1 Corinthians 13

With poetic flair, Paul says we might be able to speak several languages and then talk in tongues when we go to church. But he says if we don’t have love, we’re just the “sound of someone playing the cymbals at the wrong time—or worse, the gong” (1 Corinthians 13:1). For those of us who are not poets, how would you put that in a plain and simple sentence?

In 1 Corinthians 13:2-3, Paul seems to be targeting several groups of respectable people. He seems to do this to make his point that it doesn’t matter if you are among the most respectable people in the world, if you don’t love people, you don’t have what it takes. What groups of respectable people do you think he seems to be targeting? And if he were writing today, what other groups of people do you think he might add to this note?

Paul tells the Corinthian Christians what love looks like. He does it in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Which one-liner do you think would resonate best with most people?

Paul says, “We don’t see the big picture yet. . . . But someday, when the time is just right, we’ll get to see the big picture—everything there is to see” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). That sounds like an odd thing to say after wrapping up a poetic description of love. It’s anyone’s guess why Paul jumped from love to this. What guess would you make? How does our limited ability to see the future have anything to do with love?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul has described what he thinks love looks like. What does love look like to you or to people in your life? What stories have you witnessed or heard about from family or close friends that illustrate what love is like?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says the three greatest virtues in life are “Faith. Hope. Love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). What do you think people today:

• have most faith in?
• hope for most in life?
• love most dearly?