1 Corinthians 13
13
The way of perfection — love
1-11And the way I will show you is the way of perfection. I may have knowledge, but it is still fragmentary, I read as it were on a mirror the reflections which I cannot yet quite make out. I prophesy partially, not fully and perfectly, and so is it with other gifts of the kind, tongues and healing and so on. These are, as it were, but the infancy of the Spirit, its first faint babblings and lispings, but love is full, complete, perfect. Here and now it is the all-inclusive, towards which all these other gifts point, and when love is fully come, there will be an end of these partial utterances of the Spirit. Therefore love is above all things necessary. What are all these other gifts without it? What is the speaking with tongues, the utterances of men or angels, without it? Merely a repetition of the old religions with the clashing of cymbals and beating of gongs. And what does it avail to prophesy, to have an intellect which can grapple with all mysteries and knowledge, and to have so powerful a faith as to be able to work miracles with it, if love is not the crown, the aim, the end of it all? It is all worthless. And to give away all your possessions without love, and to embrace martyrdom and the stake without love — how empty, how vain and worthless! For love includes all that is good — all patience, kindness, tolerance, forbearance, faith and hope; and love is antidote to all evil, all jealousy, and boasting, all ugliness, selfishness, ill-temper, evil thinking. Love can never take any pleasure in these things, the joy of love comes from truth. And so it shall come to pass that all other things will change, pass, and be no more, but love will remain. All that is partial, imperfect, incomplete must have an end, but love will never fail. 12In that perfect day of love we shall see face to face, we shall know then as now we are known, 13and though now we see faith, hope and love, these three, abiding with us, the greatest of them is love.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 13
13
Chapter 13
Love is most important
1I may be able to speak many different languages that people or angels speak. But that is worth nothing if I do not love other people. I would only be making a loud noise, like someone who hits a piece of metal. 2I may be able to speak messages from God. I may understand all God's secret things, and know all the facts. I may have great faith so that I trust God enough to move mountains. But I am nothing if I do not love others. 3I may give all my things to help poor people. I may let other people take my body to burn it. #13:3 ‘I may let other people take my body to burn it’ or ‘I may give my body as a sacrifice so that I can be proud.’ But that would not help me if I do not love others.
4If I love people, I will be patient. I will be kind. I will not be jealous of other people. I will not be proud and say that I am great. 5If I love people, I will be polite. I will not just want to please myself. I will not quickly become angry. If someone does a wrong thing against me, I will not keep it in my thoughts. 6If I love people, I will not be happy when bad things happen. Instead, I will be happy when things happen that are right and true. 7If I love people, I will always accept their problems. I will always believe them. I will always hope for what is best. I will always be patient in troubles.
8Love will always continue. The gift to speak messages from God will not always be necessary. The gift to speak in different languages will stop one day. The gift to know special things will not always be necessary. 9At this time, we know only a part of everything. We can only speak a part of God's whole message. 10But a time will come when everything becomes complete. When God does that, we will not need the small parts that we have now.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child. My thoughts were a child's thoughts. I understood things in a way that a child understands. But now that I have become a man, I have stopped being like a child. 12At this time, we see things as if we were looking at them in a mirror. What we see now is not clear. But the time will come when we do not need a mirror. We will see everything clearly. Now we know only a part of what is true. But then we will know everything completely. We will understand completely, just as God understands us completely.
13At this time there are three things that continue. We continue to trust God. We continue to hope for his good things. We continue to love other people. But the most important of these things is love.
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