LOVE ｜ 爱

ENLOVE: the love of God; the love of man, to God and to man. I. Love—its distinguishing characteristics as intimated in the Scriptures. Love is the normal condition and action of God Himself, and of every creature spirit as created by Him. It is a spontaneous outcome of the outlooking, benevolent heart, longing and seeking to communicate itself and all that it can give and do, for the joy and blessing of the Creator and His creature. 1 John 4:8. God is love. Love and Holiness comprise the chief qualities in the Divine character, prompting and permeating all other qualities—as justice, righteousness, faithfulness, truth, goodness and grace. Together they furnish the source and the motive force of the Divine working in Creation, Providence, and Redemption. We may not assign precedence or pre-eminence to either. Both are vital elements of His Law, which is the principle and basis of His acts. Both have a side of sweet and reverent attractiveness, and a side of stern severity. And both equally manifest, extol and glorify the infinite, changeless God, in whose heart they have eternally and blessedly co-existed.

BSB1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

中爱：神的爱；人的爱——对神的与对人的。一、圣经所提示的爱之显著特性。爱是神自己的常态与常行，也是他所造的每一个受造之灵的常态与常行。它是那向外眷顾、心怀仁慈之心的自发流露：切望并寻求把自己、把自己所能给予与成就的一切都传通出去，为要使造物主与他的受造者同得喜乐与福分。约翰一书 4:8 —— 神就是爱。爱与圣洁，构成神品格中的两大首要素质，推动并浸透其余一切素质——如公义、公平、信实、真实、良善与恩典。二者共同提供了神在创造、护理、救赎中作为的源头与动力。我们不可把优先或至上的地位判给其中任何一方。二者都是他律法中攸关生命的元素，而律法是他一切作为的原则与基础。二者都有甘美可慕、令人起敬的一面，也都有严峻凛然的一面。二者也同样彰显、称扬、荣耀那位无限不变的神——它们在他心中永恒而蒙福地共存。

ENLove is the substance and end of the Law's requirements of men and angels, and by love the Law's purposes are defined and achieved: 1 Tim. 1:5. The end of the commandment is love. Rom. 13:10. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Love has a constraining force, which irrepressibly leads to its own appropriate acting. It prompted God to Creation and Redemption; and the force of God's manifest love prompts the redeemed believing man to responsive love and to obedience: 2 Cor. 5:14. The love of Christ constraineth us. Specifically, love energizes faith, imparting to it impelling motive and working force: Gal. 5:6. Faith worketh through love. Love, in God and man, is revealed as including an element of self-sacrifice: in God this appears as original, voluntary, and exemplary; in man it is the effect of the wonderful Divine example, and of constrained gratitude for the self-offering of Christ. Rom. 5:8. God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 1 John 4:19. We love Him, because He first loved us. Gal. 2:20. Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me. Phil. 3:8-10. I count all things but loss, that I may know Him, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death.

BSB2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

中爱是律法向人与天使所提要求的实质与归宿；律法的目的也由爱来界定、由爱来成就：提摩太前书 1:5 —— 命令的总归就是爱。罗马书 13:10 —— 所以爱就完全了律法。爱有一种催逼之力，不可遏制地导向它自身相称的行动。是爱推动神去创造、去救赎；而神所显明之爱的力量，又推动蒙赎信主的人以爱回应、以顺服回应：哥林多后书 5:14 —— 原来基督的爱激励我们。具体地说，爱给信心注入能量，赋予它推进的动机与运作的力量：加拉太书 5:6 —— 惟独使人生发仁爱的信心才有功效（英译：信心借着爱运行）。爱——无论在神里面还是在人里面——都被启示为含有舍己的成分：在神，这舍己是本源的、自愿的、垂范的；在人，这舍己则是那奇妙神圣榜样的效果，是为基督献己所催生的感恩。罗马书 5:8 —— 惟有基督在我们还作罪人的时候为我们死，神的爱就在此向我们显明了。约翰一书 4:19 —— 我们爱，因为神先爱我们。加拉太书 2:20 —— 他是爱我，为我舍己。腓立比书 3:8-10 —— 我也将万事当作有损的……使我认识基督……和他一同受苦，效法他的死。

