A love song

Songs in the New Testament, part 2 – 1 Corinthians 13

I am writing this two days before St. Valentine’s Day 2026.

If you think a song of love is out of place in the Bible, think again. The Bible is a collection of holy writings that includes an erotic love song in the Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon, which I’ve already covered in this very much not safe for work series. This chapter of 1 Corinthians is a beautiful love song. If pushed. I’d say that the whole Bible is God’s love song for humanity.

This is a love song by Saint Paul that reflects God’s love for us and encourages us to share love with one another. It consists of three sections, each with a unique poetic style, but all focus on love and have three parts.

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13 ESVUK

Without love I am nothing

This song has three main sections. The first one talks about its context: it is part of a longer discussion on worshipping God in Chapters 12 to 14. This context is often overlooked when the passage is used out of context in a wedding service.

The early Christian church in Corinth faced issues where members used their God-given gifts to show off. First Corinthians addresses various problems in the church, such as incest, the use of temple prostitutes, and the marginalisation of poor Christians. This is the 9th of 10 problems discussed in the letter.

It should be no surprise that Christians have problems like this, because they are people like me and you, sinners. Forgiven sinners, yes, but still sinners. We mess up.

There are three sections to this part. Verse 1 is about speaking in tongues. The Corinthian church meeting was a cacophony of many people speaking in tongues. Verse two is about other gifts of prophecy, knowledge, and faith, gifts which they underused. Finally, Paul goes all Wisdom Literature. In a Job-like moment, he talks about losing all you have and even your life.

In all of these, Paul is saying, “If I.” What he is really doing is directing this at these Corinthians. There is nothing wrong with these things. Paul commends these things, but Paul is pointing out that they are only beneficial if done in love, and the love he is speaking about is not love directed at God, but agápē love for other people, a love that puts the welfare of others first.

A Love Poem

Verses 4 to 7 make a beautiful love poem:

Love is patient
and kind;
love does not envy
or boast;

It is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful; 
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things, 
endures all things.

This is not how 21st-century media defines love, but romantic and erotic love can hint at what Paul means. Imagine how a film like “Love Actually” would change if love were shown this way; it would be very different. The Greek word agápē, translated as love, first appears in the Septuagint, which is the Old Testament translated into ancient Greek, specifically in the Song of Solomon. There, God’s self-giving love is portrayed as a highly erotic song between two lovers. Agápē is unique to religious teaching; pagans such as Aristotle used agápēsis.

Love does not envy. When we see someone receiving credit for their hard work, we may feel jealous and wish for similar recognition without putting in the effort. This can lead to gossip and negativity about them, causing our jealousy to grow until we feel happiness when they fail and disappointment at their continued success. Envy grows if not controlled, and it has no place in love.

We need to grow up

The last part has a different structure again, that of chiasmus. Chiasmus or chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Here’s the form:

• ⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 
  • ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 
    • ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 
  • ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
• ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

There are three 3 helps for letting us see into the age to come. Spiritual gifts are for this age. They are good, but they are for building up the body of Christ. What we have now is childish, immature, but when God’s kingdom arrives on earth fully, we shall become mature. Faith, hope and love will continue into this new age. If we get into them now, especially love for others, they will help us into the new age.

Love is like a river flowing through all time from the beginning through where we are now and into the new age that is to come. But it’s not about pie in the sky when we die. We need to get into love now, here on earth, while we are still around. Start showing it. Then let love carry us through to the new age.

To sum it up:

There was a problem. Some Corinthian Christians were prioritising less valuable spiritual gifts and failing to use their gifts to edify the body of Christ in love.

The solution. Pursue love (which the gospel embodies) by earnestly desiring and using spiritual gifts that build up the Spirit-baptised body of Christ.

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