly claim to love another. In any event, the Scripture indicates that love is demonstrative.
Third, it is difficult to define love because the Scripture states that it is an attribute of God as stated in 1 John 4:8:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The sentence God is love is not a definition of God, rather it is a description of His nature or His divine attribute. That this is an attribute of God can be seen in what is written in Ex 34:6:
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
The phrase abounding in love indicates attribute to God, as well as, slow to anger. If someone wants to make the sentence of 1 John 4:8 God is love the definition of God, how can the person deal with the statement we find in Hebrews 12:29?
for our "God is a consuming fire."
Definitely this is nothing but a statement to show that God is a God of justice and judgment. It is not intended to define God, therefore, in the same way our sentence God is love is not a definition of God but an assertion of His attribute. Anyway, it is because love is God’s attribute that makes it difficult to define in an absolute sense.
Fourth, it is difficult to define love because the Scripture nowhere defines love in one sentence or so. If love is easy to define, the Holy Spirit would have defined it here in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians that is the focus of our study. So, we admit that it is difficult to define love absolutely.
A fourth comment is that although it is difficult to define love absolutely that we can offer a practical definition of it that should guide our conduct as we relate to each other. Thus, based on the difficulties we have stated regarding the definition of love and based on what Apostle Paul wrote as some of the characteristics of love in the passage we are about to study, that is, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we can offer a working definition of love. Therefore, our working definition of love is that it is a thought-action phenomenon that involves a subject and an object whereby the object is benefited. What this definition does is that it immediately removes love from “feeling-centered” to “thought-centered.” Definitely, thought does not exclude feeling or emotion, but it controls it. However, we should caution that this one sentence definition must be elaborated upon in order for anyone to truly understand love. It is simply designed to help us organize our understanding of love. This definition fits well with what John wrote about what love is, as evident in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was first due to God’s thinking about how to redeem us and then Him acting. Thus, we can see that Jesus’ love demonstrated on the cross is indeed a “thought-action phenomenon” that benefits those who believe in Him.
A fifth comment is that the love that is expected of a believer is not something that is natural to the individual. It is that which can only exist under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. We say this because love is the first aspect of the fruit of the Spirit that the Holy Spirit gave to us through Apostle Paul as listed in Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
A sixth comment is that the apostle considers love an indispensable element of the functioning of a local church or that which is most important in the spiritual life of the local church and so of individual believers. This, he did when he wrote the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 12:31 And now I will show you the most excellent way. Thus, because of the importance of love, the apostle saw the need to give a fuller treatment of it in the passage we are about to consider. Of course, the need to elaborate on the subject is certainly related to the conduct of the Corinthians. In effect, the elaboration of the apostle is because the Corinthians were not exhibiting within them the characteristics of love the apostle gave in the passage we are about to study.
A seventh comment is that the apostle personified love so that he used fifteen verbs to describe love. The use of verbs indicates that the apostle sees love more so in terms of actions than either emotion or merely a declaration that one utters. Furthermore, he sees the actions involved as real, taking place at the time of interaction between the subject and object of love. We say this because all the fifteen verbs the apostle used are in the present tense in the Greek and in what is described in Greek grammar as “indicative,” that is, “the mood of assertion, where the writer portrays something as actual (as opposed to possible or contingent on intention).” Thus, it is impossible for action associated with love to be anything but real and taking place in real time of interaction between the subject and object of love. That aside, although the apostle personified love, we should understand that he meant to convey that the characteristics he stated are those of believers who under the control of Holy Spirit have love. With these comments we are now ready to examine what the Holy Spirit says through Apostle Paul about love.
Love as a concept is something abstract in that you could not hold it, but it is something that can be recognized or characterized in relation to how a subject acts towards its object. In other words, it is not that much meaningful to speak of having love without an object that it is directed or an action from the object of love. This being the case, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul provides us features that are necessary in identifying presence or absence of love as it relates to the object of love. Since something may be described either positively or negatively or both, the Holy Spirit described love for us both positively and negatively. The apostle began with positive characterization of love then he moved to negative characterization in terms of what love never does and he ended with positive characterization in terms of responses associated with love. It is worth noting that the apostle spent more on the negative than on the positive. In other words, he tells more of what love does not do than what it does. Most commentators believe this is in large part due to the fact that Paul’s comments about love here are not based on some abstract, context-free meditation on the subject, but on providing a stinging contrast to the behavior of some Corinthian Christians. This notwithstanding, the characterization of love that we have in our passage is intended to help us prove the truthfulness of our claim to love someone. It is easier to say that you love a person, but the actual test of your claim is your action. Hence, the Holy Spirit provides us undeniable measures of testing our claims of love. This being the case, we can state that the message of this passage is that You should test your claim of love by comparing your love to the positive and negative characteristics of love the Holy Spirit provides in 1 Corinthians 13. In other words, if you find that you fail any of the characteristics given in our passage but claims to love that you should recognize that your claim is not valid. Having said that, let me caution that because the love we are concerned here is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that all the characteristics given may not necessarily be evident at a given point to claim to love a person. It is the situation at hand that determines if a person’s claim of love is true. I am saying that it is the situation we face that determines the characteristic of love that is demonstrated. What this means is that all the fifteen characteristics will not be evident at a given time but only the characteristic that is relevant to the situation that exists between the subject and the object of love that will be displayed. Anyway, because we have indicated that the personification of love should be understood as meaning that a person who possesses love will display the characteristics stated in our passage, we will discuss these often as they relate to the object of love.
