1 Corinthians 13

The chapter

1 Corinthians 13 is Paul's great hymn to Christian love, set in the middle of a letter about gifts of the Spirit. Between his teaching on spiritual gifts (chapter 12) and his rules for order in worship (chapter 14), Paul stops and says: without charity, none of it is worth anything.

Who wrote it

Written by Paul to the church he had founded at Corinth, from Ephesus c. AD 54-55, during his three-year ministry in that city (Acts 19).

Historical and geographical context

The letter addresses a Christian community in a Greek port city that was struggling with divisions, moral failures, disorder in worship, and misuse of the gifts of the Spirit. Chapter 13 is not a wedding sermon; it is a corrective to a divided congregation.

Important verses

• 1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV) 'Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.'
• 1 Corinthians 13:2 (KJV) 'And though I have the gift of prophecy… and have not charity, I am nothing.'
• 1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV) 'Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,'
• 1 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV) 'Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;'
• 1 Corinthians 13:6 (KJV) 'Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;'
• 1 Corinthians 13:7 (KJV) 'Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.'
• 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.'
• 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV) 'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.'

Christ-centred reading

Every one of Paul's descriptors of charity is also a description of Christ. Read the chapter substituting 'Christ' for 'charity' — 'Christ suffereth long, and is kind; Christ envieth not…' — every line fits. The chapter is not a wedding poem; it is a portrait of the Lord.

In Christian tradition

• Read at nearly every Christian wedding for many centuries.
• Read at every liturgy of Christian charity — feasts of Vincent de Paul, Elizabeth of Hungary, and others.
• The three theological virtues — faith, hope, charity — of 1 Corinthians 13:13 shape every Christian catechism.
• Handel and many other composers have set this chapter (Handel's oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth).

Connected People

• Paul — the writer.
• Christ Jesus — the true subject.

Connected Places

• Corinth — the addressee city.
• Ephesus — where the letter was written.

Household application

Read 1 Corinthians 13 aloud at every wedding, every wedding anniversary, and every household reconciliation.

Post 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 near the family table. 'Charity suffereth long, and is kind' is the first household rule.

Room connections

Where this entry meets the household in the wider house of CrossAIHub.

• Read (Library) — Read 1 Corinthians 12-14 together to see chapter 13 in context.
• Pray (Chapel) — Pray verses 4-7 slowly, one line a day, for a week — a household examination of love.
• Family (Kitchen Table) — Post verses 4-7 near the family table.
• Sing (Choir Room) — Sing 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling' (Charles Wesley, 1747).
• Learn (Workshop) — Study the three theological virtues (faith, hope, charity) in the Catechism.

Further reading

1 Corinthians 12-14 in the KJV.

Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, Book I (on charity as the aim of Scripture).

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, questions 23-46 (on charity).

Elsewhere in the Atlas

• Paul
• Corinth
• Ephesus
• Christ Jesus
• Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.