For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the various aspects of love as defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. In this passage, God has used the apostle Paul to define the love that arises from and is found only in and through God and expressed most fully in the life and ministry of Jesus.
Paul began his descriptions of love with two positives: Love is patient, love is kind. He then ran through a series of what love is not. At the end of v. 7, Paul returns to the positives of what love is: protective, honest, hopeful and persevering.
In v. 8, Paul begins a series of verses that explains the strength of God’s love, but he begins with the phrase: Love never fails.
Love never fails. There are times when we think we are in love (eros), but that kind of love can be fleeting. The love we have for a friend can fade with time as we lose touch and grow in separate ways. Even love for family can wane given the right circumstances.
But the love that is being described in 1 Corinthians 13—agape love—always withstands the test of time. It is a love that persists in darkness and light, in trials and celebrations. The love that derives its meaning from God does not fail for one simple reason.
Love never fails because God is love.
The fact that God is love, and that He is the source of this love, gives us the assurance that such a love can endure through the ages, simply because God is love. And while “God is love” is a simple statement, it has such weight and depth to it that we really can’t grasp the permanence of such love unless we consider the weight and depth of He Who is worthy of praise.
We have neither the time, space nor, quite frankly, the knowledge to grasp the fullness of God. Minds far greater than mine have grappled with the significance of Who and What God is, and have still fallen woefully short of a definitive statement. Still, we can see in the Bible some of the truths that let us know why, because God is love, love never fails.
God is Eternal
We know that God is eternal simply by reading the first few words of the first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible: “In the beginning, God created . . .” (Genesis 1:1a). God was present of the creation of all things, meaning that He is, of necessity, prior to all things, including the artificial device we know as time. If God precedes the creation of time itself, it suggests to us that God is not constrained by time, nor is He subject to time. God does not age. His life is not measured with a past, a present or a future.
The verse also suggests to us that God, having never been born, cannot die. If He cannot die, then He must be able to live forever, and if He can live forever, that necessarily makes Him eternal.
Since God is eternal, and since God is love, then that lets us know that love never ends. If love never ends, it cannot fail due to a time limitation. The love that derives from God is a love that is like Him, eternal in its nature and in its purpose. Love never fails.
God is Consistent
The writer of Hebrews notes that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow” (Hebrews 13:8). The verse isn’t meant to show us that Jesus is incapable of adapting or growing or changing. Rather, it affirms for us that Jesus is consistent and reliable. He can be counted on to be faithful to His people in all matter of events and times and all aspects of what constitutes living in our world. In short, Jesus is someone we can always trust, because He is faithful to Himself and to us. Consistently.
If Jesus, who is the direct image of God, and is God made flesh, is consistent, then the love that originates from Him Who is love will also be consistent. And since Jesus is God made flesh, we can be assured that Jesus is also eternal. Since Jesus is eternal and consistent, then we know that love is always consistent. Love never fails.
God is Graceful
When we hear or read the word “graceful,” we usually think of something that glides more than walks, something elegant. A swan is graceful. A ballerina is graceful. To say that God is graceful, though, does not imply that He walks without stumbling or glides through life (though such ideas would be consistent and true).
No, when we say that God is graceful, it means that He is full of grace, and that out of that fullness of grace, He bestows grace to those who believe and respond to His gift of life through Jesus Christ. “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8a); “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9a); “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,” (2 Thessalonians 2:16) are just a very few of the verses that speak to us of God’s gracefulness toward us.
When we understand grace as the receiving of that which we do not deserve, then we see the fullness of God’s grace in the way He forgives the sins of those who believe and receive Him. We see that grace in action in the way He loves us (cf. John 3:16; 1 John 4). We see that grace in action each day in that God acts as Sustainer and Provider of life and life’s needs.
Since God is graceful, and since God is consistent, and since God is eternal, it only stands to reason that love that comes from God is all those things as well, since God is love. And if love is all these things, then we can only reach one conclusion. Love never fails.
God is Faithful
Like consistency, God’s faithful nature enables Him to be true to Himself, and in so doing, be always true to us:
- “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘yes’ and ‘no’ (2 Corinthians 1:18a).
- “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).
- “And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- “The One who has called you is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
- “Let us hold unswerving to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
Since God is faithful, then we know that He is not someone who will abandon us at the first sight of trouble or faltering of faith on our part. “I do believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). And since God is faithful, His promises are always valid: “For not matter how many promises God has made, they are all ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Because God is faithful, and because He is love, we know that His love is true and faithful as well. And so we can say regarding the love that comes from God, “Love never fails.”
God is Holy
“I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45).
Repeatedly throughout the giving of the Laws to Moses, God reminds the people of Israel that He is holy. It is an attribute of God that sets Him completely apart from all other things and people.
“Holiness” in the context of God is not only moral integrity or purity of purpose. As it relates to God, it literally means that He is separate. He is Other. He cannot and is not to be associated with that which is created, nor is He to be assigned the position of those who can sin or is even capable of sin. God is holy.
That holiness is applied to the love that derives exclusively from Him and is made manifest in the presence and ministries of Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is a love that is separate from others in that the qualities of love are far and above that which is related to more worldly loves. It transcends the love we have for family, for friend, for nation.
Like God, the holiness of love is at once separate and intimate. Just as God is Other, so is He intimately involved in our lives and our world. He knows us better than we know ourselves, which is an intimacy that far surpasses the most intimate of relationships that exist between two human beings. While God is holy and worthy of praise, a God who is to be reverently feared and far beyond our full comprehension, nonetheless He chooses to relate to us as a Father to His children. The Aramaic word Jesus uses to teach us about God’s fatherhood is the word “Abba,” which is the familiar use of father. It is akin to the term we use to refer our dad, our papa, or whatever term of endearment we use to describe and address our earthly father.
God’s holiness sets Him apart from us, but it doesn’t create a sterile relationship. So is the love that arises from Him. The agape love is one that steps directly into our world and seeks a transformation of our world and our relationships as it emanates from Him through us to those we encounter each day.
Love never fails because of its holy nature, a holiness that comes only from God to us through His Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
“Love never fails.”
The significance of the statement concludes Paul’s description of love found in 1 Corinthians. By concluding the description with this absolute statement, Paul is letting us know that the love he has been describing is eternal in its nature and in all its characteristics. The patience and kindness that is found in love never ends. The rejoicing in truth never ends. The seeking after protection, hope, trust and perseverance never comes to a conclusion.
At the end of the chapter, Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). The reason love is greatest is that it is eternal in its nature; love never fails. Faith will give way to sight, and hope will give way to realization. There will come a time when we will no longer need faith or hope, but we will always have a need for agape.
Love never fails.
© 2019 Glynn Beaty