The first characteristic of love the apostle stated is concerned with how a person with love reacts when provoked or when faced with trying circumstance brought about by the object of love. This characteristic of love is being patient with the object of love as we read in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient.
The expression “is patient” is translated from a Greek verb (makrothymeō) that may mean “to remain tranquil while waiting,” that is, “to have patience, to wait” as it is used to describe Abraham’s response to God’s promise to him as we read in Hebrews 6:15:
And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
The word may mean “to be patient, forbearing,” that is, “to bear up under provocation without complaint,” as the word is used to instruct believers as to how they should respond to everyone as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:14:
And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
The word may mean “to delay” as the word is used in the mouth of the Lord Jesus regarding God’s inevitable response towards those who cry to Him for justice as recorded in Luke 18:7:
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
The translators of the NIV used the expression “putting… off” to translate our word here while some English versions such as the NET used the meaning “to delay.” That aside, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:4, the word has the sense of “to bear up under provocation without complaint” or “to be even-tempered while enduring trying circumstances,” that is, “to be patient.”
This first characteristic of love that indicates being patient under difficult circumstances proves our point that love advocated for believers in our passage of study is that produced by the Holy Spirit since patience is also an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit as we read in the passage we cited previously, that is, in Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
That aside, the way you know that you have love towards someone is your willingness to be patient or to bear up without complaint with that person that has wronged you. This characteristic of love is one that those who are pastors should use to test their love for their congregations. A pastor who loves his congregation should demonstrate that love through his patience in communicating God’s word to them as we read in 2 Timothy 4:2:
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
Similarly, members of a local congregation will demonstrate love towards their pastors or teachers if they patiently listen to their teaching of God’s word as we may gather from the appeal of the human author of Hebrews to the recipients of his epistle as we read in Hebrews 13:22:
Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter.
Anyway, a first characteristic of love is patience or being even-tempered while enduring trying circumstances. You cannot tell if you love a person until you are able to be patient with them when they wrong you or remain calm when they irritate you.
A second characteristic of love concerns that quality of compassion and generosity as given in the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:4 love is kind. The expression “is kind” is translated from a Greek verb (chrēsteuomai) that appears only here in the Greek NT; it means “to be kind.” The verb is related to the Greek noun (chrēstotēs) that refers to the quality of being helpful or beneficial. Thus, the sense of the verb in our passage is “to be kind,” that is, “being warmhearted, considerate, humane, gentle, and sympathetic.” Hence, if you love someone you should be warmhearted and considerate towards that individual. But this warmheartedness is evident in the action of a person that possesses this characteristic of love.
This second characteristic of love again indicates that love that is advocated for believers to demonstrate is that produced by the Holy Spirit since kindness is another aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit as stated in the passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Kindness is an action-oriented word so that unless a believer is controlled by the Holy Spirit in displaying kindness then the individual could not claim to have the love that is the fruit of the Spirit. We say this because unbelievers are capable of kindness as, for example, the Islanders of Malta that showed kindness to Apostle Paul and others with him, following the shipwreck he and those traveling with him experienced as we read in Acts 28:2:
The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
Anyway, if you claim to love someone, you demonstrate it by being warmhearted and helpful towards that individual, that is, you show kindness to the object of your love through action or actions that benefit the object of your love.
We indicated that something can be characterized either positively or negatively. Thus, the apostle goes from positive description of love to a negative description of what love does not involve. Precisely, he listed eight things that love avoids, that is, he tells us things that would not exist when there is love.
The first negative description of love is concerned with envy as in the next sentence of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 13:4 It does not envy. This is a strong statement about what love does not do. We say this because the word “not” is translated from a strong Greek negative (ou) that is an objective negative, denying the reality of alleged fact fully and absolutely in contrast to another Greek negative (mē) that is a subjective negative, implying a conditional and hypothetical negation. The negative the apostle used here shuts the door to the possibility that a person who has love is characterized by envy.
