The exact words
A letter to a quarreling church
Around the year 50, the apostle Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth, a rich and crowded Greek port, and founded a Christian community there. A few years later, while staying in Ephesus, he heard the Corinthians were falling apart. They had split into factions, they were suing each other, and they were competing over spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues and prophecy, each group convinced it was more spiritual than the others. Paul wrote them a long letter, now known as 1 Corinthians, to set them straight.
Chapter 13 is the heart of his answer. He tells them that even the most impressive gifts are worthless without love: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” Then he describes what love looks like in practice.
What the passage says
In modern translations, verse 4 begins, “Love is patient, love is kind.” Love does not envy or boast, is not proud or rude, does not insist on its own way, is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” And: “Charity never faileth.” The chapter ends, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
The King James Version of 1611 uses “charity” for the Greek word agape, a selfless, giving love. In 1611 “charity” carried that meaning; today it suggests donations, so modern translations use “love.”
Why it fits weddings
Although Paul wrote about love within a community, the qualities he lists are exactly what a marriage needs over decades: patience, kindness, forgiveness, endurance. That is why it has become the most common wedding reading in English. Verses 4 to 8 take about thirty seconds to read; slow down on the list, and let “love never fails” stand on its own at the end.
What people get wrong
A passage about romantic love, written for weddings.
Paul wrote it to a divided church, describing the selfless love (agape) that should bind a community. It suits weddings because that kind of love is what makes marriages last.
Timeline
- c. 50 ADPaul founds a Christian community in Corinth, a busy Greek port city.
- c. 53–55 ADWriting from Ephesus, Paul sends a letter to the Corinthians, who are divided by rivalries and arguments over spiritual gifts. Chapter 13 describes love.
- 1611The King James Version translates the Greek word agape as “charity.”
- 20th centuryModern translations use “love,” and the passage becomes the most popular wedding reading in the English-speaking world.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Where is “Love is patient, love is kind” in the Bible?
In 1 Corinthians 13:4, in Paul's first letter to the Christians in Corinth. The passage continues to verse 8, “Love never fails.”
Why does the King James Bible say “charity”?
The Greek word is agape, selfless love. The 1611 translators used “charity,” from the Latin caritas, which then meant Christian love. Modern translations use “love.”
Was it written for weddings?
No. Paul was writing to a church community full of rivalries. It became a wedding reading because it describes love that lasts.
How long does the reading take?
Verses 4–8 take about 30 seconds; the whole chapter, verses 1–13, about 90 seconds.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.