Fathers

1 Corinthians 13

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Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 13:3

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Wonderful amplification! For even these things too he states with another addition: in that he said not, "if I give to the poor the half of my goods," or "two or three parts," but, "though I give all my goods." And he said not, "give," but, "distribute in morsels," so that to the expense may be added the administering also with all care. …

Homily on 1 Corinthians 32 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He did not say: if I give away part of my possessions, but: "all," and he did not say: if I give (δω), but: "distribute" (ψωμίσω), so that to the loss is added also obligingness, and moreover the most attentive kind. He did not say: if I die, but presents the most severe thing of all, that is, to be burned alive, and says that even this without love is useless. Someone may ask: how is it possible to give away one's possessions without love? To such a person one can answer in two ways. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Cyprian

Can the power of baptism be greater or of more avail than confession, than suffering, when one confesses Christ before men and is baptized in his own blood? And yet even this baptism does not benefit a heretic, although he has confessed Christ, and been put to death outside the Church, unless the patrons and advocates of heretics declare that the heretics who are slain in a false confession of Christ are martyrs, and assign to them the glory and the crown of martyrdom contrary to the testimony of the apostle, who says that it will …

Epistle LXXII ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

I have heard that you say that the Apostle Paul intimated the lawfulness of suicide, when he said, "Though I give my body to be burned," supposing that because he was there enumerating all the good things which are of no avail without charity, such as the tongues of men and of angels, and all mysteries, and all knowledge, and all prophecy, and the distribution of one's goods to the poor, he intended to include among these good things the act of bringing death upon oneself. …

Letter 173, To Donatus ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says: And if I give away, he shows the same in matters pertaining to works which consists in man's doing good works, as it says in Gal (6:9): "Let us not grow weary in well-doing," and in his enduring evils patiently: "For justice will return to the righteous and all the upright in heart will follow it" (Ps 94:15). …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