ENII. The love of God to men. [Note: the Scripture phrase "love of God" invariably refers to and means God's love to us, never our love to God. As it is God's love that is "shed abroad in our hearts," so it is Christ's love to us that He enjoins us to "continue in" (John 15:9), and God's love that Jude instructs us to "keep ourselves in" (v. 21). Our love to God has neither merit nor strength, neither staying nor resisting power, nor sufficiency of any sort; God's love possesses all these. It is Christ's hold of us (Phil. 3:12; John 10:28, 29), not our hold of Christ, that avails for our deliverance, assurance and comfort; and this hold is exerted through the constraint of His indwelling and inworking love.] God's love everlasting and immeasurable: Jer. 31:3 (a text to be indelibly memorized along with John 3:16—each "a little Gospel"). I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. John 13:1. Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Deut. 7:7, 8. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people . . . but because the Lord loved you. Hosea 11:4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. Zeph. 3:17. He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love. John 15:9. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Eph. 3:18, 19. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. 1 John 3:1. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Titus 3:4. The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. 1 John 4:16. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

BSBJeremiah 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

中二、神对人的爱。〔按语：圣经中『神的爱』（love of God）这一短语，无一例外指的是神对我们的爱，从不指我们对神的爱。正如『浇灌在我们心里』的是神的爱，照样，主吩咐我们要『常在其中』的（约翰福音 15:9）是基督对我们的爱，犹大书（21 节）教我们『保守自己常在其中』的也是神的爱。我们对神的爱既无功德，也无力量，既无维系之力，也无抵挡之力，更谈不上任何充足；神的爱却样样都有。使我们得拯救、得确据、得安慰的，是基督对我们的抓握（腓立比书 3:12；约翰福音 10:28-29），不是我们对基督的抓握；而这抓握，正是借着他内住并在里面动工之爱的催逼来施行的。〕神的爱永远而不可测度：耶利米书 31:3（此节当与约翰福音 3:16 一同刻骨铭记——两节各是『一部小福音』）—— 我以永远的爱爱你，因此我以慈爱吸引你。约翰福音 13:1 —— 他既然爱世间属自己的人，就爱他们到底。申命记 7:7-8 —— 耶和华专爱你们，拣选你们，并非因你们的人数多于别民……乃因耶和华爱你们。何西阿书 11:4 —— 我用慈绳（原文作人的绳）爱索牵引他们。西番雅书 3:17 —— 他必因你欢欣喜乐，默然爱你。约翰福音 15:9 —— 我爱你们，正如父爱我一样。以弗所书 3:18-19 —— 能以和众圣徒一同明白基督的爱是何等长阔高深，并知道这爱是过于人所能测度的。约翰一书 3:1 —— 你看父赐给我们是何等的慈爱，使我们得称为神的儿女。提多书 3:4 —— 但到了神我们救主的恩慈和他向人所施的慈爱显明的时候。约翰一书 4:16 —— 神爱我们的心，我们也知道也信。

ENThe love of God is clearly shown in the wise and orderly adaptations of the natural creation to man's needs and comfort—the seeding and fruitfulness of the earth, the adjustments of day and night, the diversities of temperature, the succession of the seasons, together with the corresponding fitnesses of man's physical structure and capacities. It is more clearly manifested in the ample goodness of Providence: 1. In the original charters of food, and of dominion over the earth and the animal creation (Gen. 1:28-31; 9:3). 2. In the establishment of the family and the community, and of civil government. 3. In the special ordering of the events of personal history, and the allotment of individual experience and condition, in harmonious connection with personal freedom of choice and action. But the love of God is most signally manifested—and with the deepest, most attractive and tender emphasis disclosed to heaven and earth—in the Incarnation and atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man Redeemer. Only Love prompted, devised, and executed the wondrous plan of grace; only Love sent the Son, and led Him to willing obedience unto death, the shameful death of the cross. John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Heb. 12:2. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. John 15:13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 1 John 4:9, 10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Eph. 2:4, 5. God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Thus the cross of Christ authenticates and confirms in all its fullness Jehovah's own wonderful utterance by the prophet Jeremiah: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

