“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;”
is not puffed up;
The Corinthians were proud (3:18; 4:6, 18-19; 5:2; 8:1-2; 14:37). This word is akin to the word “parade” in the previous phrase. “Puffed up” carries the idea of to blow, to inflate. The English idioms are “fatheaded” or “putting on airs.” This person is a windbag, inflated with pride. The idea is to be haughty or sarcastic.
PRINCIPLE:
Love does not try to gain ascendancy at someone else’s expense.
APPLICATION:
As a child, did you play the game “King of the Mountain,” where the goal is to pull everyone down so that you can reach the top? There are Christians who try to gain ascendancy among fellow Christians. They are out to impress. They exploit the weakness in others to show themselves strong. People who puff themselves up to claim more for themselves than their due. They are so taken with their own importance that they lie to themselves about what they truly are. It is a miserable party where everyone is trying to gain attention.
1 Co 4:6-7, 6Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. 7For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
