These verses are often referred to as an excursus on love, and there are good reasons for this description. Remarkably, in this extended meditation on love Paul does not write about loving: there is no statement here that X loves Y. Love itself is the actor or the object of reflection. This beautiful passage never attempts to offer an abstract definition of love; rather, Paul rehearses critical characteristics of love and states in practical terms what love is and isn’t or does and doesn’t do. The verses of this deliberation describe rather than define, for love is cast as a capacity rather than a commodity. From Paul’s admonition to aspire for the greater gifts—literally, he says, “Earnestly seek the higher gifts of grace” (12:31a)—the reader finds him promising to show the Corinthians “a…