BSBJohn 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

中神的爱清楚显在自然界对人之需要与安适那明智有序的适配上——大地的下种与结实、昼夜的调配、寒暑的差异、四季的更替，以及人身体结构与官能与之相应的合宜。它更清楚地显在护理的丰厚良善中：1. 在最初关于食物、关于治理大地与管理动物界的『特许状』上（创世记 1:28-31；9:3）。2. 在家庭与社群、以及民政制度的设立上。3. 在个人生平事件的特别安排上，在个体经历与际遇的分派上——而这一切又与个人选择行动的自由和谐相连。但神的爱最显著的彰显——也是向天地间以最深沉、最动人、最温柔的力度所作的披露——是在主耶稣基督（神而人的救赎主）的道成肉身与赎罪之死上。唯有爱，构想并执行了这奇妙的恩典计划；唯有爱，差遣了圣子，又引他甘心顺服至死，且是十字架上羞辱的死。约翰福音 3:16 —— 神爱世人，甚至将他的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信他的，不至灭亡，反得永生。希伯来书 12:2 —— 他因那摆在前面的喜乐，就轻看羞辱，忍受了十字架的苦难。约翰福音 15:13 —— 人为朋友舍命，人的爱心没有比这个大的。约翰一书 4:9-10 —— 不是我们爱神，乃是神爱我们，差他的儿子为我们的罪作了挽回祭，这就是爱了。以弗所书 2:4-5 —— 然而神既有丰富的怜悯，因他爱我们的大爱，当我们死在过犯中的时候，便叫我们与基督一同活过来。这样，基督的十字架就以其全部的丰满，认证并确认了耶和华借先知耶利米亲口所说的奇妙之言：『我以永远的爱爱你，因此我以慈爱吸引你。』

ENIII. The love of man to God. Deut. 6:5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Love to God is a heart- and life-controlling affection toward God, responsive and like in kind to His love toward us. As such controlling force over heart and life, it forgets, denies, sacrifices self, whenever and wherever needful for the fulfilling of God's will and the doing of service to Him in helping His creatures. The source and constraining force of man's love to God is the Divinely implanted conviction of God's love, as that love is manifested in Christ's sacrifice; it is a fruit or effect of the Holy Spirit's efficient impression upon man's heart of the infinite and eternal love of God toward men. Rom. 5:5. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Gal. 5:22. The fruit of the Spirit is love. 2 Thes. 3:5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. 1 John 4:19. We love Him, because He first loved us. So the Psalmist: Ps. 116:1. I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications.

BSBRomans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

中三、人对神的爱。申命记 6:5 —— 你要尽心、尽性、尽力爱耶和华你的神。对神的爱，是一种支配心与生命、朝向神的爱慕；它是对神爱我们之爱的回应，与之同类。作为支配心与生命的力量，它在任何需要的时候与场合，为成全神的旨意、为在帮助他的受造者上服事他，都肯忘我、克己、舍己。人爱神的源头与催逼之力，是神在人心中植入的一个确信——确信神的爱，正如那爱在基督的献祭中所显明的；它是圣灵把神对人无限永恒之爱有效地印在人心上所结的果子、所生的效果。罗马书 5:5 —— 因为所赐给我们的圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里。加拉太书 5:22 —— 圣灵所结的果子就是仁爱。帖撒罗尼迦后书 3:5 —— 愿主引导你们的心，叫你们爱神。约翰一书 4:19 —— 我们爱，因为神先爱我们。诗人亦然：诗篇 116:1 —— 我爱耶和华，因为他听了我的声音和我的恳求。

