1 Corinthians 13:6

Exegetical Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NKJV)

Text (NKJV):
“[Love] does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”

1. Context within 1 Corinthians 13

The thirteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians[i] is often called the “love chapter.” It sits within a broader discussion on spiritual gifts (chapters 12–14). Paul is correcting the Corinthian church’s misuse of gifts, reminding them that without love, even the most spectacular spiritual abilities are worthless (13:1–3). Verses 4–7 describe the nature of love in a series of contrasts and affirmations. Verse 6 is one of these contrasts: love does not delight in wrongdoing but finds joy in truth.

2. Exegesis of Verse 6

• “Does not rejoice in iniquity”:
  The Greek word for “iniquity” (adikia) carries the sense of unrighteousness, injustice, or moral wrong. Paul is saying that genuine Christian love does not celebrate sin, nor does it take pleasure in the downfall or moral failure of others. This rebukes the Corinthian tendency to boast in their freedoms (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:1–2 (5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.), where they tolerated sexual immorality). Love refuses to find satisfaction in what dishonours God.
• “But rejoices in the truth”:
  The word “truth” (aletheia) here refers not only to factual correctness but to the truth of God revealed in Christ and His Word. Love delights when God’s truth is upheld, when righteousness is practised, and when the gospel is lived out. Love is not morally neutral; it is tethered to God’s holiness and truth.

3. Theological Teaching

• Love is morally discerning:
  Paul shows that Christian love is not sentimental indulgence. It is shaped by God’s holiness. Love cannot be separated from truth. To rejoice in sin is to deny the very character of God, who is light and in whom there is no darkness (1 John 1:5) (This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.).
• Love and truth are inseparable:
  In Christian theology, truth is grounded in God’s Word. Love rejoices when the truth of the gospel is proclaimed and lived. This guards against the modern tendency to equate love with mere tolerance. True love does not affirm what is false or destructive; it rejoices in what is true and life-giving.
• Christ as the embodiment of love and truth:
  Jesus Himself is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) (Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.). His love was expressed in His obedience to the Father and His sacrifice for sinners. Christian love mirrors this union of love and truth.

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4. Application to Modern Christian Living

• Rejecting false joy:
  In our culture, it is common to laugh at sin or celebrate lifestyles that contradict God’s Word. Christians are called to resist this temptation. Love does not find joy in gossip, exploitation, or moral compromise.
• Celebrating truth in community:
  In the church, love rejoices when truth is spoken in grace (Ephesians 4:15) (but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—). This means encouraging one another in holiness, celebrating repentance, and supporting those who walk faithfully with Christ.
• Love as counter-cultural witness:
  In a society that often equates love with affirmation of all choices, Christians must show that true love is not blind approval but a joyful commitment to God’s truth. This is not harshness but a pastoral care that seeks the good of others by pointing them to Christ.

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[i] 1 Corinthians 13

New King James Version

The Greatest Gift

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.