📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 13:8
What does 1 Corinthians 13:8 mean?
"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."
— 1 Corinthians 13:8 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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;
but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
Explanation
1 Corinthians 13:8 makes a simple but profound claim: love endures forever, while other spiritual gifts and abilities are temporary. Paul states plainly that love "never fails" — it doesn't collapse, run out, or become obsolete. By contrast, he names three specific gifts that were prominent in the Corinthian church: prophecies (inspired messages from God), tongues or "various languages" (Spirit-given speech), and knowledge (special insight into spiritual truth). All three, he says, will be "done away with" or will "cease." They have a shelf life; love does not.
To understand this verse, it helps to know the context. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, a congregation that was gifted but also divided and prone to prizing flashy spiritual displays over genuine character. In chapters 12–14, Paul addresses the proper use of spiritual gifts, particularly tongues and prophecy, which some Corinthians were using in ways that caused disorder and pride rather than edification. Chapter 13 is Paul's deliberate interruption of that discussion — often called the "love chapter" — where he insists that no gift, however impressive, means anything without love. Verse 8 begins the chapter's turn toward the future: Paul is contrasting the permanence of love with the temporary nature of the gifts the Corinthians were so proud of.
Theologically, this verse teaches that love is not merely one virtue among many or one gift among many — it belongs to a different category altogether. Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are partial and provisional;
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