The Qualities of Love - Love Doesn't Act Unbecomingly or Seek Its Own

Paul continued his list of love's negative qualities with the fact that it doesn't act unbecomingly or seek its own. Certain English renderings and contemporary vernacular have tended to mute or even obscure Paul's meaning. But as with all of the qualities he cited, these must be interpreted in the light of love as bound up in God Himself rather than as merely human virtues. Understood in this way, these qualities, too, are seen to be purposeful: exercised with conscious intention and discipline in the service of love's cause, which is the fruitfulness of the kingdom of new creation proclaimed in the gospel.