Seminary
1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13

“Charity Never Faileth”

Jesus is touching the cheek of a woman who is sitting on the ground. Outtakes include the ill woman walking up to Jesus to touch his clothes and Jesus kneeling and talking to the seated woman. Jesus touching the face of a seated woman.

Jesus Christ showed great love each day of His mortal life. He ultimately demonstrated His perfect love by willingly sacrificing His life for us. The Apostle Paul wrote in detail about Christlike love, or charity, and why we should want to obtain it. This lesson is intended to help you feel Jesus Christ’s pure love for you and to help you seek the gift of charity to feel that love for others.

Our relationships with others

Think of someone you would like to have a better relationship with.

  • Why would you like to improve this relationship?

  • What have you done to help the relationship? What has worked? What has not worked?

  • What effect do you think showing greater love could have on the relationship?

As you study 1 Corinthians 13, look for ways you can love others as the Savior does. Seek the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to know what you can do to apply what you are learning to your current circumstances.

The pure love of Jesus Christ

After teaching Church members in Corinth about spiritual gifts, the Apostle Paul said he would show them “a more excellent way” to live (1 Corinthians 12:31). Read 1 Corinthians 13:1–3, looking for this more excellent way.

  • What do you know about charity that helps you understand why it is so important?

The Book of Mormon can help us better understand the importance of charity. Near the end of this ancient record, Moroni included some of his father Mormon’s words. Mormon outlined elements of charity and defined what it is (see Moroni 7:43–48).

Read Moroni 7:46–47, looking for what you can learn about charity.

  • What truths do you learn about charity from these verses?

President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency taught:

Official Portrait of President Dallin H. Oaks taken March 2018.

Charity, “the pure love of Christ” [Moroni 7:47], is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes.

(Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 34) 

  • How does President Oaks’s statement add to your understanding of charity?

Both Paul, in the New Testament, and Mormon, in the Book of Mormon, used similar words and phrases to describe charity. By understanding their words, we can know what to do and ultimately how to become more like Jesus Christ.

Writing on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil. 1. Complete each of the steps in this activity, and answer the question that follows in your study journal:

  1. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 or Moroni 7:45, looking for how charity is described.

  2. Choose two or three words or phrases that describe charity, and write them in your study journal.

  3. Next to each description, write what it means in your own words. You may use any study tools available to you. For example, you might use a dictionary to look up definitions for terms like longsuffering or vaunt. Also write how this quality can help you become like the Savior.

  • What do you learn about the Savior from the different descriptions you studied?

The perfect example

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of all the descriptions of charity. Using what you wrote about charity in your study journal, think of examples in the scriptures when Jesus Christ demonstrated His pure love in this way. The following images might help you connect the Savior to the phrases you studied.

Depiction of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery. They are both kneeling and she is holding his hand. Outtakes include angry men bringing the woman and throwing her to the ground, the woman huddled on the ground, the savior kneeling beside her, Jesus lifting her up to her feet, and the savior standing with her.
Depiction of Jesus embracing Mary and Martha.
Jesus is riding a colt into Jerusalem through a great multitude of people holding tree branches. Outtakes include Jesus barely seen in a throng of people, images of the crowd, some small children, and Jesus walking through the crowd.
Jesus returns to the garden again to continue to pray and suffers great pain.
Jesus is on the cross between two malefactors, there is a crowd below that are watching. Outtakes include a sponge on a stick lifted up to Jesus by a Roman soldier, different views of the three me on the crosses, soldiers gambling and parting his clothes, Jesus walking wearing crown of thorns and covered in blood, and Caiaphas.

  • How did the Savior show charity in each of these situations?

  • How have you personally witnessed the Savior’s love for you or others?

  • How does thinking about the Savior’s love for you affect your feelings for Him?

Living a life of charity

The prophet Mormon finished his teachings on charity with an urgent invitation to act. Read Moroni 7:48, looking for this invitation.

  • What words or phrases help you understand what it takes to receive the gift of charity?

Throughout His life, Jesus Christ showed that it is possible to have charity in any situation. Try to imagine what impact it would have on your life if you followed the Savior’s example of charity in all situations. Think of the specific relationship you thought of at the start of the lesson. Consider how having more charity would bless that relationship.

Writing on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil. 2. Answer the following questions in your study journal:

  • What can you do to demonstrate more charity?

  • What will you do to show Heavenly Father that you desire His help?

Optional: Want to Learn More?

How can we show charity for others?

Elder Marvin J. Ashton (1915–94) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Portrait of Marvin J. Ashton.

Charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

(Marvin J. Ashton, “The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 19)

President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) taught about charity in his general conference message “Charity Never Faileth” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 122–25). You may want to watch the video of this message, available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 15:05 to 17:22.

19:49

Charity Never Faileth

Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life.

Why will charity, the pure love of Jesus Christ, never fail?

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Official Portrait of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Photographed January 2018.

True charity … is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. … It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise—surely it shall be well with them. …

Life has its share of fears and failures. Sometimes things fall short. Sometimes people fail us, or economies or businesses or governments fail us. But one thing in time or eternity does not fail us—the pure love of Christ.

(Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant [1997], 336–37)