A collection of words and images showing that Jesus is the definition of love.
Whether you use the word Charity or Love, Christ defines it.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 KJV and Moroni 7:45-46
In this 13-part series, I try to illuminate what that means. Searching among the hundreds of Bible translations, I decided to base my wording on the King James Version for its verbal power and popularity, paring similar phrases into 13. The definitions come from the American Dictionary Of The English Language by Noah Webster, published in 1828. I use my own traditional and digital images to illustrate the concepts. Thanks to Dan Norris for sharing his thoughts on Jesus Christ.
The Definitions
- Christ suffereth long: To feel or bear what is painful, disagreeable or distressing, either to the body or mind; to undergo; To endure; to support; to sustain; not to sink under; To allow; to permit; not to forbid or hinder.
- Christ is kind: Disposed to do good to others, and to make them happy by granting their requests, supplying their wants or assisting them in distress; having tenderness or goodness of nature; benevolent; benignant; Proceeding from tenderness or goodness or heart; benevolent.
- Christ envieth not: To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another’s prosperity; to fret or grieve one’s self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account; To grudge; to withhold maliciously
- Christ is not puffed up: To swell; to inflate; to blow up; as puffed up with pride, vanity or conceit; to puff up with praise or flattery; To drive with a blast in scorn or contempt; To praise with exaggeration
- Christ seeketh not His own: To go in search or quest of; to look for; to search for by going from place to place; To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to endeavor to find or gain by any means.
- Christ is not easily provoked: To make angry; to offend; to increase; to enrage.
- Christ thinketh no evil: To have the mind occupied on some subject; to have ideas, or to revolve ideas in the mind, to judge, to conclude, to intend, to imagine, to suppose, to meditate, to reflect, to consider, to deliberate, to presume.
- Christ rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth: To experience joy and gladness in a high degree; to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations; to exult.
- Christ beareth all things: To support; to sustain; to carry; to convey; to wear; to bear as a mark of authority; to keep afloat; to support or sustain without sinking or yielding; to endure; to suffer; to undergo; to suffer without resentment, violence, injury or change; to bring forth or produce; to give birth to; to possess and use as power; to gain or win; to carry on or maintain; to show or exhibit; to sustain the effect, or to be answerable for; to sustain, as expense; to supply the means of paying expenses; to behave; to remove, or to endure the effects of; and hence to give satisfaction for.
- Christ believeth all things: To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another; to expect or hope with confidence; to trust.
- Christ hopeth all things: To cherish a desire of good, with some expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; to place confidence in; to trust in with confident expectation of good.
- Christ endureth all things: To bear; to sustain; to support without breaking or yielding to force or pressure; to bear with patience; to bear without opposition or sinking under the pressure; to undergo; to sustain.
- Christ never faileth.