Homilies on 1 Corinthians 13

One of the most famous passages in all of Scripture is 1 Corinthians 13, sometimes called the chapter of love. Through three of his homilies, St. John Chrysostom goes phrase-by-phrase and verse-by-verse of that particular chapter in order that the people of the church fully understand Paul’s meaning about what it means to love. He starts by saying that, without love, everything sacrificial that man may try to do is worthless if it is done without thought about one’s neighbor. Then he proceeds to show how love, when practiced rightly, prevents the practice or thought of vice and promotes and nurtures virtue. Finally, love is the greatest of all virtues that will not pass away even when all the rest of the world with its tongues and knowledge do.

What most intrigued me was when he quoted and explained 1 Corinthians 13:3, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.” I have always known this verse, even memorized it for Sunday school, but it was not until reading this homily that I finally tried to understand the significance of this verse. To me, I could understand giving away everything to the poor without love, such as if it were done for self-righteous reasons or for boasting rights, but it seemed nigh impossible to die without love. Wouldn’t they still be highly honored by God for what they’d done? And why would they die unless they loved someone? But then, St. John Chrysostom used a telling analogy. “[If] anyone had a beloved child in whose behalf he would even give up his life, and someone were to love the father, but pay no regard whatever to the son, he would greatly incense the father; nor would he feel the love for himself, because of the overlooking his son. Now if this ensue in the case of father and son, much more in the case of God and men,” (35). Yes, you could say that the person loved God and died for Him, but God would not honor it because the person did not care for the people around him. What good is dying for God if you do not love the people He loves? This point hit me the most.