1 Corinthians 13:13 meaning
1 Corinthians 13:13 concludes the chapter by naming what remains when spiritual gifts have finished their service, and by ranking what remains: But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love (v 13).
The word rendered abide is the Greek verb "meno," "to remain," "to stay in place." Some translations use "remain" instead of abide. The verb is in an active voice, as though faith, hope and love are and will continue to be actively working. NLT translates, "Three things will last forever." The idea appears to be that faith, hope and love are acting now, and will continue to act. But the greatest of the three is love (again, "agape," the love of choice).
Prophecy, tongues, and partial knowledge expire with their season (1 Corinthians 13:8-10); faith, hope, love remain through it. The triad of faith, hope and love form Paul's summary of the Christian walk across his letters—"your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3)—and they work as one unit: "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6) while hope holds steady in the firm belief that God's promises will be fulfilled.
A believer exercising these three lacks nothing essential in any season, whatever spiritual gifts he holds or lacks.
Paul reaches for the same triad of faith, hope and love when he arms believers for the present age: "having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Faith, hope, and love are the believer's equipment for the season of partial knowledge; the gear that is sufficient during this time where we only see and know dimly. The gifts of Chapters 12 and 14 are tools handed to equipped walkers; the three that abide are the equipment itself.
Yet even within the abiding three, Paul ranks the greatest of these is love. The NASB margin reads, literally, "greater," consistent with Greek study tools citing that this adjective is comparative in degree. Faith and hope both lean forward toward a fulfillment that will one day arrive and absorb them.
Faith gives way to sight when the believer sees "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Hope gives way to possession, for "hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?" (Romans 8:24).
Both faith and hope are essential for the journey. Love alone continues unchanged past the arrival, because love expresses what God is: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). When God dwells among His people in a new earth, it will be literally filled with love.
Faith and hope are the believer's posture toward God; love is God's own character living in the believer who walks in obedience and in the power of the Spirit. God is love, and God is the same forever, so love must be as well (Hebrews 13:8).
Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). Hope steadies love through disappointment, as "with perseverance we wait eagerly" (Romans 8:25). Love is the perfect treatment of the neighbor: "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10). The greatest of the three is the one through which the other two touch other people—which returns the chapter to the gifts, given "for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7) and profitable only when love directs them, as 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 has shown.
The ranking also completes the chapter's reward logic. The walk of faith, hope, and love is what Christ’s judgment seat rewards (2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Corinthians 3:14). Of the three, love is the one that will still be operating when crowns are awarded. The believer who invests in love is investing in a capacity he will carry into eternity and exercise there forever as a steward in the new earth. Those given crowns of authority are those who have demonstrated a willingness to rule in love, which is consistent with the assertion of 2 Peter 3:13 that the earth that is to come will be filled with righteousness.
Rewards for deeds concern the Prize, which a believer can gain or forfeit. While the experience of eternal life can be lost, the free Gift of eternal life remains free and irrevocable whatever the evaluation finds (John 3:14-15, Romans 11:29, 1 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Timothy 2:13).
The original letters did not include chapter breaks. This crowning statement that agape-love is the greatest of the triad of faith, hope and love is followed immediately by the first verse of the next chapter:
"Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."
(1 Corinthians 14:1)
When love is the primary aim, spiritual gifting has its proper place. Earnestly desiring gifts to apply in love is great, because love is good. When love is not the aim, then the pursuit of gifting becomes self-seeking, which is not good.
Chapter 12 covered the church, the body of Christ, receiving spiritual gifts. Chapter 13 stressed that love is the organizing principle by which to use our gifts. Chapter 14 will put gifted, loving members to work in an assembly where "all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40) and "for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Paul's command to "earnestly desire the greater gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:31) finds its fulfillment there, in a church whose zeal for the gifts is founded in love.