What Love Does and Why It Matters: Romance, Relationships, and 1 Corinthians 13

by Cameron Lee

First Corinthians 13, sometimes known as the apostle Paul's "love chapter," is frequently used in weddings and homages to romantic love. But Paul wasn't writing about romance: he was writing as a pastor to a deeply troubled church, trying to help them embody the love of Christ in their life together. Today, the meaning of the word "love" is more ambiguous than ever. Even in the church, expectations of relationships, including those for dating and marriage, are shaped by popular culture. What Love Does and Why It Matters helps us recover Paul's pastoral and practical vision of relationships in the body of Christ. Early chapters address the use of the word "love" in everyday speech and in the Bible, the role of emotion, and the influence of romantic fiction and fairy tale. A transitional chapter explores the fatherly love of God against the background of human suffering. The rest of the book takes up an in-depth exploration of Paul's vision of love and its application to our relationships today. Each chapter includes questions to encourage personal reflection and group study.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 19, 2017