LOVE THINKS
NO EVIL
(We will dwell on the
meaning of the phrase for purposes of meditation.)
1) Definition:
a) Translations.
i) Contemporary English: It doesn’t keep a record of
wrongs that others do.
ii) KJV: thinketh no evil
iii) Living Bible: It does not hold grudges and will hardly
even notice when others do it wrong.
iv) New American: it does not brood over injury,
v) New Century: Love does not count up wrongs that have
been done.
vi) NKJV: thinks no evil.
vii)New Living:
and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
viii)
RSV: or
resentful.
b) Charles Hodge (p270)
i) This may mean,
(1) It does not plan or devise evil. But the expression is the evil, and not evil. Comp. Matt 9:4.
(2) It does not impute evil, i.e. attribute evil motives
to others, or is not suspicious. The
sense is good in itself, but not so suitable to the connection as,
(3) It does not lay the evil which it suffers to the
charge of the wrong-doer. Instead of
being resentful, it is forgiving.
c) Term: logizetai.
i) Strong
(1) logizomai {
log-id’-zom-ahee} middle voice; verb
(2) AV - think 9, impute 8, reckon 6, count 5, account 4,
suppose 2, reason 1, number 1, misc 5; 41
(a) to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over
(b) to reckon inward, count up or weigh the reasons, to
deliberate
(c) by reckoning up all the reasons, to gather or infer
(d) This word deals with reality. If I “logizomai” or
reckon that my bank book has $25 in it, it has $25 in it. Otherwise I am
deceiving myself. This word refers to facts not suppositions.
d)
Vine
i. 1 Cor. 13:5, kjv,
rv, “taketh (not) account of,”
i.e., love does not reckon up or calculatingly consider the evil done to it
(something more than refraining from imputing motives)
ii. logizomai primarily signifies “to reckon,” whether by
calculation or imputation. It is used of
love in 1 Cor. 13:5, as not taking “account” of evil, rv (kjv,
“thinketh”).
e) Summary:
either...
i) Love does not calculate wrongs, keep a record.
ii) Love does not impute wrongs, conclude there is wrong
when there is no need to do so.
f) Commentary:
a. Meaning #1: does
not think evil of someone.
i. Roy Laurin (Life Matures, p238f): It is crediting people with
the best possible motives. It is
exercising the grace of charity in extending to friends, associates and
fellow-believers an understanding attitude.
ii. Matthew
Henry: It does not suspect evil of
others, ou logizetai to kakon—it does not reason out evil, charge
guilt upon them by inference and innuendo,
when nothing of this sort appears open. True love is not apt to be jealous and
suspicious; it will hide faults that appear, and draw a veil over them, instead
of hunting and raking out those that lie covered and concealed: it will never
indulge suspicion without proofs, but will rather incline to darken and
disbelieve evidence against the person it affects. It will hardly give into an
ill opinion of another, and it will do it with regret and reluctance when the
evidence cannot be resisted; hence it will never be forward to suspect ill, and
reason itself into a bad opinion upon mere appearances, nor give way to
suspicion without any. It will not make the worst construction of things, but
put the best face that it can on circumstances that have no good appearance.
iii. Albert Barnes (P250): That is, puts the best possible construction
on the motives and the conduct of others.
This expression also is comparative. It means that love, or that a person under
the influence of love, is not malicious, censorious, disposed to find fault, or
to impute improper motives to others. It
is not only "not easily provoked," not soon excited, but it is not
disposed to think that there was any
evil intention even in cases which might tend to irritate or exasperate
us. It is not disposed to think that
there was any evil in the case; or that what was done was with any improper
intention or design; that is, it puts the best possible construction on the
conduct of others, and supposes, as far as can be done, that it was in
consistency with honesty, truth, friendship, and love. The Greek word (logizetai) is that which is
commonly rendered impute, and is
correctly rendered here thinketh. It means, does not reckon, charge, or impute
to a man any evil intention or design.
We desire to think well of the man whom we love; nor will we think ill
of his motives, opinions, or conduct until we are compelled to do so by the
most irrefragable evidence. True
religion, therefore, will prompt to charitable judging; nor is there a more
striking evidence of the destitution of true religion than a disposition to
impute the worst motives and opinions to a man.
b. Meaning #2: does
not keep a record of evils done.
i. Roy Laurin (Life Matures, p238f): The love that "thinketh no
evil" is the love that "has no memory for injuries." It does not keep an account book of evil
things. It does not wait a day of
reckoning so as to balance the budget of ill-will. It has a charitable
forgetfulness.
ii. Matthew
Henry: It cherishes no malice, nor
gives way to revenge: so some understand it. It is not soon, nor long, angry;
it is never mischievous, nor inclined to revenge.
iii. G. Campbell
Morgan (p165): Love does not keep a
ledger in which to enter up wrongs to be dealt with some day later on. That is what this means. Love does not enter them up, does not book
them, "taketh not account of evil."
iv. Alan Redpath (The Royal Route to Heaven, p165): Love will always
keep a record of the many kindnesses it receives, and be thankful for the, but
love will not keep a record of wrongs it has suffered with a view to getting
even. It does not cherish in its memory
a list of injustices; love has an amazing power to forget. The Lord Jesus Christ came to blot out our
transgressions and to remember them against us no more forever. For when the blood of Jesus Christ was shed
for the remission of my sins, and God sees the blood and my faith in my Lord's
atoning sacrifice, He not only forgives, but He forgets. Has that ability been imparted to your life? Or do you build up a list of wrongs done to
you and bide your time for retaliation?
It is said of Abraham Lincoln that he never forgot a kindness, but he
had no room in his mind for the memory of a wrong. How about you?
c. Commentary with both ideas:
i. Leon Morris (Tyndale NT Commentary, P184): Thinketh is logizetai (which
Paul uses frequently in the sense of the reckoning or imputing of righteousness
to the believer). It is connected with
the keeping of accounts, noting a thing down and reckoning it to someone. Love does not impute evil. Love takes no account of evil. Love does not harbour a sense of injury.
