<p>13:5 <i>Does not behave itself inappropriately- </i>This poem about love is a summary of Paul's policies so far concerning various practical issues. He has urged that in marital and relationship decisions, we are to do that which is &quot;appropriate&quot;; appropriate to a life dominated by the love principle (1 Cor. 7:36 s.w.). The only other occurrence of the word is again in Corinthians, when Paul speaks of the weaker members of the Christian body with the same word (1 Cor. 12:23). Such members are weak because they do not have love; and yet Paul teaches that our response to them is &quot;necessary&quot; and that they must be retained within the community of the body of Christ. To love the unloving is indeed hard, but it is the essence of love.</p><p><i>Is not self seeking- </i>This phrase again builds on Paul's earlier argument in Corinthians- that we should act sensitively to others weaker in the faith, not doing things which may make them stumble, according to the principle &quot;Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbour's good&quot; (1 Cor. 10:25). This is quite something. All the time, in every decision, action, position we adopt, we are to think of what would be best for <i>others</i> rather than what's cool for ourselves. At the very least, this means that we are to act in life <i>consciously</i>- not just go with the flow, reacting to things according to our gut feeling, chosing according to what seems right, comfortable and convenient to us at that moment; but rather thinking through what import our positions and actions will have upon others. It takes <i>time</i> to think out what will be beneficial for them. And &quot;love is...&quot; just this. This is a way of life and thinking which it's very rare to meet in people. Almost frustrated, Paul lamented: &quot;For all men seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's&quot; (Phil. 2:21). 1 Cor. 10:25 spoke of seeking not our own good, but the good of our brethren- i.e. &quot;the things which are Jesus Christ's&quot;. But according to Phil. 2:20,21, Paul felt that only Timothy understood this spirit of not seeking our own good, but that of the things of Christ, i.e. our brethren. The life of love is therefore a lonely life. So few 'get it'.</p><p><i>Is not easily provoked</i>- see on Acts 15:39. Faced by the heights of such challenges, we can easily despair. We are not like this, or not like it very often nor very deeply. But Paul felt the same, even though under inspiration he himself wrote the poem. Paul too realized his failure, the slowness of his progress. When he writes that love is not &quot;easily provoked&quot; (1 Cor. 13:5), he uses the same Greek word which we meet in Acts 15:39 describing the provocation / contention he had with Barnabas which led to their division. Surely he had that on his conscience when he wrote that love is <i>not</i> like that.</p><p>Here we have an allusion to how slow God was to anger with Israel. As their loving husband He stuck with them for centuries, enduring what would have emotionally shattered many husbands if they endured it just for a few months, and putting up with what most men couldn't handle even for a year. God was slow to anger for centuries, and even then in that wrath He remembered mercy, even in His judgments He desperately sought to find a way to go on with Israel in some form. And we are asked to show that same slowness to anger.</p><p><i>Keeps no record of evil done- </i>The mind of love imputes no evil to others, as God doesn&rsquo;t to us (1 Cor. 13:5; AV &ldquo;thinketh no evil&rdquo;, s.w. to count / impute in Romans). The Greek word can also mean that love keeps no records or count of wrong done. We must forgive our brethren as God forgives us (Eph. 4:32). God expunges the spiritual record of the sin, and will not feed it into some equation which determines whether we can be forgiven. Christ &quot;frankly&quot; forgave the debtors in the parable. The frankness of that forgiveness does not suggest a process of careful calculation before it could be granted. God's frank forgiveness is seen too in Ps. 130:3: &quot;If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord who shall stand?&quot;. God does not &quot;mark&quot; sin, as our love for our brethren should keep no record of their past sins (1 Cor. 13:5-7 N.I.V.). If we refuse fellowship people because of the <i>effect</i> of past sins for which they have repented, then we <i>are</i> 'marking' iniquity. God does not deal with us in a manner which is <i>proportional</i> to the type or amount of sin we commit (Ps. 103:7-12).</p>