Introduction: What does love mean? Today, it has so many meanings that the word is essentially meaningless. Take, for example, the phrase “tough love.” Doesn’t that seem to be a contradiction in terms? How can you be tough with someone you love? Yet most mature people know that being tough is part of love. Take, for example, when God moved Adam and Eve out of Eden. God still loved them to such a degree that He would sacrifice Himself for them. But on the surface the eviction did not look like love. The title of our lesson is “A Portrait of Love.” If you are unsure of what your subject looks like, how can you start painting it? That is the task before us. Our study this week is Paul’s description of love. Let’s dive into our study and better understand the meaning of love!
I. The Necessity of Love
A. Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. How important is love? (It seems to be of extraordinary importance.)
1. Let’s focus on 1 Corinthians 13:2. Imagine that you “understand all mysteries and all knowledge.” In addition imagine that your faith is so great that you could literally move mountains. If I offered that or love which would you take? (Since I’m not sure what love means, I would take knowledge and power.)
a. Paul says that if you make my choice, you are “nothing.” What Paul asserts is not true in a literal sense. If a person had all knowledge and understood all mysteries, that person would be the most knowledgeable human on the planet. Think of King Solomon. That is certainly something! Since I believe the Bible is true, we need to explore what Paul means. What do you think he means?
2. Let’s focus on 1 Corinthians 13:3. If a person gave away all his possessions and agreed to die, it would undoubtedly be true that person, “gained nothing.” Somehow, I don’t think that is Paul’s point. Is Paul saying that extreme self-sacrificing is bad or good? (He seems to say that it is good.)
a. What does the rest of the Bible teach about self-sacrifice? (Sacrificing self to the point of giving up your life is exactly what Jesus did for us.)
b. How can that be worth nothing?
B. Let’s look at Paul’s statements another way. If you were to describe the perfect Christian, how would you do it? (What Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 is the perfect Christian, absent the love part. Paul is not criticizing the gifts of a perfect Christian.)
C. Let’s also consider the context. 1 Corinthians 12 discusses spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 returns to a discussion of spiritual gifts. Why would Paul inject into the middle of the discussion about gifts a chapter on love? (This further supports the conclusion that Paul is not saying that spiritual gifts and talents are nothing, rather that spiritual power without a loving character is spiritually worthless.)
1. So what is Paul teaching us about love? (He is telling us that having love is an essential attribute for a Christian. Being otherwise perfect is not enough. When Paul writes that tremendous gifts mean “nothing,” he is saying that the gifts are not enough.)
D. If you have been a church member for a long time, you have seen tremendously gifted ministers who commit adultery. How does that happen? (One reason is that the gifted minister loves himself more than he loves his wife, his family, or his congregation. His lack of love destroys his marriage and his ministry. His gifts become “nothing.”)
II. Describing Love
A. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Assume the closest person to you in life asks, “How can I know you love me?” How would you answer that question?
1. Paul has a unique way of painting a picture of love. He says that seven attitudes demonstrate love, and eight attitudes demonstrate a lack of love. Let’s go through these.
a. What attitudes are consistent with love? (Patience. Kindness. Rejoicing in truth. Bearing all things. Believing all things. Hoping all things. Enduring all things.)
(1) Are these attitudes the way you would demonstrate that you loved someone?
b. What attitudes are inconsistent with love? (Envy. Boasting. Arrogance. Rudeness. Insisting on getting your way. Irritable. Resentful. Rejoicing over wrongdoing.)
(1) If a person claimed you did not love them, would these be convincing examples of your lack of love?
2. As I look at the good and bad attitudes, my conclusion is that they describe either good or bad people. But I do not automatically think they describe love or a lack of love. How am I wrong?
B. We have been looking at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as a description of love. Would it be more accurate to say that Paul is giving us a diagnostic test for love? That if love walks into the room, this is how it behaves?
1. If this is a diagnostic test for love, how would you be diagnosed?
2. How many of the good and bad attitudes do you show in your life?
3. One way to diagnose yourself regarding these traits is to substitute your name for “love.” For example, “Bruce is patient.” “Bruce does not envy.”
C. Look again at 1 Corinthians 13:6. What does it mean to “rejoice with the truth” rather than “rejoice at wrongdoing?” (This supports the idea of tough love. Love does not require agreeing, approving, or avoiding conflict in the face of wrongdoing. Sometimes love corrects, disciplines, warns, or opposes wrongdoing. Recall that Paul insists that the Corinthians confront serious sin. So patience and kindness do not require pretending that evil is good.)
1. What about 1 Corinthians 13:7 requiring loving people to “bear all things,” or “endure all things?” (J. Vernon McGee’s commentary says that “bears” contains “the thought of protection. Love puts up an umbrella for others.” Regarding “endures,” he says that “love remains strong through testing.” That is different than tolerating evil.)
2. What does Paul mean when he says that love “believes all things”? When your child lies about misconduct, must you believe the lie? (Again, McGee suggests that Paul means we should not regard others with suspicion. It does not mean we should be “foolishly credulous.”)
D. Could you summarize 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in one or two sentences? (Love is the displacement of self from the center of life. It is a commitment to the good of others that is reflected in your conduct.)
III. The Future of Love
A. Read 1 Corinthians 13:8-10. What is the future of love? (It will outlast your spiritual gifts!)
1. When will the perfect come? (This refers to the Second Coming of Jesus. We will be transformed and our incomplete spiritual gifts will be completed to perfection.)
2. What specific gifts are said to have a termination date? (Tongues, prophecies, and knowledge.)
a. Is there a specific reason why tongues and prophecies terminate? (Prophecy will be fulfilled. In heaven we will have one language.)
B. Read 1 Corinthians 13:11-12. Why is Paul writing about children and adults? (His point is that our imperfect attitudes will reach perfection in heaven.)
1. What is Paul talking about when he says we will see “face to face?” (We will see Jesus face to face. We will see Him who is perfect love.)
2. What is Paul telling us when he writes, “even as I have been fully known?” (God already knows us completely. When we see Him face to face, our knowledge of Him will no longer be partial and dim.)
C. Read 1 Corinthians 13:13. When Paul writes that the “greatest of these is love,” is he comparing love only to faith and hope? (He directly compares love with faith and hope. In the larger context, all three are greater than spectacular spiritual gifts, but love is greatest because it never ends and because it gives the gifts their proper spiritual value. That is why Paul next tells us to “pursue love.”)
D. Friend, when you diagnosed yourself using Paul’s love test, how did you score? If you, like me, need improvement, why not ask the Holy Spirit, right now, to change you into a more loving person?
IV. Next week: The Power of Christ’s Resurrection.
Copr. 2026, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.
