I Corinthians 13 is often called the “love” chapter. In it, Paul defines what love is by showing how we will interact with others if we have love for them. The Greek word that he uses is agape. This is a love that we choose to have for someone, not one that we have from an obligation or attraction. It is often described as self-sacrificial love that is given without the expectation of getting anything in return. Many describe agape as the highest form of love we can have for someone.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a group of brothers and sisters in Christ who seem to lack agape love for each other. They are full of division, envy, sin, fornication, litigation, separation, and other activities that demonstrate a lack of love.
Paul’s point when he gets to chapter 13 is that if they have love for each other, then many of the problems they are experiencing in their congregation will take care of themselves. When he gets to this great chapter of love, Paul paints a portrait of what a loving person will exhibit toward others. And when compared to some of the most wonderful gifts the Spirit has blessed them with, love is greater than all of them. In fact, Paul says,
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV).
It would be a worthy study to examine everything Paul says love is. But in this post, I want to focus on one thing he says, not because it is the greatest expression of love, but because it is one I have been working on for almost two years. It seems simple enough, but it is hard to always put into practice.
Love believes all things (vs. 7).
This is such a wonderful expression of love because to truly manifest this aspect of love requires self-sacrifice, putting others before ourselves, forgiveness, grace, and self-control, all rolled up into one simple, powerful action of service.
What does it mean to believe all things? In my experience, it is a spectrum of service that Jesus touches on throughout His ministry, culminating in the second greatest commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves. At its essence, love “believing all things” incorporates giving others the benefit of the doubt. When given the choice of ascribing the best or worse motives, we choose to ascribe the best in others. This is the aspiration we all should want in our relationship with each other.
What makes “believing all things” love is that others won’t always have the best motives, but we still assume they do when they ask us to. Jesus shows us how to put this aspect of love into action when He has this interaction with Peter:
“Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
How can we forgive someone over and over when they come to us over and over asking for our forgiveness? Doesn’t there come a point when we say, “Look, I’m tired of forgiving you when you keep sinning against me. If you are serious, you would stop sinning.” This is where “love believes all things” comes in.
You see, believing all things is our choice. It’s not dependent on what others do or do not do. Jesus says if someone sins over and over, love dictates that we choose over and over to believe all things. Agape lays down our own hurts and defenses to give grace to others. Love gives our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt when they tell us they are sorry without us looking for evidence to the contrary.
Love believes all things.
When someone tells us they will do something, do we give them the grace of believing all things, or do we hold their past over their heads and cast doubt over their likelihood of delivering what they promise? Agape will forgive and give the grace they need to repent.
But there is a risk in this kind of love, isn’t there? The risk is that we will be on the receiving end of betrayal and lies. Again. And again. And again.
Hence our King’s words to Peter, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
That’s a lot of betrayals, isn’t it? That’s a lot of lies we may have to endure. But that is what agape love is. It is believing all things, and it is a hard aspect of love to manifest. Oh sure, the first two or three times, we can manage it. Or if we are as righteous as Peter thought he was, we might be able to forgive seven times. But Jesus’ message is that we believe all things as many times as it takes.
But how? How do we believe all things when the person proves to be unbelievable? Isn’t that the real questions we ask ourselves in the back of our minds? When is enough enough? When do we stop being someone’s patsy, someone’s walking mat, someone’s stooge?
To understand what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 13, we must understand the real purpose behind agape love. It is self-sacrificial, and it is a choice. It is an act of grace on our part, not an act of obligation. As we learn to give others the benefit of the doubt when all they deserve is doubt, or when we believe all things when they are unbelievable, we begin to take on the image of our Lord and King, Jesus.
When we are unbelievable, He believes all things. When we do not deserve grace, He gives us the benefit of the doubt. When we tell Him, “I’m sorry” 490 times, He believes all things and forgives us 490 times. He made the greatest agape sacrifice when we were least worthy of it.
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV).
Is Jesus a stooge, a patsy, a walking mat when He receives us back over, and over, and over, and over? None of us would think that. We know He does that because He is full of grace. He agapes us. When it comes to us, He believes all things and gives us His grace to prove it.
How do we believe all things when people are unbelievable? We agape them. We give them grace. We give them the benefit of the doubt. We sacrifice for them and make ourselves vulnerable. And we will do it over, and over, and over.
We do it for each other because Jesus does it for us.
Every day.
As many times as He needs to.
We love each other that way because He loves us that way.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a ESV).