LOVE : The Expression of God as life

I Corinthians 13: 4-7

4 Love suffers long. Love is kind; it is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not puffed up;

5 It does not behave unbecomingly and does not seek its own things; it is not provoked and does not take account of evil;

6 It does not rejoice because of unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7 It covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Life is the element of God; love is the expression of God as life. Hence, God is love (1 John 4:16). God as life is expressed in love. All the fifteen virtues of love listed in vv. 4-7 are the divine virtues of God's life. Such a life differs from the outward gifts listed in ch. 12. The Corinthians were pursuing the outward gifts, but they neglected love, the expression of God's life. Hence, they were still fleshy, fleshly, or soulish (3:1, 3; 2:14). They needed to grow in life (expressed by their love in caring for the Body of Christ), pursuing love, not the outward gifts, that they might be spiritual (2:15).

If we seek for perfect love, then there is no other love which could surpass the Lord. God is love himself. How we need then to live and abide by this LOVE. There is no other greatest definition of love than that of the above.

I Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And if I dole out all my possessions to feed others, and if I deliver up my body that I may boast, but do not have love, I profit nothing.

LOVE therefore is the greatest and the most excellent way to live the highest standard of morality.

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