The Character of Love, Part 2
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
Last week we picked up the issue of love. And I said that it’s placement in 1 Corinthians is especially important to understand.
The “love” chapter — also known as 1 Corinthians 13 — sits in between two chapters on spiritual gifts.
It provides both the foundation of spiritual gifts as well as the purpose for spiritual gifts.
They are given to each believer in order that we might selfless serve the needs of others in the body of Christ.
If spiritual gifts are ever used in such a way as to put the attention on the “gifted” person, they are being used contrary to their very purpose.
But back to love. Love has its own character, and that character is described in great detail in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 13 uses two positive statements and seven negatives statements to help us understand the character of love.
The first two words should be considered together. “Love is patient. Love is kind.”
The word “patient” simply does not begin to adequately describe love.
It makes love seem like simple tolerance.
The King James’ word “suffereth-long” is really the only good translation of this Greek compound word.
It describes the willingness and endurance to be placed under suffering and stay with it.
It is a willingness to be stretched and stretched hard, and yet unwilling to give up or give in.
There are obviously endless analogies and examples of placing ourselves up under a difficult load and remaining steadfast under it, but the best example really is the love of God.
When Jesus bore the weight of our sin, the load was incomprehensible and unbearable.
And yet, He stayed put under that load until the wrath of God was completely satisfied.
So satisfied that Paul would write, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Jesus stretched and stretched and stretched and continued in His great love until the price was paid.
The second word is the word “kind.” This Greek word is only found in Christian literature. It is a word that describes an active nature.
In other words, we don’t merely suffer at great length, we actively pursue expressing love while we suffer.
As human beings, when we are offended, we all have a tendency to turn a cold shoulder to the individual.
And if we are Christian, we know that we have to forgive, but many times we say we have forgiven them, but we still avoid them.
The word “kind” does not allow for that type of behavior. The word “kind” moves you toward the offender. It refuses to allow you to be passive or complacent.
So the character of love gets up under the weight, continues long in carrying that weight and moves us toward the one who caused the weight to begin with.
Again, the illustrations are many, but there is not one any better than the cross.
As Paul says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
You can easily see that the character of love is impossible from a human perspective.
However, it is precisely the love we are called to have for one another if we are Christians. We are in desperate need of the Holy Spirit to empower us to love like this.
The next seven negative phrases all contain the word “not.”
1 Corinthians 14:4-5 reads, “Love… is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered” (NASB).
This is quite the list, but hopefully you notice the thread that runs through each phrase. It is self-denial.
I think all seven are best summed up by the one phrase, “love does not seek its own” (13:5, NASB).
When our Lord condescended and became a man, He certainly was not self-seeking.
In fact, He humbled Himself and became a slave in order to serve the need of all of mankind as a substitute and a sacrifice for sin.
If we are to love one another like we are called, it will require self-denial as well.
Love does not think less of oneself; it simply does not consider self. It is preoccupied with the needs of those around it.