EN["The fruit of the Spirit is love." It comes down from above as one of the ascension gifts of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is a quality imparted in the new birth as that which allies us to the Divine nature. This grace, then, is an essential characteristic of the renewed nature, a necessary and unvaried constituent of that heart within which the holy seed has been planted. It must exist wherever the Spirit of God reigns, and thrive and prevail wherever the soul has entered upon Divine life. Without love our nature is insensible and dead; with it, it is full of the very substance of the religion of Christ. Everything connected with the Christian's hope is adapted to produce it; every duty incumbent upon us imperatively demands it; all our high and holy expectations fully warrant it. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "He that loveth not abideth in death." R. McIlvaine.] Effects and evidences of man's love: it desires to make requital (Ps. 116:12. What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?); it brings strength (Song 8:6, 7. Love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love); it casteth out fear (1 John 4:18); it is evidence of regeneration (1 John 4:7. Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God); it constrains to a life of consecration to Christ (2 Cor. 5:14-16); it ensures God's care and keeping (Rom. 8:28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God). John 14:23. If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.

BSBSong of Solomon 8:6, 7 6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. 7 Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

中〔『圣灵所结的果子就是仁爱。』它从上头降下，是主耶稣基督升天所赐诸恩之一；它又是在重生之时被赐下的一种品质，使我们与神的性情相连。可见，这恩典是重生本性必备的特征，是那颗种下圣洁之种的心里必然而恒定的构成成分。凡神的灵掌权之处，它必存在；凡灵魂已进入神圣生命之处，它必茂盛得胜。没有爱，我们的本性便麻木而死；有了爱，本性便充满基督之信仰的真实质地。凡与基督徒的盼望相连的，无不适于生出它；凡加在我们身上的本分，无不断然要求它；我们一切崇高圣洁的指望，无不充分地担保它。『爱就完全了律法。』『没有爱心的，仍住在死中。』麦基文（R. McIlvaine）〕人之爱的果效与凭据：它渴望有所报答（诗篇 116:12 —— 我拿什么报答耶和华向我所赐的一切厚恩？）；它带来力量（雅歌 8:6-7 —— 因为爱情如死之坚强……爱情，众水不能息灭）；它把惧怕除去（约翰一书 4:18）；它是重生的凭据（4:7 —— 因为爱是从神来的。凡有爱心的，都是由神而生，并且认识神）；它催逼人过献身基督的生活（哥林多后书 5:14-16）；它保证神的看顾保守（罗马书 8:28 —— 我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处）。约翰福音 14:23 —— 人若爱我，就必遵守我的道，我父也必爱他，并且我们要到他那里去，与他同住。

ENIV. The love of man to his fellow-man. Lev. 19:18. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Rom. 13:8, 9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8). This love of man to men is a vital part and result of his supreme love to God: 1 John 4:20, 21. He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. John 15:12. This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Matt. 5:44. Love your enemies. Love to men as brethren is the condition as well as the evidence of the new spiritual life; this is strongly and variously stated by John: 1 John 3:10, 14. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. 1 John 4:7, 12. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 2:10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light. The motive and measure of the love required one to another: John 15:12, 9. Love one another, as I have loved you. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. 1 John 4:11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Eph. 5:2. Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us. 1 Thes. 3:12. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men.

BSB1 John 4:20, 21 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

中四、人对同胞的爱。利未记 19:18 —— 要爱人如己（罗马书 13:8-9；加拉太书 5:14；雅各书 2:8）。人对人的这份爱，是他至高爱神之爱的攸关组成与结果：约翰一书 4:20-21 —— 不爱他所看见的弟兄，就不能爱没有看见的神。爱神的，也当爱弟兄，这是我们从神所受的命令。约翰福音 15:12 —— 你们要彼此相爱，像我爱你们一样，这就是我的命令。马太福音 5:44 —— 要爱你们的仇敌。以弟兄之情爱人，既是新属灵生命的条件，也是其凭据；约翰对此有力而多方地陈明：约翰一书 3:10, 14 —— 凡不行义的就不属神，不爱弟兄的也是如此。我们因为爱弟兄，就晓得是已经出死入生了。4:7, 12 —— 我们若彼此相爱，神就住在我们里面，爱他的心在我们里面得以完全。2:10 —— 爱弟兄的，就是住在光明中。彼此相爱所当有的动机与尺度：约翰福音 15:12, 9 —— 你们要彼此相爱，像我爱你们一样。我爱你们，正如父爱我一样。约翰一书 4:11 —— 亲爱的弟兄啊，神既是这样爱我们，我们也当彼此相爱。以弗所书 5:2 —— 要凭爱心行事，正如基督爱我们。帖撒罗尼迦前书 3:12 —— 又愿主叫你们彼此相爱的心，并爱众人的心，都能增长充足。

