RADICAL LOVE - Love Always- 1 Corinthians 13:7 - March 1, 2020
Prayer
INTRODUCTION
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud.
It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
They will know you are my disciples by your love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
The importance of words
Always
- LOVE PROTECTS ALWAYS
A. Protects
STRONGS NT 4722: στέγω
στέγω; (allied with Latintego, toga, English deck, thatch, etc.; Curtius, § 155 Fick Part 3:590); to cover;
1. to protect or keep by covering, to preserve: Sophocles, Plato, Plutarch, others.
2. to cover over with silence; to keep secret; to hide, conceal: ταμα ἔπη, Euripides, Electr. 273; τόν λόγον, Polybius 8, 14, 5; for other examples see Passow, under the word, 1 b. β.; (Liddell and Scott, under the word, II. 2); μωρός οὐδυνήσεται λόγον στέξαι, Sir. 8:17; hence, ἡ ἀγάπη πάντα στέγει, 1 Corinthians 13:7, is explained by some, love covereth (so R. V. marginal reading), i. e. hides and excuses, the errors and faults of others; but it is more appropriately rendered (with other interpreters) beareth. For στέγω means
3. by covering to keep off something which threatens, to bear up against, hold out against, and so to endure, bear, forbear (τάς ἐνδείας, Philo in Flacc. § 9; many examples from Greek authors from Aeschylus down are given by Passow, under the word, 2; (Liddell and Scott, under the word, A. especially 3)): 1 Corinthians 9:12; 1 Corinthians 13:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:1, 5.
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
“Compare the note at 1 Corinthians 9:12. Doddridge renders this, "covers all things." The word used here (στέγει stegei) properly means to "cover" (from στέγη stegē, a covering, roof; Matthew 8:8; Luke 7:6); and then to "hide," "conceal," not to make known.”
Vincent’s Word Studies
“See on suffer, 1 Corinthians 9:12. It keeps out resentment as the ship keeps out the water, or the roof the rain.”
B. Biblical illustration
Noah’s drunkenness and his sons (Ham’s shame, Shem and Japheth’s honor - Genesis 9:20-27
- LOVE TRUSTS ALWAYS
A. Trusts
HELPS Word-studies
4100 pisteúō (from 4102 /pístis, "faith," derived from 3982 /peíthō, "persuade, be persuaded") – believe (affirm, have confidence); used of persuading oneself (= human believing) and with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (= faith-believing). Only the context indicates whether 4100 /pisteúō ("believe") is self-serving (without sacred meaning), or the believing that leads to/proceeds from God's inbirthing of faith.
Pulpit Commentary
“Takes the best and kindest views of all men and all circumstances, as long as it is possible to do so. It is the opposite to the common spirit, which drags everything in deteriorem partem, paints it in the darkest colours, and makes the worst of it. Love is entirely alien from the spirit of the cynic, the pessimist, the ecclesiastical rival, the anonymous slanderer, the secret detractor.”
B. Biblical illustration
Jesus and Peter in John 21:15-19
- LOVE HOPES ALWAYS
A. Hopes
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from elpomai (to anticipate, expect)
Definition
to expect, to hope (for)
NASB Translation
expect (1), expected (1), fix...hope (2), fixed...hope (2), hope (13), hoped (3), hopes (1), hoping (4), set...hope (2), trust (1).
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
“(1) Of man, of whom love will ever hope the best, and deem reformation possible in the most hardened offenders; and (2) of God, that He will bring good out of evil, and that all the evils of this life will issue ultimately in the triumph of good.”
B. Biblical illustration
Abraham hoped (“contrary to hope”) for the fulfillment of God’s promise for a son in Romans 4:16-18
- LOVE PERSEVERES ALWAYS
A. Perseveres
HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 5278 hypoménō – literally, remaining under (the load), bearing up (enduring); for the believer, this uniquely happens by God's power (cf. 1 Thes 3:5). See 5281 (hypomonē).
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
“Sustains to the end, with unshaken confidence in the goodness of God, all the persecutions and afflictions of this life.”
Pulpit Commentary
“Whether the "seventy times seven" offences of a brother (Luke 17:4), or the wrongs of patient merit (2 Timothy 2:24), or the sufferings and self-denials and persecutions of the life spent in doing good (2 Timothy 2:10).”
B. Biblical illustration
No one details this better than Paul himself. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, he lists some of the trials he faced.
He was …
- Imprisoned repeatedly
- Flogged
- Exposed to death again and again
- Received 39 lashes five times
- Beaten with rods three times
- Pelted with stones
- Shipwrecked three times
Just to name a few!
CHALLENGE
Read 1 Corinthians 13 every day. Memorize 1 Corinthians 13:8a. Protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres- which is the easiest way for you to demonstrate love. Which of these four do you need to develop in order to demonstrate the love of Christ more completely? Pray every morning for growth in that area.
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