In Chapters 12 and 14 of the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul gave instructions regarding charisms and the exercise of gifts. In Chapter 13, he wrote about love.
Biblical scholar Father George Montague explained: “There are several words for love in Greek. Eros means romantic or sexual love. Philia means the love of friendship. Philadelphia is brotherly/sisterly love. Storgē is parental love.”
The word Paul uses for love is none of these: “it is agapē. In the New Testament this means a wholly benevolent, disinterested love. If the other kinds can be tainted with selfishness, this kind is loving just for the sake of loving, not seeking any reward or return of the love except in the measure it benefits the other.”
Catholic author Stephen Ray said, “Jesus commands us to love (agapē) God and our neighbour. This is not mere affection, fondness, or friendship; this is charity which is sacrificial and committed. The other forms of love are fulfilled and enriched by the superior agapē love. Paul uses the word love nine times in Chapter 13—and every time it is agapē.”
Tertullian of Carthage (160–225 AD) said, “The thing that converted me to Christianity was the way they loved each other.”
Chapter 13 can be divided into three parts: First, Paul described love’s superiority to all the spiritual gifts (verses 1–3). Second, Paul mentioned many virtues that come from love (verses 4–7). Third, Paul pointed out that love endures forever (verses 8–13).
Regarding the superiority of love, St. Thomas Aquinas commented that St. Paul “rightly compares words lacking in charity to the sound of lifeless instruments, to the sound of a bell or cymbals, whose sound though clear is a dead sound. The same occurs in the speech of someone who has no charity; no matter how brilliant it be, it comes across as something dead, because it is of no help as far as meriting eternal life is concerned.”
Regarding love giving birth to virtues, St. Gregory the Great commented: “Love is patient, because it bears serenely the injury it suffers. It is kind, because it repays evil with good. It is not jealous, because it covets nothing in this world: it does not know what it is to envy worldly prosperity. It is not boastful, because it yearns only for spiritual reward, and it is not carried away by external things. It is not arrogant, because it thrives only on the love of God and neighbour and avoids whatever would take it from the path of righteousness. It is not covetous, because although it ardently pursues its own spiritual goals, it does not desire the goods of others. It does not insist on its own way, because it scorns as alien those things it temporarily possesses here below: it seeks to hold on only to what is enduring. It is not irritable, and even though injuries seek to provoke it, it does not let itself have any desire for vengeance, for no matter how difficult a time it may have in this life, it hopes for greater rewards in the next. It is not resentful, because it has invested its thought in the love of purity, and having rooted out all hatred it is incapable of harbouring in its heart any type of aversion. It does not rejoice at wrong, because it feels affection for others and does not rejoice at seeing the ruin of its enemies. It rejoices in the right, because by loving others as it loves itself, it is as pleased to see goodness in them as if it were indeed something to its own personal advantage.”
Regarding that “love never ends,” St. John Chrysostom said, “Faith and hope will cease when the things believed in and hoped for appear. But love then becomes even greater and more ardent.”
St. Teresa of Avila said, “Perhaps we do not know what it is to love; that would not greatly surprise me; for love consists, not in what most pleases us, but in the strength of our determination to desire to please God in everything and to endeavour to do everything we can not to offend him, and to pray him ever to advance the honour and glory of his Son and the growth of the Catholic Church.”
St. Catherine of Siena said, “Charity is the sweet holy bond which links the soul with its Creator – it binds God with man and man with God.”
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「愛永存不朽」
在格林多前書第12章和第14章，聖保祿對神恩與恩賜的運用作了指導。而在第13章，他特別論及愛德。喬治蒙塔古神父解釋道：「希臘文中有多個表示『愛』的詞語。Eros 指的是浪漫或性愛，Philia 是友情之愛，Philadelphia 指兄弟姊妹之愛，Storgē 是父母對子女的愛。但聖保祿在此處所使用的詞語卻不是以上任何一個，而是 Agapē。在新約聖經中，這個詞代表完全為他人的、不求回報的愛。如果其他類型的愛可能摻雜私心，這種愛則純粹無私地為愛而愛，完全不求回報，只為他人的益處。」
天主教作家Stephen Ray說：「耶穌命令我們去愛天主，並愛我們的近人，這裡所用的詞語是 Agapē。這並非單純的情感、喜愛或友誼，而是帶有犧牲與承諾的愛 – 即博愛（Caritas）。其他形式的愛在這種至高的 Agapē 愛中得以完善與昇華。在第13章中，聖保祿共使用了九次『愛』這個詞，而每一次都是 Agapē。」
迦太基的特土良（Tertullian, 160–225 AD）曾說：「使我皈依基督信仰的，是基督徒彼此相愛的方式。」第13章可分為三部分：首先，聖保祿說明愛德超越一切神恩（1-3節）；其次，他列舉出愛德所孕育的諸多德行（4-7節）；最後，他指出愛德永存不朽（8-13節）。
對於愛德的至高無上，聖多瑪斯·阿奎那評論道：「聖保祿將沒有愛德的言語比作沒有生命的樂器，如鐘或鈸的聲音，雖然清晰卻是死寂的。同樣，若一個人的言語缺乏愛德，即便再動聽，也只是虛浮之音，因為對獲得永生毫無助益。」
聖額我略一世對愛德的特性作了如下評註：「愛是含忍的，因為能平靜地承受所受的傷害；愛是慈祥的，因為能以善報惡；愛不嫉妒，因為不貪戀世上的財富，亦不羨慕世俗的繁榮；愛不誇張，因為只渴望靈性上的賞報，而不因外在的事物而洋洋得意；愛不自大，因為只專注於愛天主與愛近人，並遠離一切會使人偏離正道的事情；愛不求己益，因為不貪戀短暫的世俗之物，而只願持守永恆的寶藏；愛不輕易動怒，即便遭受傷害，也不會生起復仇之心；愛不圖謀惡事，因為將思想寄託於純潔之愛，根除一切仇恨，內心毫無敵意；愛不以不義為樂，卻與真理同樂，因為視別人的美德如己身的福祉。」
針對「愛永存不朽」，金口聖若望說：「信德與望德終有一天會消逝，因為人所信與所望的事物，終將實現；然而，愛德卻將變得更加強烈與炙熱。」
聖女大德蘭說：「我們或許尚未真正理解何為愛，這並不令我驚訝。因為愛並不在於我們最喜歡的事物，而在於我們懷著堅定的意志，努力於一切事上取悅天主，不得罪祂，並不斷祈求祂光榮聖子，促進聖教會的成長。」
聖女加大利納說：「愛德是將靈魂與造物主連結在一起的甜美聖潔紐帶 – 使天主與人合而為一，也使人與天主合而為一。」
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