Love Bears All Things

by Chris Simmons

I Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of love that Paul teaches is the aspect of constancy and consistency. It’s easy to exhibit the patience, rejoice with the truth, and refrain from arrogance and provocation sometimes. But to do so in each and every situation, with everybody, and in “all things” is where love is truly challenged and demanded. Paul concludes this study on love by identifying four qualities of love that are to be manifested in our lives in “all things.”

The first of these is that “love bears all things.” The word “bears” comes from the word stego which Thayer defines in three ways: “1. to protect or keep by covering, to preserve: 2. to cover over with silence; to keep secret; to hide, conceal: 3. … by covering to keep off something which threatens, to bear up against, hold out against, and so to endure, bear, forbear 1 Cor. 9:12” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Mike Willis in his commentary on I Corinthians notes regarding the word “bears” that it “originally meant ‘to cover, to conceal,’ then ‘to bear, sustain.’ Paul is, therefore, saying that love is able to bear whatever afflictions or persecutions come upon it. However, since the word also can mean ‘to conceal,’ some understand Paul to be saying something like ‘charity shall cover a multitude of sins.’”

From these definitions, we see that first of all, love endures and bears with any offenses, slights, mistreatment, difficulties, or persecutions – “all things” – we may face. We do so for the sake of our souls’ salvation and for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 9:12). When the Hebrew writer spoke of the “need of endurance” in Hebrews 10:36, he spoke of a need for a love that “bears all things” including a “great conflict of suffering” (verse 32). We bear with “all things” (including even those who might take away everything we have in this life) because we love Him who has promised us a “great reward” (verses 34-35). Love will enable us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). We bear with the insults and injuries of others because of our love for them and our “heart’s desire and … prayer to God for … their salvation” (Romans 10:1).

We also see that love includes the idea of concealing or covering. This doesn’t mean that love conceals or covers sin by denying its existence as those that Jeremiah refers to in Jeremiah 6:14 when he speaks of those who deal with sin by proclaiming “peace, peace” when “there is no peace.” Rather love bears with all things by not being a tale-bearer who goes about spreading gossip and everyone’s “dirty laundry.” Solomon wrote in Proverbs 11:13, “He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.” We conceal matters so that we can help others deal with the sin and problems in their life. Rather than making public matters that others don’t need to know about, if we know of a brother or sister in Christ who is in sin, we are to “go and reprove him in private” that we might help win back their soul (Matthew 18:15). When matters are private, love demands that they be dealt with in a private manner unless he or she “refuses to listen” (Matthew 18:17). Ultimately, we help conceal a matter by helping our brethren to repent and be forgiven of their sin. We read in I Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” Our love is to prompt us to make every effort to restore the brother or sister in Christ who is in sin and walking according the flesh and not the Spirit (Galatians 6:1) which will indeed “cover a multitude of sins.” Rather than spreading the tawdry details of someone’s sins, love demands that we do everything we can to find forgiveness. Proverbs 17:9, “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.”

Love bears all things – we endure ill treatment and we look to help others overcome sin.