What it means
Paul’s word here is made of two parts, under and remain. It means to stay under a load: to hold your ground and not run. It is the verb behind the New Testament’s word for perseverance, which is why the NIV says love ‘always perseveres’. It closes the list. Endurance is how love lasts.
Bearing and enduring sound alike, but they are different. Bearing carries today’s weight. Enduring keeps carrying it tomorrow, and the day after, when what you hoped for has not happened yet. It is love over years: a friend through a long, heavy season, a family member who is hard to love, a marriage through the dull stretches and the hard ones.
It does not mean enduring harm. Love can step back, say no, or leave, and still refuse to hate. What it will not do is quietly stop caring.
How John Chrysostom read it
John Chrysostom read this line together with the next one, “Love never fails,” and saw in both the same thing: love that is not broken by what it goes through.
“And even if these good things should not turn out according to its hope, but the other person should prove yet more intolerable, it bears even these. For, says he, it endures all things.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on First Corinthians
“It is not severed, is not dissolved by endurance. For it puts up with everything: since happen what will, he that loves never can hate.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on First Corinthians, on “Love never fails”
For Chrysostom, endurance is what love does when hope has not come true yet. Love hopes and believes. Then, if the other person grows harder instead of better, love keeps going. Long strain wears most bonds thin. Love is the one bond that strain cannot dissolve, because the one who loves will not turn to hatred.
So enduring is not staying no matter what. It is never letting hurt turn into hate. Chrysostom even shows how to keep your distance and still love, in Paul’s words: “count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” And he read this line as Paul’s word to the people at Corinth who “easily separate themselves”: the ones who walk out at the first strain.
What it looks like
- A friend has been going through a hard time for months, and you keep inviting them even when they say no.
- A friendship has become mostly you reaching out. You tell them honestly that it feels one-sided, and you keep the door open.
- A relative is hard work at every holiday, and you still go, and you still ask about their life.
- A long, flat season comes in a friendship, and you stay warm in it instead of drifting off.
What missing it looks like
- “I’ve done my time. Nobody can say I didn’t try.”
- “It’s too heavy right now. I’ll get back in touch when things are better.”
- “If they cared, they’d reach out too. I’m done chasing.”
- “Fine, I’ll stay. But I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about it.”
Learn from Monica
The mother who would not stop praying.
For years she wept and prayed for her son Augustine. A bishop told her, “it is not possible that the son of these tears should perish.” She lived to see him baptized. Augustine, Confessions, Book 3
Keep praying for the one you can’t reach, and keep the door open.
Read about MonicaOne step to try
Stay close to a friend through the hard stretch.
“A true friend is one who, in a time of trial, carries his neighbor’s troubles, needs and misfortunes with him as if they were his own, quietly and calmly.” Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love
Questions and answers
What does it mean that love “endures all things”?
It means love lasts. It stays through long, hard seasons, keeps caring when hope has not come true yet, and does not turn into hatred however long things take. The next words in the Bible are “Love never fails.” This endurance is not grim putting up with things. It is love that is not worn away by what it goes through.
Does ‘endures all things’ mean staying in an abusive relationship?
No. Love never asks anyone to stay where they are being harmed. John Chrysostom said “he only is the lover who seeks what is profitable to the beloved,” and letting someone go on harming you is not good for them either. You can leave, keep your distance and still refuse to hate. If you are in danger, getting safe comes first, and reaching out for help is right.
Where does the strength to endure come from?
Not from gritting your teeth. The Bible points to Jesus, Who “for the joy set before Him endured the cross” and then “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He endured for love, and it ended in joy. Paul adds a promise for the long haul: “in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
