Paul tells the Corinthians that love is the greatest of all because there was jealousy and strife among them, and the church was in danger of being divided.
—Theodore of Mopsuestia

Some bible verses and chapters are read out of context more than in:

We often quote “For I know the plans I have for you…” (Jeremiah 29:11) at graduations and other milestone events, but we forget these words were spoken not to an individual, but to an entire nation in exile waiting for God to rescue them.

We tout John 3:16 as “the gospel in a nutshell” but forget these words were spoken late at night to a Pharisee who was visiting Jesus in secret and trying to wrap his mind around Jesus’s unorthodox message.

We cite Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through him who strengthens me”) as words of encouragement, but we leave out how Paul originally said these words about enduring a prison sentence.

1 Corinthians 13 stands out as another such passage. At its most out-of-context, we think of it as a “wedding passage”— a set of verses all about the nature of love. As a couple stand there and profess their love to one another in front of a room full of witnesses, we hear about how “love is patient, love is kind,” and so on. In recent years, I’ve heard pushback on this as we reclaim the passage as being about God’s love. During my time in youth ministry, it was common practice to take out the word “love” and sub in the word “God” so the passage would speak to the love God has for us. “God is patient, God is kind….” This is a step in the right direction, but it’s still not the passage’s original context.

In the previous chapters, Paul has corrected the Corinthians on their unhealthy worship practices. The apostle points out again and again how their understandings of communion and prayer and spiritual gifts reflect deep biases toward some members of the church over others. The Corinthian Christians grant special privileges to their wealthy members while looking down on poorer or enslaved Christians. When Paul speaks about love, he isn’t simply describing God’s love; he is calling the Corinthians to love one another better. So what should love in Christian community look like? Well,

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
—1 Corinthians 13:4-7

There’s an understood “but do you do these things?” aimed at Paul’s Corinthian listeners. Paul wasn’t pontificating about love in the hopes couples would use his words on their big day, and he wasn’t simply showing his listeners the kind of love God shows them; Paul was calling the Corinthian Christians to a higher standard of love in community.

If the first letter to the Corinthians has one takeaway, it would be to do a better job of loving one another. In spite of social status or money or the culture around you, love the people in your community. 1 Corinthians 13 speaks to this kind of love and calls on us to live it out.