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And now these three remain: faithG4102, hopeG1680, and loveG26; but the greatest of these is
loveG26.
1 Corinthians 13:13
G4102 pístis – . . . Faith in the truth, i.e., in the gospel . . . namely, Christian faith, a firm and confiding belief in Jesus and His gospel.
Zodhiates, Spiros, Ed., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament
Faith – . . . that firm belief of God’s testimony, and of the truth of the gospel, which influences the will, and leads to an entire reliance on Christ for salvation.
Hope – . . . Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well-founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God’s gracious promises; a scriptural sense.
G1680 elpís – Hope, desire of some good with expectation of obtaining it.
Zodhiates, Spiros, Ed., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament
G26 agápē – With reference to God’s love, it is God’s willful direction toward man . . . Spoken more especially of good will toward others, the love of our neighbor, brotherly affection, which the Lord Jesus commands and inspires.
Zodhiates, Spiros, Ed., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament
Love – . . . Benevolence; good will.
Faith, hope, and love remain. However, love supersedes faith and hope in the sense that it is the foundation upon which the other two stand. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). We are reeled into faith by Father God’s love for us. Because He loves us, He places within us the faith needed to have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Once we enter into a saving relationship with Jesus, He fills us with His Holy Spirit who enables us both to hope confidently in our future with Him in Heaven and to have the ability to love others. Everything is dependent upon the love of God toward humankind. We cannot truly love (agápē) others until we receive the love of God. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). Love is the greatest because God does not define Himself as faith or hope but as love.
When all else fades away, faith, hope, and love remain. All three depend on the greatest love—the unconditional love of God toward those whom He calls to be His children. Look at the definitions above and ask yourself if your faith is strong, your hope is certain, and your love results in good will toward others. Ask the Lord to grow all three of these traits in you. Ask Him to grow a generous crop of the Fruit of the Spirit “love” in you today!
Father, Paul began 1 Corinthians 13 with the point that without love we are nothing. Your love drew us into fellowship (familyship) with You and enables us to love others. Help us to remember the things we are learning about the kind of love You desire from us and through us to others and to implement them in our daily lives.
Worship with Larnelle Harris singing “The Greatest of These is Love”:
LoveG26 never failsG1601. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.
1 Corinthians 13:8
G1601 ekpíptō – Metaphorically to fall away, i.e., to fail, be without effect, to be in vain, love (1 Cor.13:8) (32)
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
G1601 ekpíptō – to drop away; specially, be driven out of one’s course; figuratively, to lose, become inefficient: —be cast, fail, fall (away, off), take none effect. (33)
Prophecies, tongues, knowledge all will come to an end or no longer be needed. However, love never drops away, it has no end, it never fails. We really liked the picture that love cannot be driven off course. Love stays the course steadily. I (Susie) remember my parents talking about a conference they attended. The leader asked each person to describe their spouse in one word. My dad said my mom was “constant.” What he meant by that is that her love was dependable, never changing, and consistent no matter what was going on in their lives or between them. Her love never failed, and they had been married fifty-four years when Jesus called Daddy home. Love will pursue the best for someone. Put your name in there one more time. But this time, do it like this, “Susie’s love never fails.” I will fail, but I pray that my love for the Lord, His people, and those who need to be shown love to draw them to Him never fails.
How consistent is your love? Would people in your life describe you as someone they can constantly depend on to demonstrate love to them? Our love for others should not seem “on again, off again.” It should be a golden thread of God’s love woven throughout the tapestry of our lives.
Father, may our love never “wax cold” (Matt. 24:12). May we be people who persist in love and demonstrate Your love to everyone we encounter.
Worship with Brandon Heath singing “Love Never Fails”: