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
First Corinthians 13 was written to the church in Corinth. Corinth was a city located in Southern Greece. During Biblical times, the city had about 200,000 free citizens plus half a million slaves, so about 700,000 people total. It was a major sea port, a bustling hub of commerce for both land and sea trade. Corinth was a cosmopolitan, large international city filled with Romans, Jews, and Greeks. With all the coming and going of people because of its major trade connections, the constantly changing population created a degraded culture. In fact, Corinth was a center for unbridled immorality.
The city was filled with shrines and temples, with the most prominent being the Temple of Aphrodite - the goddess of love. “Worshippers” at the temple and I use it the loosest of terms – would come to this temple and make use of the 1,000 prostitutes who lived there. Men and women sold themselves, prostituted themselves, in the name of their religion.
So Corinth developed a reputation, widespread throughout the ancient world, for sexual immorality. It was said that one went to Corinth to take a vacation from morality. The Greeks had a proverb about the city which is telling - It is not every man who can afford a journey to Corinth. The verb “to Corinthianize” was used to describe an act of immorality. The phrase “Corinthian girl” was a known synonym for prostitute. Or you can figure out what they meant when said the phrase “act like a Corinthian.” And factoring all of this in, you can see why the Lord had the Apostle Paul write a chapter about what true love actually is to the Corinthian church. They needed to know and so do we.
Based on 1 Corithians 13, how well are you loving others? How well are you loving God? How well are you loving yourself? Lord Jesus, teach us to love like You loved.