A study of God’s Love: 1 Corinthians 13
#14 Love Rejoices in the Truth
Love rejoices in the truth: rejoices when the truth is known and when it prevails; rejoices when others are recognized and promoted for whom they are and for what they have contributed. Love rejoices when the truth is rooted and grounded in a person and among the people of the world. Note that love never covers nor hides the truth; love is courageous in that it faces the truth.
After mentioning eight negatives, things that love is not or does not do, Paul lists five more positives (see v. 4a). The first is a contrast with the last negative: love rejoices with the truth.
At first glance it may seem strange to contrast not rejoicing in unrighteousness with rejoicing in the truth. But the truth Paul is speaking about here is not simply factual truth. He is speaking of God’s truth, God’s revealed Word.
Righteousness is predicated on God’s truth and cannot exist apart from it. Love always rejoices in God’s truth and never with falsehood or false teaching. Love cannot tolerate wrong doctrine. It makes no sense to say, “It doesn’t make a great difference if people don’t agree with us about doctrine. What matters is that we love them.” “Why do we nit-pick so much about who is a Christian?”
That is the basic view of what is commonly called the ecumenical movement. But if we love others it will matter a great deal to us whether or not what they believe is right or wrong. What they believe affects their souls, their eternal destinies, and their representation of God’s will, and therefore should be of the highest concern to us. It also affects the souls and destinies of those whom they influence.
Love is consistent with kindness but it is not consistent with compromise of the truth. Compromising the truth is not kind to those whom we mislead by our failure to stand firmly in the truth.
“This is love,” John tells us, “that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 6).
To compromise, for example, with those who cast doubt on the incarnation is not loving, and it risks losing reward (vv. 7-8).
Love, truth, and righteousness are inseparable. When one is weakened the others are weakened. A person who teaches falsehood about God’s truth should not even be received into our home or given a greeting (v. 10). We are not to rejoice in a wrong doctrine that he teaches or in a wrong way in which he lives. Love rejoices in the truth and never in falsehood or unrighteousness.
On the other hand, love does not focus on the wrongs of others. It does not parade their faults for all the world to see. Love does not disregard falsehood and unrighteousness, but as much as possible it focuses on the true and the right. It looks for the good, hopes for the good, and emphasizes the good. It rejoices in those who teach the truth and live the truth.
A minister was known for his love and encouragement of the people of his church and city. When he died someone commented, “There is no one left to appreciate the triumphs of ordinary folk.” Love appreciates the triumphs of ordinary folk. Our children are built up and strengthened when we encourage them in their accomplishments and in their obedience. Love does not rejoice in falsehood or wrong, but its primary business is to build up, not tear down, to strengthen, not weaken.
A minister tells this true story about one morning early when he’d gone jogging after arriving late the night before and checking into his motel:
The run back to the hotel seemed longer, but I chalked it up to poor conditioning. Upon entering the lobby, I noticed a breakfast buffet. One of those free ones where you toast your own toast and heat your own oatmeal. Fine by me, I thought, wondering why I hadn’t noticed the food when I left.
I filled a tray, ate the meal. As I left to clean up, I passed the food bar again and, believe it or not, was still hungry. No harm, I reasoned. Calculating in the jog, I figured I’d break even. So I filled a bowl with oatmeal and decided to eat it in my room.
I walked straight through the lobby, turned right at the first hallway, past the indoor pool (h’m, I didn’t notice a pool last night), and came to the first door on the right. But something was wrong. My key card wouldn’t open the door. Tried a second time. No luck. I looked up at the room number. Wait a minute, this isn’t my room!
I retraced my steps. Back down the hall. Past the pool. (How could I not notice that pool?) Back into the lobby. Past the breakfast bar. Smile at the manager. Surely she wonders where I’m headed with the food. Out the front door. Into the parking lot. I looked up at the sign over the entrance. This isn’t my hotel! Where is my hotel? I looked to the right. Then to the left. There it was! Next door. Well, what do you know? I’d jogged past my place and into this one. Duh! What else to do but shrug and walk across the lot and to my room?
I’d spent an hour in the wrong hotel. Visiting in the lobby. Chatting with the guests. Eating the food. Drinking the coffee. I even complimented the manager on the decorations. For an hour I was in the wrong hotel. And you know what?
I felt as though I was in the right place. Had you asked me what I was doing eating a free meal in the wrong hotel, I would have looked at you as if you were wearing hockey clothes in the Amazon. “You’re crazy.”
Not once did I lift my head and furrow my brow and think, This place feels funny. It didn’t. It felt fine. But my feelings were wrong. My key card proved them wrong. The room number proved them wrong. The manager, had she been asked, could have proved them wrong. No matter how much I felt as though I was in the right place, I was not. And no mountain of feelings could change that.
Do you want to know if your love for someone is true? If your friendship is genuine? Check the room key. Ask yourself: Do I influence this person to do what is right?
If you answered yes, have some coffee. You’re in the right hotel. If you want to be doubly sure, however, ask the next question.
(Matthew 10:15 NIV) I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
(Matthew 10:42 NIV) And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
(Matthew 18:3 NIV) And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 19:23 NIV) Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 21:21 NIV) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
(Matthew 21:31 NIV) "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
(Mark 10:29 NIV) "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
(Mark 12:14 NIV) They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
(John 1:14 NIV) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:17 NIV) For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(John 3:21 NIV) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
(John 4:23-24 NIV) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
(John 5:19 NIV) Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
(John 5:24-25 NIV) "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. {25} I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
(John 6:53 NIV) Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
(John 8:32 NIV) Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
(John 8:34 NIV) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
(John 8:44-46 NIV) You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. {45} Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! {46} Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
(John 8:51 NIV) I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
(John 8:58 NIV) "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
(John 14:6 NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(Romans 1:18 NIV) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
(Romans 1:25 NIV) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
(Ephesians 6:14 NIV) Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
(Galatians 4:16 NIV) Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
(1 Timothy 3:15 NIV) if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
(2 Timothy 2:15 NIV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
(Hebrews 10:26 NIV) If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
(1 John 1:6 NIV) If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
(1 John 1:8 NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
(1 John 2:4 NIV) The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
(1 John 3:18-19 NIV) Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. {19} This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
(1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
(Plantation is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale...just
10-12 minutes north of Miami-Dade County, in the heart of college and pro sports
country, and 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean). Last modified:
July 10, 2008