The expression “does…envy” is translated from a Greek word (zēloō) that is used both negatively and positively. Negatively, it may mean to have intense negative feelings over another’s achievements or success, that is, “to be filled with jealousy or envy” as it is used to describe the attitude of the Jews in Thessalonica towards Apostle Paul as we read in Acts 17:5:
But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.
Positively, the word may mean to be positively and intensely interested in something and so means “to strive, desire, exert oneself earnestly, be dedicated.” The positive sense of the word deals with what is desirable so that the apostle used it three times in his epistle to the Corinthians to instruct them regarding spiritual gifts. Twice he used it to encourage the Corinthians to desire spiritual gifts in general, as for example, in 1 Corinthians 14:1:
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
He used it for desire for exercising the gift of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:39:
Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:4, it is used in a negative sense of “to be envious,” that is, “to have intense negative feelings over another’s achievements or success.”
By the way, some English versions used the word “jealous” instead of “envy” in their translation of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:4 It does not envy so it reads, for example, in the NCV Love is not jealous. The word “envy” and “jealous” are related that often the two are exchanged for each other. It is difficult to differentiate the two but there is a difference. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of NT words gives a good distinction between them. According to that source, envy desires to deprive another of what the individual has while jealousy desires to have the same or the same sort of thing for itself.
We can understand the reason love does not involve envy. Envy is certainly a sin as the Scripture implies in the list of the activities of the sinful nature stated in Galatians 5:19–21:
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Envy as a sin occurs when a person has a negative feeling towards the success or good fortune of another. It is therefore not surprising that the psalmist indicated that it is the prosperity of the wicked that triggered envy in him as we read in Psalm 73:3:
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Truly to be envious of someone is an indication that a person does not believe God is in control of all things including successes and failures as well as rejecting that God is the One who gives things to people as per the declaration of John the Baptist when some individuals were pushing him to be jealous of the Lord Jesus as recorded for us in John 3:27–28:
27 To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’
We indicated previously that Apostle Paul’s detailed description of love is in part rooted in the failures of the Corinthians. The characteristic that love does not envy is a rebuke of the conduct of the Corinthians. The apostle had chided them for jealousy that definitely involves wanting power and wanting the spiritual gifts of some whose gifts are spectacular. The apostle’s charge of jealousy against the Corinthians is stated in 1 Corinthians 3:3:
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
The word “jealousy” is translated from the Greek word (zēlos) related to the Greek verb used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:4 so that some English versions used the meaning “envy” instead of “jealousy.” That aside, the point is that there was envy among the Corinthians so that the apostle in effect is telling them that they were not exhibiting the love that is expected of believers in the local church of Christ. Anyhow, we insist that it is human success that often gives rise to envy. The understanding that envy arises because of someone’s success should enable us to examine if we have love towards another person. You see, if a person is successful in whatever the endeavor is, and you resent it then you could not claim to love the person. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells us that where there is love there cannot be any resentment towards another person who succeeds even in an endeavor that we failed to achieve. The point is that it is our reaction to the blessing of others that determines if there is love. Whenever, there is resentment to a person’s good fortune love cannot be present. Anyway, the first negative thing that love avoids is envy.
The second negative description of love is concerned with boasting as conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:4 it does not boast. Again, this is a strong statement because of the Greek word that is translated “not” is one that implies absolutely that love excludes boasting.
The word “boast” is translated from a Greek word (perpereuomai) that appears only here in the Greek NT; it means “to boast,” that is, “to heap praise on oneself.” Hence, if a person has love, the individual will not engage in self-praise or being boastful towards the object of love. You see, we noted that envy is associated with someone’s success so if a person has love and boasts in such a way as to arouse envy in another person then that individual is without love. For if you love an individua you will avoid putting the person in a situation where the person will sin.
The fact that love excludes boasting suggests that the apostle reminds the Corinthians of the lack of love among them. We say this because, although it is a different Greek word (kauchaomai) that is used previously in this epistle for boasting, the apostle had referenced boasting severally. For example, the apostle had indicated that no one should boast about anything they have because it is a gift from God as we read in 1 Corinthians 4:7:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
The apostle rebuked the Corinthians for boasting in the conduct of one of their members who is in an unacceptable sexual relationship with a stepmother as we read in 1 Corinthians 5:6:
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
It is also possible that the apostle would also have had in his mind the Corinthians who boast about the knowledge they claim to possess as the apostle had already contrasted between knowledge that puffs up and love that builds up others in 1 Corinthians 8:1:
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
The point is that by the apostle giving the second negative description of love in that a person who has love avoids boasting, has reminded the Corinthians that they do not have the love that is his concern in this thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
The third negative description of love that is related to the second is concerned with pride as stated in 1 Corinthians 13:4 it is not proud.
