St Paul and Love

1 Corinthians 13 is perhaps the most quoted passage from all of Paul’s letters. Here he explains the concept of Christian love. Out of four Greek words for love, Paul chooses agape. It was the word for love most often used in the Old Testament translation into Greek, but it was not otherwise commonly used prior to the Christian era. Paul uses this term to distinguish the Christian idea of love from the less spiritual forms of sexual love (eros), parental love (storge), and friendship (philia). Agape is the greatest of the spiritual gifts. If a person lacks the gift of love, he amounts to nothing, he has nothing. Though English translations of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 use adjectives to describe love, Paul uses verbs: Love suffers long, love shows itself useful, love does not move with envy, love does not brag, and so on. For Paul, love is not static but dynamic.