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Last week we learned that love in Greek is the word agape which means love – essentially, a feast of love. We read through verses 1 through 3 and studied verse four. So far, we know that love:

1) …is patient; suffers long

2) …is kind; makes yourself useful

3) …doesn’t envy; desire with jealousy

4) …doesn’t boast or brag

5) …doesn’t puff itself up; isn’t prideful

Today, we will be studying 1 Corinthians 13:5. It says: “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.”

Let’s look at each of these in depth.

We should note that verse four started us off with: “Charity suffereth long.” Verse four listed the first five things we discussed last week (summarized above), and verse five is a continuation of that list.

Firstly, love doesn’t behave itself unseemly. Unseemly comes from the Greek word aschemoneo, which means: “uncomely, unbecoming.” In other words, love doesn’t behave rudely or in a mean or evil manner.

Secondly, love seeketh not her own. What does this mean? Zeteo is the Greek word that means seeketh. This can mean many different things: “to worship God or to plot in a bad sense, to desire or require. So when you put that all together: seeketh not her own, it literally means that love worships God, doesn’t desire or focuses on itself. In a sense, this is telling us to put God first and that’s what love does.

Thirdly, love isn’t easily provoked. Provoked is the Greek word paroxoho, which literally means: “to sharpen alongside, to exasperate, easily provoke, to stir.” Love isn’t easily provoked; it isn’t sharpened or easily exasperated.

Fourthly, love thinketh no evil. Thinketh comes from the Greek word logizomai which means to take inventory, to conclude, to esteem, reckon.” The word evil here is the word kakos, which means: “derived, bad, ill, noisome, wicked.” Love doesn’t think about, esteem, or reckon evil, wickedness or derived things.

What does verse five teach us? Love doesn’t behave unseemly or unbecoming. It worships God and doesn’t focus on itself. It isn’t easily provoked or angered, and it doesn’t think about evil or wicked things.

Tune in next week for the study on verse 6!