works of charity mthout it are worthless, v. 3. Love has this superiority, first, because of its inherent excellence ; and sec ondly, because of its perpetuity. As to its superior excellence, it implies or secures all other excellence. 1. It includes all the forms of kindness. 2. It is humble and modest. 3. It is unselfish. 4. It sympathizes with all good, vs. 4-7. It is per- petual— all the extraordinary gifts mentioned in the preceding chapter were designed for the present state of existence, or were temporary. Love is never to cease, v. 8. Knowledge, as a special gift, and perhaps also in the form in which it ex- ists in this world, is to pass away. It is now the apprehension of truth as through a mirror — hereafter it will be lost in im- mediate vision, vs. 9-12. The permanent graces are faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is Love, v. 13.
This chapter, although devoted to a single Christian grace, and therefore not to be compared with the eighth chapter of Romans, or with some chapters in the epistle to the Ephesians, as an unfolding of the mysteries of redemption, still has ever been considered as one of the jewels of Scripture. For moral elevation, for richness and comprehensiveness, for beauty and felicity of expression, it has been the admiration of the church in all ages. — With regard to the word charity^ as the transla- tion of the Greek dyaTny, it has already been remarked in the comment on 8, 1, that it is peculiarly unhappy. Neither in its primary signification, nor in the sense which usage has at- tached to it, does it properly answer to the Greek term. The latter occurs about one hundred and sixteen times in the New Testament, and is translated love in all places except twenty- three ; and in those the departure from the common usage is altogether arbitrary. The word charity is just as inappropri- ate in this chapter as it would be in such phrases as, " the Son of his charity," or, " the charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts," or, " the charity of Christ." The Greek word dyam; is not of heathen origin. The heathen had no conception of the grace which in the Scriptures is expressed by that term ; neither epcos nor </)(Ata answers to the Scriptural sense of ayairrj ; nor do the Latin words amor or caritas. It was the unsuita- bleness of the former that induced Jerome to adopt the latter as the more elevated of the two. The one properly expresses love founded on sympathy; the latter came to mean love founded on respect. Its English derivative {charity) retains more of the original force of the Latin word. Caritas (from oarus, a carendo^ dear^ i. e. costly) is properly dearness or
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