Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth—1 Corinthians 13:6

Charity is the greatest of the spiritual perfections, greater than faith and hope, though they are always together. Those who do not know faith and hope are likewise ignorant of charity. They take the word love on their lips but know nothing of its power; faithless and hopeless are they.

Charity never fails. Those who teach that charity fails are liars. Charity does not fail because all true charity is of God, and God does not fail. All true charity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and he does not fail. All true charity is rooted in Christ, and he does not fail. So charity does not fail.

Charity rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth.

But who would rejoice in iniquity? Perhaps, you have not committed the iniquity yourself. If you do not condemn it; if you do not separate from it; if you make excuses for it, then the Holy Spirit accuses you of rejoicing in iniquity. To excuse it you must rejoice in your own iniquity, which you also will not condemn. Not condemning your own iniquity, you excuse that of others. Excusing, you show that you know it is wicked, but you have no love to condemn it as wicked or to separate from it as offensive to God.

The iniquity that is in view in 1 Corinthians 13 is the iniquity of false doctrine. False doctrine is a lie, idolatry, image worship, profanity, and treacherous adultery. Charity does not rejoice in false doctrine or in the iniquity that invariably accompanies it. When the preaching is befouled by false doctrine; when there is discipline of faithful officebearers; when the truth is slandered as evil; when the instruments of church discipline are used to murder the truth; when classes and synods bargain about the truth; when there is collusion among officebearers to condemn the righteous and to drive them out of their inheritance; when false and lying letters circulate; when there is gross wickedness in the church, and the powerful—protecting themselves and their own wickedness—labor to cover it up, then charity does not rejoice. Charity renounces the iniquity and separates from it.

So when lying men speak of charity and at the same time are not revolted by false doctrine and, indeed, peddle it; do not believe their lying words about charity. Such men have charity on their lips but iniquity in their hearts. And when their charity fails, it is revealed that they never had any charity at all because they never had the truth.

Charity rejoices together with the truth. They are constant companions. Where the truth is, there is charity; for the truth is Christ. Together they rejoice. The truth—only the truth and nothing but the truth—is the object of charity’s delight. They are companions together in happiness. Whatever the truth delights in, charity delights in. That is the reason charity—true charity and not the devil’s imitation of it—cannot abide the lie. Charity loves God with God’s own love of himself, and, loving God, charity hates the haters of the Lord.

That charity never fails. In love for the truth—and hatred of the lie—it opposes the lie, and it stands for the truth. It separates from the lie and condemns it. It hates iniquity, and it loves the truth and together with the truth rejoices. That charity cannot fail any more than God can fail.