5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ;
Doth not behave itself unseemly^ i. e. does nothing of which one ought to be ashamed. Its whole deportment is decorous and becoming. Seeketh not her own ; is disinterested, 10, 33. Is not easily provoked, i. e. is not quick tempered ; or, does not suffer itself to be roused to resentment. And, therefore, it thinketh no evil, or rather, it does not think evil. This may mean, 1. It does not plan or devise evil. But the expression is (to kclkov) the e\dl, and not (xaKa) evil. Comp. Matt. 9, 4. 2. It does not impute evil, i. e. attribute evil mo- tives to others, or is not suspicious. The sense is good in itself, but not so suitable to the connection as, 3. It does not lay the evil which it suffers to the charge of the wrong-doer. Instead of being resentful, it is forgiving.
6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
The general sentiment of this verse is, that love does not sympathize with evil, but with good. It rejoiceth not in iniquity, i. e. in any thing which is not conformed to the standard of right. The word is usually translated unright- eousness ; but this is not to be limited to injustice, but in- cludes all forms of moral evil. Truth is often used antitheti- cally in Scripture to unrighteousness, as it is here. Rom. 1, 8. comp. John 3, 21. 1 John 1, 6, and other passages, in which men are said to do the truth. Hence it is commonly interpreted in such cases as meaning righteousness. ' Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it rejoices together mth {(Tvyx<xip€i) righteousness,' i. e. sympathizes with it, and has a common joy with it. As, however, the word so commonly in Paul's epistles stands for religious truth as revealed in the gospel, perhaps the majority of commentators so understand it here. 'Love rejoices together with the truth.' This, how- ever, not only destroys the antithesis, but introduces a disturb- ing element into the description ; for it is of love as a virtue of which Paul is speaking. Its sympathy with the gospel, therefore, does not seem to be appropriate in this connection.
7. Beareth all things, beheveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.