1 Corinthians 13:7 - Exposition

Beareth all things (see on 1 Corinthians 9:12 ). Endures wrongs and evils, and covers them with a beautiful reticence. Thus love "covereth all sins" ( Proverbs 10:12 ; 1 Peter 4:8 ). Believeth all things. Takes the best and kindest views of all men and all circumstances, as long as it is possible to do so. It is the opposite to the common spirit, which drags everything in deteriorem partem, paints it in the darkest colours, and makes the worst of it. Love is entirely alien from the spirit of the cynic, the pessimist, the ecclesiastical rival, the anonymous slanderer, the secret detractor. Hopeth all things. Christians seem to have lost sight altogether of the truth that hope is something more than the result of a sanguine temperament, that it is a gift and a grace. Hope is averse to sourness and gloom. It takes sunny and cheerful views of man, of the world, and of God, because it is a sister of love. Endureth all things. Whether the "seventy times seven" offences of a brother ( Luke 17:4 ), or the wrongs of patient merit ( 2 Timothy 2:24 ), or the sufferings and self. denials and persecutions of the life spent in doing good ( 2 Timothy 2:10 ). The reader need hardly he reminded that in these verses he has a picture of the life and character of Christ.