Love Corinthians Style: Intro

Written By Melvin Jones

And you think your church has problems. Before you give up and become an agnostic, you need to understand that problems in the church are not a thing new. The Corinthians were so bad they got a letter from the apostle Paul. And while Paul did compliment them a bit, by verse 10 of the first chapter he made it clear that God was unhappy with their behavior when he wrote "…it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren." (1 Corinthians 1:11, RSV)

They were forming cliques or rivaling groups, they were being arrogant and trying to put each other down, they were even completely missing the purpose of the love feast or communion. And what was the root of all of these failings? If I understand the book (the epistle or letter written to the church in Corinth) it was because they were missing the all important ingredient of love in their relations and the day-to-day living out of their faith.

Chapter 13 of this letter is often called the Love Chapter. People use it during weddings because it seems to be talking about the love between husband and wife. But as we read the chapter in context, we can quickly see the chapter is talking about a lot more than husband/wife relationships. And over the next several months, we will look at just what 1 Corinthians 13 is saying about love, relationships, forgiveness, and a host of other issues related to living the Christian life.

While the letter is primarily a lecture from Paul letting the Corinthians know where they were falling short, the apostle included solutions to their problems. The love chapter is a dissertation on how love should show itself within the community of Christ. This portion of the epistle says several things about love. Let's see if we can take it apart and examine it bit by bit.

Paul wrote that love:

• Is patient and kind
• Is not jealous or boastful
• Is not arrogant or rude
• Does not insist on its own way
• Is not irritable or resentful
• Does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right
• Bears all things
• Believes all things
• Hopes all things
• Endures all thing

Over the next several months we will look at each of these descriptions of love and see just what they mean and how they apply in the Christian's life. Does "believes all things" mean that a person has to be totally gullible in order to love another? Or does "bear all things" mean that I have to a door mat in order to really show love? Must I always be a happy, bubbly chipmunk in order to avoid being irritable or resentful? Do I have to be infinitely patient in order to show true love? Probably not. But let's take a look at the chapter and see what we can find out.