I Corinthians 13

·         The love¹ is patient (it continues to be long-suffering, long-tempered, having long-forbearance),

·         it is benevolent (it continues to show itself kind, supplying what is appropriately needed for use in specific situations);

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o   the love¹ is not jealous (it is not being zealous in the bad sense, it does not have a boiling or vehement passion that is contrary to God’s Word),

o   it does not vaunt itself (it is not bragging, it does not push itself forward showing-off itself as a braggart in a vainglorious display),

o   it does not puff itself up (it is not inflating itself with its own importance or anything else),

o   it is not indecorous (it is not being unseemly, it does not behave indecorously, in a not-elegant, not-well-figured, not-seemly way),

o   it does not seek-after the-thing of itself (it is not looking for its own thing, it is not self-centered),

o   it is not sharpened (it is not being whet, made sharp as by something rubbing on it, it is not stimulated or caused to be irritated, touchy, incited, no paroxysm, it cannot be sharpened by something else trying to improve or change it),

o   it does not calculate the bad-thing (it is not reckoning, computing, counting something bad, it is not reasoning logically within itself anything that does not issue from God, that is not God’s will),

o   it does not joy on the unrighteousness (it is not being joyful resting upon injustice, it does not rejoice over unjustness, something based-on what is not right/just but is wrong) –

…but…

·         it joys-together with the truth (it continues to be joyful, rejoicing in conjunction with the truth, which is what God says, the essential reality, God’s inherent verity, the state of being true),

·         it protectively-covers all-things (it continues to shelter, keeping or fending off anything which may hurt and thereby it is sustaining and supporting all of God's spiritual-things, as the roof of a house protectively-covers the inside of that house which is concealed by the roof),

·         it believes all-things (it continues to trust, having faith in all of God's spiritual-things, which is what Paul is in the middle of teaching here in chapter 13 – this phrase does not mean that it believes anything and everything because that would be against God's will!),

·         it hopes all-things (it continues to expect all of God's spiritual-things to come to pass, to come into being, to happen at a future time),

·         it patiently-endures all-things (it continues to hold-out, bearing-up, staying or remaining upright relative to God and the things of God under all of God’s spiritual-things).

 

Notes:

1. Godly-love is patient, it is benevolent.
2. Godly-love is not jealous, it does not vaunt itself, it does not puff itself up, it is not indecorous, it does not seek-after the-thing of itself, it is not sharpened, it does not calculate the bad-thing, it does not joy on the unrighteousness.
3. Godly-love joys-together with the truth, it protectively-covers all-things, it believes all-things, it hopes all-things, it patiently-endures all-things – relative to God and the things of God.