Passage Research
1 Corinthians 13 — Sermon Preparation
Paul describes the character and supremacy of love, presenting it as greater than all spiritual gifts and the foundation of Christian life. Below is a research summary for 1 Corinthians 13, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 13
- verses
- 197 / 92
- Greek words / lemmas
- 19
- classic sermon excerpts
- 9
- preachers & commentators
1 Corinthians 13 in the Greek
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Greek | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | KJV renderings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀγάπη | agápē | G26 | 9 | charity, dear, love |
| νήπιος | nḗpios | G3516 | 5 | babe, child |
| καταργέω | katargéō | G2673 | 4 | abolish, cease, cumber, deliver |
| μέρος | méros | G3313 | 4 | behalf, course, coast, craft |
| προφητεία | prophēteía | G4394 | 2 | prophecy, prophesying |
| γνῶσις | gnōsis | G1108 | 2 | knowledge, science |
| λογίζομαι | logízomai | G3049 | 2 | conclude, count, despise, esteem |
How preachers through history handled this text
19 public-domain excerpts on 1 Corinthians 13, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“Charity is much to be preferred to the gifts on which the Corinthians prided themselves. From its longer continuance. It is a grace, lasting as eternity. The present state is a state of childhood, the future that of manhood. Such is the difference between earth and heaven. What narrow views, what confused notions of things, have children when compared with grown men! Thus shall we think of our most valued gifts of this world, when we come to heaven. All things are dark and confused now, compared with what they will be hereafter. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on 1 Corinthians 13:8–30 (Public Domain)
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