All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 in total
Episode 1: The love chapter
Many Christians, if asked what the New Testament teaches about love, will think of 1 Corinthians 13. But to understand what Paul teaches there, we have to read that ch...
Episode 2: What love doesn’t do
Paul’s words about love are famous. Unfortunately, they’re often quoted out of context, as if Paul were writing about love in the abstract. As a pastor, Paul is trying...
Episode 3: The low road and the high road
In chapter 12 of First Corinthians, Paul teaches that all the believers in Corinth are one body in Christ; he says this to correct the selfish way they’ve been thinkin...
Episode 4: Without love
In the opening and closing verses of First Corinthians 13, Paul repeatedly trumpets the primacy of love over spiritual gifts, even over the virtues of faith and hope. ...
Episode 5: Love is patient and kind—and so is God
When Paul says begins his description of love, he says that love is both patient and kind. This is not just a description of human love, but first and foremost a descr...
Episode 6: Don’t pray for patience
Have you ever found yourself in an aggravating situation and praying for patience? It would probably be better to pray for humility instead—the humility to remember ho...
Episode 7: Misdirected zeal
When Paul describes love, he begins with what love does. But then he quickly turns to describing what love doesn’t do—and this is probably meant as a description of th...
Episode 8: The ladder of comparison
Most of us, at one time or another, engage in what psychologists call social comparison: we evaluate our success in life by comparing ourselves to others. That’s not n...
Episode 9: Bad form!
Paul continues his description of what love doesn’t do by saying that love doesn’t “dishonor others.” That’s the New International Version; other versions say that lov...
Episode 10: Love isn’t me-first
In verse 5 of chapter 13, as we’ve seen, Paul says that love doesn’t act inappropriately. To this, he adds that love is "not self-seeking,” or literally, that it “does...
Episode 11: Looking out for number two
In a highly individualistic culture like the United States, we're used to looking out for number one. And to some extent, it's human nature to protect ourselves and ou...
Episode 12: Quick to anger
When Paul first visited the city of Athens, he was cut to the quick by the rampant idolatry he saw there. The word Luke uses to describe Paul’s reaction is the same on...
Episode 13: The merry-go-round of resentment
Peter once asked Jesus how many times he was obligated to forgive someone who offended him. But Jesus didn’t give him a number; he didn’t want Peter to resentfully kee...
Episode 14: Rejoicing in the gospel together
In verse 6 of chapter 13, Paul teaches that “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” Again, he’s making a distinction between what love doesn’t do ...
Episode 15: The greatest of these is love
At the end of the chapter, Paul mentions faith, hope, and love together. In church history, these three have been known as the “theological virtues.” But Paul declares...
Episode 16: A love that endures
As I suggested earlier, when Paul says in verse 7 that love “trusts” and “hopes,” I take this as a reference to the virtues of faith and hope he mentions at the end of...
Episode 17: Unfailing love
As I suggested earlier, to say that love is “patient” and “kind” is not only a correction to our own unloving behavior, but a reminder of the character of God. Somethi...
Episode 18: Transformation
In this final episode, we’ll explore two common misconceptions that might affect how we understand and apply Paul’s teaching. The first is that the Greek word agape me...