1 Corinthians 13 (The Hymn to Love)
Epistles / Paul · Agape as the supreme virtue surpassing all gifts and knowledge
- First attested
- 54 CEChester Beatty Papyrus II (P46); Codex Sinaiticus.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Without genuine love, the greatest intellectual and spiritual achievements are hollow noise.
1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (New Testament); Papyrus 46 (c. 200 CE).
Paul’s canonical discourse on agape as the enduring supreme virtue surpassing all gifts and prophecies.
In 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul articulates the "Hymn to Love" (Agape). Writing to a divided community boasting of ecstatic spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, prophecy, secret knowledge, and ascetic sacrifice), Paul declares that without unconditional love, all spiritual attainments are mere noisy gongs or clanging cymbals. He concludes with the immortal triad: "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Light
Unconditional compassion, patience, selfless generosity, and enduring spiritual maturity.
Shadow
Sentimentalizing love into passive acquiescence to abuse or injustice.
