What it means
Paul’s word is a bookkeeper’s word. It means to count, to reckon, to enter something in the accounts. Love does not log a wrong and carry the balance forward. The NIV says love ‘keeps no record of wrongs’. The NASB says it ‘does not keep an account of a wrong suffered’. The King James has “thinketh no evil”, which is the same line in older English.
Paul uses the same counting word for what God does. In Christ, he writes, God was “not counting men’s trespasses against them.” So keeping no account of wrongs is not a feat of willpower. It is passing on what God has already done for us.
Keeping no record of wrongs does not mean pretending nothing happened, or that you must forget. It means that once a wrong is forgiven, it stays forgiven. It is not saved up for the next argument. It is never stacked into a case against someone, as in ‘this is the fourth time’.
How John Chrysostom read it
John Chrysostom’s Bible read “thinks no evil”, and he found in those words a deeper kind of forgiving than most of us attempt.
“And he said not, works no evil, but, not even thinks; i.e., so far from contriving any evil, she does not even suspect it of the beloved.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on First Corinthians
“But he who is resentful works the same iniquity every day, and never brings it to an end.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 20 on the Statues
Chrysostom noticed that Paul did not stop at doing no evil. Love does not even think it, and for him that meant love does not suspect it of the one it loves. So the ledger starts earlier than we think. It starts with a guess: the late reply read as a snub, the forgotten errand read as not caring. Love, he said, will not even “admit an evil surmise”, because that is where anger springs from. So keeping no account means keeping no account of wrongs that never happened, too.
Chrysostom also knew why grudges grow at night. Alone, going over it again and again, “the waves swell, and the storm becomes greater.” That is why, he said, Paul tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger.
What it looks like
- An old argument comes back while you’re doing the dishes, and you let it go instead of rehearsing what you should have said.
- Your brother is late again, and you greet him without mentioning the other times.
- In a disagreement you stick to what happened today, and leave last year out of it.
- Someone forgets the thing you asked them to do, and you take it as a busy day, not as proof they don’t care.
What missing it looks like
- “I’ve forgiven her. I just bring it up when it’s relevant.”
- “I’m not keeping score. I just remember everything.”
- “If I let it go, he’ll think he got away with it.”
- “I know exactly what she meant by that.”
Learn from Joseph
The brother who had every reason to keep score.
His brothers sold him into slavery. Years later, with Egypt in his hands, he “reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:21
Joseph had the power to settle every score, and chose to settle none.
Read about JosephOne step to try
When the old hurt comes back, pray for the one who caused it.
“If you hold a grudge against someone, pray for him. You will stop the grudge in its tracks, by separating the hurt from the memory of the wrong he did you.” Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love
Questions and answers
What does ‘love keeps no record of wrongs’ mean?
It means love does not keep a running tally of what others have done to it. Once a wrong is forgiven, it is not stored up to be brought out in the next argument. Proverbs says, “Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.” The Berean Standard Bible puts the line as “it keeps no account of wrongs”, and the King James as “thinketh no evil”.
Does keeping no record of wrongs mean I have to forget, or trust them again?
No. You can remember what happened and still refuse to hold it over someone. Forgiving cancels the debt. Trust is rebuilt over time, as someone proves safe. Love never asks anyone to stay where they are being harmed. Letting someone keep hurting you is not good for you, and it is not good for them either.
What does ‘thinketh no evil’ mean in the King James?
It is the King James wording of the same line: “thinketh no evil”. Newer Bibles read it as keeping no record of wrongs. John Chrysostom, preaching on this chapter, heard both senses in it. Love does not plot evil, and more than that, “she does not even suspect it of the beloved.” It gives the people it loves the benefit of the doubt.
