NOTES for Co1 13:4-7
Even before Christ's coming, it was commonly held that love of God and neighbour contained the whole essence of ‘the Torah and the Prophets’, as Holy Scripture was then called. But in the context of Christian revelation, the concept of love acquired a different, new content. Of course, love—at least in the biblical sense—had already meant, above all, an attitude towards another person that wished them only good, and dealings with them that would be for their good. Biblical love has little to do with likes or dislikes, with how personally pleasant or unpleasant we find our neighbour, or even with how that neighbour behaves. Even if they prove to be an enemy, we must not hate them, take revenge on them or repay them with evil, although sometimes, of course, we must stop such a person from trying to harm someone, and stop them quite firmly. Yet even then, love of neighbour implies the possibility of giving them another chance to restore normal relationships with those whose enemy they were, if there are any grounds at all for hoping that such restoration is possible.
All this belonged to the understanding of righteousness and of the righteous person's attitude towards their neighbours that had developed before the Christian era. Paul insists that everything said above remains valid for Christians. But he also speaks of something more. Previously, righteousness was a possibility that might or might not be realized in a particular person's life. Such a person might fall short of the fullness of a righteous life, but everything they had done along the path of righteousness still had its meaning. Even if someone could not manifest the fullness of love, they could sometimes still say that they had moved in the right direction and achieved some success. Paul, however, says: all that is wonderful, but unless you go all the way and learn to build relationships of love with your neighbours, everything else is worth nothing.
For only relationships of love are possible in the Kingdom. If they are absent, if a person has not learned to build such relationships with their neighbours, they cannot enter the Kingdom. Not because someone wants to punish them or disregards their achievements, but because without that ability it is impossible to live the life of the Kingdom. That is why the apostle speaks of love as the one thing that gives meaning to every other achievement: without love, a person will still remain outside the Kingdom, with all their achievements.