The expression “is…proud” is translated from a Greek verb (physioō) that literally means “to blow up, inflate” but figuratively means “to puff up, to make proud.” The word is used in the NT only by Apostle Paul. He used it seven times and six of these are found in his first epistle to the Corinthians. The only other usage of the word outside 1 Corinthians is in his epistle to the Colossians where he used it to encourage believers to live in fullness of Christ than be “puffed up” with angel worship as stated in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:4, the apostle used it in the sense of “being proud” or “being puffed up,” that is, “to cause to have an exaggerated self-conception.”
Love excludes being puffed off because love is devoid of anything sinful. When a believer thinks more highly of self for whatever reason, that person ignores the instruction that demands a believer not to do so, especially because of something that a person receives graciously from God. I am referring to the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in Romans 12:3:
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
If you think more of yourself than reality permits, then you will have no room to be sensitive to the concern of others so it will be difficult for you to exercise love under such situation. Anyhow, to be puffed up or to be engaged in pride makes it impossible for a person to exercise love hence pride is excluded from love, or it is that which would not exist where love exists.
This third description of what love avoids, that is, pride, should also remind the Corinthians that for the most part, they do not have the love the apostle is concerned in the passage we are studying since the apostle had already indicated that some of them were arrogant or proud as we read in 1 Corinthians 4:19:
But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.
The phrase these arrogant people is literally the ones who have become arrogant since it is the Greek verb used in the third negative description of love that is used in 1 Corinthians 4:19.
The fourth negative description of love is concerned with unacceptable behavior or manner as stated in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 13:5 It is not rude. Interestingly, the 2011 edition of the NIV translated the Greek to read It does not dishonor others. This is not that surprising when we consider the Greek word used.
The expression “is…rude” is translated from a Greek verb (aschēmoneō) that pertains to acting in defiance of social and moral standards that the public considers commendable, with resulting disgrace, embarrassment, and shame, hence means “to behave disgracefully, dishonorably, indecently.” It appears only twice in the Greek NT; its other occurrence is in the context of sexual relationship and marriage where it means “to not behave in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in certain social groups” in 1 Corinthians 7:36:
If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.
Our Greek verb is related to a Greek noun and a Greek adjective that would help in understanding what the apostle could have meant when he wrote about love in 1 Corinthians 13:5 It is not rude. The noun form is a Greek word (aschēmosynē) that is used in three ways in the Scripture. It is used for “indecent behavior” such as sexual acts forbidden and that cause dishonor and shame as it is used to describe homosexuality in Romans 1:27:
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Interestingly, the word is used in Apocryphal book of Sirach to describe the shame of a wife that gets drunk as in book of Sirach 26:8:
A drunken wife arouses great anger; she cannot hide her shame. (NRSV)
Another meaning of the Greek noun refers to a state of disgrace associated with nakedness as it is used in Revelation 3:18:
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Still another meaning of the Greek noun pertains to something considered too private for public exposure hence “nakedness” and so becomes euphemism for the genitals. This is the way the word is used in the Septuagint of Exodus 20:26:
And do not go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’
It is in the same sense of the genital that the word is used in Revelation 16:15:
“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
The adjective related to our Greek verb that means “to behave unbecomingly” is a Greek word (aschēmōn) that is used in Greek literature frequently for something that is not openly done, displayed, or discussed in reserved society because it is considered “shameful, unpresentable, indecent”, or “unmentionable.” The word is applied especially to sexual matters. Thus, the word is used in the Septuagint to describe the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, as that which is shameful or disgraceful in Genesis 34:7:
Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
The noun and adjective related to our Greek word that means “to behave unbecomingly,” imply that the verb may refer to a behavior that is not expected as it relates to sexual concept which becomes important in interpreting what the apostle had in mind. These notwithstanding, the sense of the word in our passage of 1 Corinthians 13:5 is “to behave unbecomingly,” that is, “to not behave in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in certain social groups.”
The meaning of the Greek word translated “rude” in the 1984 edition of the NIV as meaning “to behave unbecomingly,” implies that where love exists one could not act in a manner that is not in keeping with the acceptable standard of conduct. Since the words related to our Greek verb are concerned with sexual conduct as well, we can say that love would not be involved in anything sexual that is incompatible with God’s standard. This means that when people who are not married have sex under the guise of love that that is wrong. Such a sexual relationship could not possibly be an expression of love that is from the Holy Spirit. That aside, it is important to understand that where love exists one would not act indecently or speak in a vulgar manner towards the object of love. The point is that love excludes improper conduct and speech.
10/21//22