5 Great Truths – Week Two

“And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”  1 CORINTHIANS 12:31b 

1 Corinthians 13 Context: 

• Chapter 10: Division over  

• Chapter 11: Division over  
• Chapter 12/14: Division over   

Big Picture: 

This chapter is more about family feuds than fancy weddings   

CAUTIONS – THE PRIORITY OF LOVE 

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

DESCRIPTIONS – THE ACTIONS OF LOVE 

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails…  

PREDICTIONS – THE PERMANENCE OF LOVE 

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Cautions – The Priority of Love  (vv. 1-3) 

Without Love … 

• Miraculous works become  
• Mind-blowing insights become  
• Magnificent generosity results in  

Foundational Principle:   

EVERYTHING REQUIRES LOVE  

Descriptions – The Actions of Love  (vv. 4-8) 

1.   Patient: makrothumeō –  

2.   Kind: chrēsteuomai –  

3.   Does not envy: zēloō –  

4.   Does not boast: perpereuomai – 

5.   Is not proud: physio –  

6.   Does not dishonor: aschēmoneō –   

7.   Is not self-seeking: zēteō –   

8.   Is not easily angered: paroxynō – 

9.   Keeps no record of wrong: logizomai – 

10.  Does not delight in evil: chairō –  

11.  Rejoices in truth: sygchairō –

12.  Always protects: stegō –   

13.  Always trusts: pisteuō –

14.  Always hopes: elpizō –

15.  Always preserves: hypomenō –

16.  Love never fails: piptō –

Predictions – The Permanence of Love (vv. 8-13)  

FINAL THOUGHT