Bible Studies

What is Your Motivation when You are “Tolerant?”

1 Corinthians 5:1-5 RSV
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body I am present in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

If the apostle Paul, instead of writing this in one of the sacred epistles, had wrote this on an Internet message board or in a blog, I can hear the responses: “Judged? How can you judge him?” “The Bible tells us specifically not to judge one another.” “We need to love this man, not judge him.”

And yet, not only the sinful man, but the entire congregation . . . Paul judged! And pronounced sentence. He condemned what was happening among them.

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Cause and Effect

Judges 2:10-11 NLT
After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight . . .

God created the law of cause and effect in this creation. Doing evil was the effect, but it wasn’t the cause. We don’t do evil in a vacuum; we do evil because there is something that happens within us prior to that.

We don’t acknowledge the Lord. We don’t remember the mighty things He has done (accounted in the Bible).

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Endure, Remain, Continue

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 RSV
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Paul tells us that three things abide (endure, remain, continue): faith, hope, and love. The thing is, the only one that will exist forever is love. We know that the need for faith will fade. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 RSV). Now, we don’t see God. We must have faith to believe: “whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 RSV). Once we see Him face to face, faith will be unnecessary.

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Bearing, Believing, Hoping and Enduring

1 Corinthians 13:7 RSV
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

William Henry: “Some read the first, covers all things. So the original also signifies. Charity will cover a multitude of sins, 1 Peter 4:8. It will draw a veil over them, as far as it can consistently with duty. It is not for blazing nor publishing the faults of a brother, till duty manifestly demands it. Necessity only can extort this from the charitable mind. Though such a man be free to tell his brother his faults in private, he is very unwilling to expose him by making them public. Thus we do by our own faults, and thus charity would teach us to do by the faults of others; not publish them to their shame and reproach, but cover them from public notice as long as we can, and be faithful to God and to others.”

In everything love, thinks of the welfare of others before it thinks of it’s own. As Christian, the Lord Jesus said that the world would know we were His by the love we demonstrated for each other. What”s interesting about that phrase is that it was a command, not an observation:

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Are You Rejoicing in What is Wrong?

1 Corinthians 13:6 RSV
[Love] does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

When I was growing up, going to jail was a terrible shame, not only for the person in jail, but the entire family. No one wanted to have a family member serving time, no less become that person themselves.

Now, I have children in my classroom who are intimately familiar with prison (to the point of having been there many times to visit family and friends). And sadly, these children have told me that they would like to go to prison themselves. They like having a bad “rep” and being in the position of being a bully, of having power over others.

Remember, I’m talking about elementary school aged children.

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When You Want Revenge

1 Corinthians 13:6 RSV
[Love] does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

Ever want revenge against someone else? I think that one of the innate human emotions is the desire for one’s persecutor to suffer as much as they have caused suffering (or more). I think that many of us, at one time or another, fantasied about that horrible person being humiliated or hurt like they humiliated or hurt us.

It’s simple human nature.

But Paul tells us that we, as Christians, deny ourselves, deny our nature and choose love. We refuse to rejoice at wrong, even the suffering of our enemy, are rejoice in right. That we have a higher calling: to trust God in everything.

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Are You Irritable or Resentful?

1 Corinthians 13:5b RSV
[Love] is not irritable or resentful.


  • Love is not irritable.

      • We live in an angry society. Just last week there were two or three school shootings. That doesn’t count the hundreds of murders across the country, the thousands of crimes. And those are the angry acts that are illegal. Think about how many people were enraged by late restaurant orders, rude drivers, absent employees, unthoughtful family members.

      We live in a time of rage and depression. It seems to be getting worse and worse each year. Are we on a downward spiral toward social implosion? I think perhaps we are.

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Zealous or Jealous?

1 Corinthians 13:4b
“…love is not jealous or boastful… “

We’ve already studied two aspects of love. Love suffers through pain and trials without complaining (patience). And love makes itself useful to others (kindness). These are positive attributes.

What’s interesting is that Paul places them in juxtaposition with two negative attributes, things that love isn’t.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. Love isn’t boastful.

  • Love isn’t jealous.

      • The Greek word translated here “jealous” is “zeloo” and it has two connotations, one negative and the other positive. In other words, it’s an attribute that, in one situation, is good and in another bad.

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More Than a Feeling

1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is patient and kind;

Paul has just concluded the introduction to this section with the words “…have not love, I gain nothing.” In fact, he uses Jewish parallelism to make his point:

    If I speak . . . but have not love, I am just a sound.
    If I have . . . but have not love, I am nothing.
    If I give . . . but have not love, I gain nothing.

I think (and this is simply my own thoughts, not the Word of God) that Paul is trying to say this: Without love, the Christian simply… isn’t a Christian. There is no Christian without love.

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Setting Aside Our Will

1 Corinthians 13:5a RSV
[Love] is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way…

  • Love is not arrogant or rude.

      • The KJV translates this phrase: “Charity (love) doth not behave itself unseemly.” This certainly isn’t a phrase that we use much anymore. In fact, to be honest, we’re not very concerned at all about behaving in a courteous or seemly manner in our society. To behave “seemly” is to conform one’s behavior to standards of conduct and good taste. As our moms used to say, it means simply to behave properly and according to good manners.

      So the scripture here is actually more than just not being arrogant or rude, though I truly believe that rudeness is motivated by arrogance, the idea that it’s “my way or the highway.” When we are arrogant, we do what we want and say what we want without regard to the effects that it might have on other people. In other words, we simply don’t care about anyone else (at that moment), only about ourselves, our rights, our opinions, our own actions.

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