• 13:1-3    Absolute necessity of love: Here is the description of a super-saint: with eloquence (charismatic eloquence), with giftedness (prophesy, knowledge, faith), with benevolence (personal sacrifices). But God measures by the internals, not externals. God matters "why", not "what" I do. If that person's life is not characterized by love, all these are similar to three zeros before God; only love gives them value (1000). Spiritual gifts must function through love.

• 13:4-7    Character of love: Love is not an idea, not even a "motivating factor" for behaviour. It is behaviour. To love is to act and to walk in love. The passage is also a manual to manage conflict and is the guideline to genuine Christian brotherhood.

• 13:8-13    Permanence of love: Love is both for now and forever. The eternal existence of love is contrasted with the transitory or temporal character of spiritual gifts in 3 analogies: part vs complete, childhood vs adulthood, indirect vs face to face. 

(a) human speech inspired by the Spirit but unknown to the speaker, Ac 2:6-8;
(b) dialects of heaven in communicating with God.

gong or cymbal (used in pagan worship): sound like the empty, hollow noises of pagan worship

13:2
all mysteries, all knowledge, all faith: the whole range of spiritual gifts (from 12:8-10)

13:3
"so that I might be burned", possibly martyrdom; alternative reading: "hand over my body that I might boast" may refer to the bodily sufferings which Paul boasts in 2Co 11:23-29,12:10
 

13:4
patient and kind: passive and active responses toward others

not envy: no rivalry (like the Corinthians' divisions in the name of their teachers)

not boast: no desire to call attention to oneself (like their boasts of having wisdom in 3:18)

not proud: not puffed up or arrogant (like their stand against apostle Paul)

13:5
not rude: not behave shamefully or disgracefully (like their humiliating the poor)

not self-seeking: not selfish, not insisting on self-gain, self-justification, or self-worth

not easily angered: not easily provoked to anger because of forebearance

keeps no record of wrongs: does not take notice of the evil done against oneself

13:6
not delight in evil: such as avoid gossipping about the misdeeds of others

rejoices with the truth: joins in rejoicing when witnessing behaviour that reflects truth (the gospel, Jn 8:32)--for every victory gained, every forgiveness offered, every act of kindness

13:7
always protects: put up with everything, do not gossip, keep confidential matters confidential

always trusts: never ceases to have faith, trusts God in behalf of the one loved

always hopes: never ceases to have hope, hopes that God will show mercy to the one loved

always perseveres: endures in all circumstances because of absolute confidence in the future

13:8
Love never comes to an end; in contrast, prophecies, tongues and knowledge (utterance of revealing mysteries) will pass away because they belongs merely to the present age.

13:9
Our knowledge, even the revelatory knowledge from the Holy Spirit, is only partial.

13:10
At the coming of Christ, those gifts now necessary for the building up of the church in the present age will disappear, because "the complete" (final destiny in Christ) will have come.

13:11
The analogy says that behaviour from one period in one's life is not appropriate to the other period. The gifts, appropriate for the present church, are appropriate for the church in glory.

13:12
Our present vision of God, as great as it is, is as nothing when compared to the real thing that is yet to be; it is like the difference between seeing a reflected image in a mirror (or in a photograph) and seeing a person face to face.

"As I am fully known" refers to God's way of knowing; we shall know the Lord to the fullest extent possible for a finite being.

13:13
The 3 cardinal Christian virtues are familiar to the early church (Ro 5:1-5; Col 1:4-5; 1Th 1:3; Heb 6:10-12; 1Pe 1:3-8, 1:21-22): faith toward God, hope for the future, love for one another. Together they characterize the whole of Christian existence. They are also the characteristics to look for in a church.

Love is the greatest of these three because it continues on into the final glory, while the other two are not. Faith will no longer be needed when what is believed is in sight (Heb 11:1). Hope will no longer be needed when what is hoped for is realized. Love outlasts them all.

• There is a danger of putting love above God. Situation ethics is unbiblical yet it is based on a single norm (moral rule) of love. Of course, all our actions should be in the context of love, but moral behaviour must be grounded in absolute moral rules of God as specified in the Bible.

• To love is a command, not a choice.
• Love is an attitude not a feeling, volition not emotion.
• Love is without condition, irrespective of our differences.
• Our love is motivated by God's love for us.
• Like God's love, it is not only for what is worthy but even for the unworthy.
• Love has a purpose of proving to the world that we are of God.