ENCharacteristic spirit, methods, and effects of love to men—the chief passage, abounding in points and calling for exhaustive study: 1 Cor. 13:4-8. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth. 1 Cor. 8:1. Love buildeth up. Rom. 13:10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Prov. 10:12. Love covereth all sins. 1 Pet. 4:8. Love shall cover the multitude of sins. Special injunctions: Eph. 4:2, 15. Forbearing one another in love; speaking the truth in love. Gal. 5:13. By love serve one another. Heb. 10:24. Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Thus it appears that brotherly love—which has its source and vital impulse in supreme love to Christ—includes the thinking, feeling and acting kindly, considerately, and helpfully toward all whom we touch in life, according to the measure of our ability; it is summed up in fellowshiping with men in order to serve them, as Christ lived and acted among them. Further it appears that the essence and test of genuine philanthropy is found, not in any merely natural sympathy and kindliness of heart, but in the soul-controlling force of a supreme love to God, which alone prompts and produces a spirit of unselfish self-sacrifice for others.

BSB1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 6, 7, 8 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6 Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

中爱人的特征性精神、方式与果效——首要经文（要点密集，值得穷究）：哥林多前书 13:4-8 —— 爱是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈；爱是不嫉妒，爱是不自夸，不张狂，不做害羞的事，不求自己的益处，不轻易发怒，不计算人的恶，不喜欢不义，只喜欢真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。爱是永不止息。哥林多前书 8:1 —— 惟有爱心能造就人。罗马书 13:10 —— 爱是不加害与人的，所以爱就完全了律法。箴言 10:12 —— 爱能遮掩一切过错。彼得前书 4:8 —— 因为爱能遮掩许多的罪。特别的吩咐：以弗所书 4:2, 15 —— 用爱心互相宽容；用爱心说诚实话。加拉太书 5:13 —— 用爱心互相服事。希伯来书 10:24 —— 又要彼此相顾，激发爱心，勉励行善。由此可见：弟兄之爱——其源头与生命的推动力在于至高地爱基督——包括按我们能力的分量，对生活中所接触的每一个人存善意、动善情、行善事；一言以蔽之，就是与人相交、为要服事他们，正如基督在人间生活行事那样。更可见：真慈善（philanthropy）的实质与试金石，不在任何单纯天然的同情与好心肠，而在那支配灵魂、至高地爱神的力量——唯有它能激发并产生为他人无私舍己的精神。

EN[1 Cor. 13:4-6. The apostle puts these three things in close connection—boastfulness, vanity or conceit, and unseemly behavior—and then of love denies all these weaknesses. Love vaunteth not itself: it does not make a parade and show of itself, of its own knowledge or gifts. Love is not puffed up: it is not a man swollen with a great opinion of his extraordinary self. Love does not behave itself unseemly: it does not commit improprieties of time, of position, or of trust. Instead, love is modest and humble. If love has knowledge more than some others, if love has position and trust more honorable than some others, it recognizes position and knowledge as a stewardship, for the use of which love is held accountable to the Master. Paul describes love to be a principle in its nature directly contrary to selfishness: love seeketh not her own. Love takes interest in another, lives for another's blessedness, cares for another's earthly prosperity, and is willing to deny itself in order that great good, temporal and spiritual, may come to others—whether self-denying service be followed by earthly rewards or not. Love is not easily provoked, and does not think evil: love is not quick to take offense, nor ready to impugn the motives of others, nor to suspect evil designs lurking under outward friendship. Love is so intent on doing good to others, so intent on extending the dominion of love and on lifting men out of the sphere of selfishness into the heavenly spirit of Jesus Christ, that she is willing to suffer wrongs in the prosecution of her glorious end; and is predisposed not to think evil, not to be suspicious, but to think good—so long as there is Christian reason for it—and to bring even the subjects of ill-will under her transforming influence. Possessing the truth, possessed by the truth, cleaving to the truth, and living for no other end, love rejoices with the truth: love takes most intense delight in serving the truth, in the extension of its dominion, and in offering self a sacrifice upon its altar. E. V. Gerhart.]

