📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 13:6
What does 1 Corinthians 13:6 mean?
"doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;"
— 1 Corinthians 13:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
Explanation
1 Corinthians 13:6 says that love "doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth." In plain language, this means genuine love takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, injustice, or sin—whether it's the love-giver's own wrongdoing or someone else's. Instead, love delights in what is true, right, and good. It's a statement about where love finds its joy: not in scandal, deception, cruelty, or moral failure, but in righteousness and truth.
This verse comes from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded but which was struggling with deep divisions, spiritual pride, and moral compromise. Chapters 12–14 address the misuse of spiritual gifts, particularly the Corinthians' tendency to elevate flashy gifts like tongues while neglecting character. Chapter 13, often called the "love chapter," is Paul's corrective: gifts without love are worthless noise. Verses 4-7 form a detailed description of what love actually looks like in action, contrasting it with the arrogance, jealousy, and self-seeking behavior that had infected the Corinthian church. This particular verse fits within that larger portrait, addressing a community that seems to have tolerated or even taken pride in certain sinful behaviors (earlier in the letter, Paul rebukes them for boasting about a case of sexual immorality rather than mourning over it).
Theologically, this verse reveals something important: love is not morally neutral or indifferent to right and wrong. A common misunder
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