The God who Comforts Sunday School Lesson on 1 Corinthians 13
Love is something that surrounds us in popular culture, and is something children hear a lot about. But what is real love, and where does it come from? What does the Bible tell us about love? This lesson focuses on how love is described by Paul in the iconic passage of 1 Corinthians 13. Love should be at the center of all we do, motivating our words and actions. Without love, things are empty and meaningless. Unlike Hollywood depictions, Biblical love is selfless and God-centered, and meant to be shared with others.
The Gospel, summed up in a word, is love. God loved us enough to come to Earth as a human and live and die for us. The greatest example of love we have is Christ laying down His life. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient, kind, and enduring, not arrogant or rude or self-serving. God is love. We love others because He first loves us.
Sunday School Lesson on 1 Corinthians 13 for Children: Love is Patient, Love is Kind
Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade
Materials Needed: Construction paper; glue; markers or crayons; tape; scissors; decorative supplies; paper plates; brad fasteners; string or ribbon; empty container; chocolate/candy box; Bibles.
Lesson Opening: This lesson focuses on the wonderful description of love found in 1 Corinthians 13, and how we are to share love with others as we receive love from God. To get thoughts started, use one of the following activities, or design some of your own.
- Match the Biblical couples: provide students with one half of a Biblical pair, shaped like half of a heart. Have students identify their Biblical match as held by another student (for example, Ruth and Boaz, or Isaac and Rebecca). If they are not familiar with who the couple is, provide a Scripture reference to read about them. For added challenge, tape the name to the backs of students, and have them first figure out who they “are” by asking questions of others.
- Love is…play charades or Pictionary with the terms of 1 Corinthians 13 (patient, kind, not rude or arrogant, hopeful, etc.). Once they have identified the characteristic, encourage them to come up with ways that they can demonstrate that with others.
- Stuck on you Heart Tag: Provide students with a sheet of heart stickers. Designate a playing area (inside or outside) and have kids run to tag others with the stickers. At the end of play, point out that, although they gave away their hearts, they have many more from others. Love is something that grows the more we give it to those around us!
- Clanging Cymbals: demonstrate some out of tune instruments, or have students play some simple instruments that purposely clash with one another. Remind them that Paul said without love, even the greatest words are a “resounding gong or clanging cymbal.”
- Love notes: have students create special cards (Valentine’s Day themed or otherwise) to give to someone that they love (family or friend). Allow them to decorate the cards and place a Bible verse on them.
- Conversation hearts challenge: have students use conversation hearts as the foundation of a story, selecting certain phrases and crafting a fun or silly story around them. Instruct pairs or groups to glue the candies onto paper and write the story in between the hearts.
Explain that this lesson is focused on love. Although we hear about love a lot, we don’t always have the right idea of what it truly is and where it comes from.
Bible Lesson:
This passage is found in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s great description of love. It is not quite an active story that can easily be role-played, but does contain wonderful and important truths to take to heart. Have older students take turns reading verses, or read out loud with younger children. Pause to discuss the chapter as you read it with students.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. -1 Corinthians 13:1-3
This passage begins with an emphasis on the importance of love as the motivation behind everything that we do. The Corinthian church Paul was writing to was very interested in spiritual gifts, including the ability to speak in tongues or prophesy. Paul explained that if he had such powerful abilities, and in fact even if he could miraculously move mountains with his faith and gave away all he had, without love, it would all be meaningless. Without love for God and others, those gifts would do nothing. Paul wanted to communicate the importance of love, “agape” love. This is the kind of love that God has for us. We might say that we love things or people, but romantic love, friendship, or affection for things is not the same as the selfless love our Lord demonstrates and wants us to pass along.
Ask: What are some things you would say that you love? How can you show love?
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -1 Corinthians 4-7
Paul went on to describe some important elements of what love is—and what it is not. Love is patient and kind. It is not self-serving or eager to get its own way. Love wants what is best for others. It is not envious or boastful. It’s important to point out here the contrast between the love God has for us, which He wants us to pass along, and the kind of love we might see portrayed in Hollywood or pop culture. Genuine love believes and hopes, seeking the best and forgiving when wronged. It does not hold grudges or keep a record of mistakes. This is the kind of love God demonstrates for us and wants us to demonstrate to others.
Ask: Do you know anyone who shows this kind of love to other people? How can we have it?
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
-1 Corinthians 13:8-13
In these final verses, Paul went back to the discussion of gifts, emphasizing how even wonderful talents and spiritual gifts would not last forever, but that things of God (faith, hope, and love) would remain, the greatest being love. We can seek now to have faith, hope, and love. However, someday we will be in Heaven with Jesus. When we look at the face of God, we won’t need faith or hope any longer, since we will have their fulfillment close at hand. Yet we will still have love, the “greatest of these.” All else will fade away eventually, but love will always remain.
Ask: What are some things you used to do that are no longer fun or appealing?
This passage is such an important and powerful reminder for us of the love God has for us and shared through His son Jesus. Real love is not just an emotion or romantic language. Love is an action. Because we receive God’s great love, we know that He wants us to demonstrate it for His people. There will always be people we might not “feel like” loving as much, but those are often the ones who need it the most! Whenever we have a hard time, though, we can pray for God’s love to come through us, regardless of how challenging that might be. We love because He first loved us!
Close with prayer, thanking God for His love and asking for His help to love others.
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