1 Corinthians 13:4-7
About this versePaul describes love as patient and kind, free of envy, pride and resentment, and as something that never stops bearing, believing, hoping and enduring.
1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving each other deeply, because love is quick to cover over many wrongs.
Most important of all, keep your love for one another strong and unfailing, because love covers a great many sins.
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Say the verse aloud, filling in each blank. Tap a blank for a hint.
What 1 Peter 4:8 means
‘Most important of all’ ranks this over the other instructions around it, and ‘strong and unfailing’ carries the sense of stretched or strained — love at full extension, the kind that costs something.
‘Covers a great many sins’ does not mean ignoring wrongdoing. It describes love that refuses to broadcast, store up or keep score of other people’s failures. In any community that lasts, this is the verse that makes the lasting possible.
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Questions about 1 Peter 4:8
What does 1 Peter 4:8 mean?
It places love above everything else in the life of a community, because love covers over many sins rather than exposing or tallying them.
Does ‘love covers a multitude of sins’ mean ignoring sin?
No. It means love does not publicise or keep score of the failings it encounters. Elsewhere Scripture is clear that serious wrong is to be addressed, not concealed.