中〔哥林多前书 13:4-6。使徒把三样东西紧密并置——自夸、虚荣（自负）、以及失礼的举止——随后就爱而言，把这些弱点一一否定。爱是不自夸：它不把自己、把自己的学识或恩赐招摇陈列。爱是不张狂：它不是一个因自视非凡而膨胀起来的人。爱不做害羞的事：它不在时机上、身份上、受托之事上做出不得体的举动。相反，爱是谦逊卑微的。若爱比某些人有更多的学识，若爱比某些人有更尊贵的地位与托付，它便把地位与学识认作一份管家的职分——如何使用，爱要向主人交账。保罗把爱描述为一条本性上与自私正相反的原则：爱是不求自己的益处。爱关切别人，为别人的福祉而活，顾念别人今生的顺遂，并甘愿克己，为要使极大的好处——今世的与属灵的——临到别人；至于这舍己的服事有没有地上的酬报，则在所不计。爱是不轻易发怒，也不计算人的恶：爱不易被冒犯，不轻率去攻讦别人的动机，也不猜疑外表友善之下潜伏着恶意的图谋。爱一心一意要善待别人，一心一意要扩展爱的疆域、要把人从自私的领域提升到耶稣基督属天的精神里；以至于在推进这荣耀目标的过程中，它甘愿受委屈；它的倾向不是往坏处想、不是猜疑，而是往好处想——只要还有基督徒式的理由这样想——甚至要把心怀恶意的人也带到自己转化人的影响之下。爱拥有真理、被真理拥有、紧紧依附真理、并不为别的目的而活，所以爱是与真理同喜：爱以服事真理、扩展真理的疆域、把自己献在真理的祭坛上为最深的欢乐。格哈特（E. V. Gerhart）〕

ENV. Love the chief of the trinity of graces. 1 Cor. 13:8, 13. Love never faileth. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. [The gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, and that other special spiritual gift called the gift of knowledge, are all of transient character. In contrast with these gifts, love is the unchangeable good: the same in its attributes through all ages, love survives all periods of time, survives the changes wrought by death and the grave, and lives on with renewed freshness and vitality in the world to come. E. V. Gerhart. — This is the chief of the Christian graces, the keystone of the arch, which gives beauty and symmetry and permanency to the others. It is the crowning glory of the Christian character, the essential element of Christian perfectness, the highest exhibition of Christian excellence. This is that grace which adorns and beautifies the Christian profession before men, and which shall hallow and illustrate it in heavenly glory. It is greater than faith, for "faith shall be lost in sight"; it is higher than hope, for "hope shall be swallowed up in fruition"; but love shall never fail. It is the fountain at which the saints of God shall ever drink; the atmosphere which they shall breathe for ever.]

BSB1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

中五、爱为三样美德之首。哥林多前书 13:8, 13 —— 爱是永不止息。如今常存的有信、有望、有爱这三样，其中最大的是爱。〔说方言的恩赐、作先知讲道的恩赐、以及那另一样称为知识的属灵恩赐，都属短暂性质。与这些恩赐相对，爱是不变的美善：它的诸般属性历世不改；爱经得起一切时代的更迭，经得起死亡与坟墓所带来的变故，并且在来世以更新的鲜活与生命力继续存留。格哈特（E. V. Gerhart）——这是基督徒诸德之首，是拱门的拱心石，把美、匀称与恒久赋予其余各德。它是基督徒品格加冕的荣耀，是基督徒完全的本质要素，是基督徒卓越最高的展现。正是这一美德，在人前妆点并美化基督徒的信仰见证，将来又要在属天的荣耀中使之成圣、使之焕发。它大过信心，因为『信心必在眼见中止息』；它高过盼望，因为『盼望必被实现所吞灭』；唯有爱永不止息。它是神的圣徒要永远畅饮的泉源，是他们要永远呼吸的空气。〕