Faith, Hope and Love

Why do they “remain”?


I've written a newer post the better explains what is written below.

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

People love this verse because they like faith hope and love. They are great qualities no doubt but people often use this verse simply to expound faith, hope and love but it’s never integrated with the rest of what Paul says before it. Obviously Paul talks about love a few verses before but verse 13 is often treated as a short pithy verse that Paul just dropped at the end. But how does it fit within the context of the chapter? Why do they “remain”? What left if they remain? Were they ever in any danger of not remaining? Why does Paul talk about love until verse 8 then talk about other stuff until 13 and then come back to talking about love? And why does he bring up “faith” and “hope” all of a sudden?

The Greek word that’s translated into “remain” is “meno”. “Meno” can be translated “endure” and I think it is helpful to translate it that way in verse 13. Endurance is a theme continued from verse 7. Paul describes love as something that:

1 Corinthians 13:7
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth (Greek is hupomeno) all things.

Not only can you see the “endure” connection but also love is tied in with “faith” (believeth all things) and “hope” (hopeth all things).

Paul talks about endurance because he is contrasting the things that endure (love, faith, hope) with things that do not endure (prophecies, tongues, knowledge):

1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Next time I will explore why Paul says some spiritual gifts will cease and when they should cease.