The Christian spirituality of the love of God : Conceptual and experiential perspectives emanating from the Gospel of John

Neither the concept of love nor the term ‘love’ (ἀγάπη) is uniquely Christian. The love of God has already been proclaimed in the Old Testament. The Jewish tradition often highlights the abundant and special love of God towards the righteous or Israel. Biblical teachings about the covenant prompted this Jewish tradition (Dt 7:7, 13; 10:15; 23:5; 33:3; Is 63:9; Hs 11:1). Therefore, Isaiah could refer to the restoration of Israel after judgement because of God’s special love for Israel (Is 43:4; 63:9; Keener 2005 [2003]:568).


Introduction
Neither the concept of love nor the term 'love' (ἀγάπη) is uniquely Christian. The love of God has already been proclaimed in the Old Testament. The Jewish tradition often highlights the abundant and special love of God towards the righteous or Israel. Biblical teachings about the covenant prompted this Jewish tradition (Dt 7:7, 13; 10:15; 23:5; 33:3; Is 63:9; Hs 11:1). Therefore, Isaiah could refer to the restoration of Israel after judgement because of God's special love for Israel (Is 43:4;63:9;Keener 2005Keener [2003:568).
Probably, the clearest expression in the Bible of the loving character of God occurs in 1 John, which contains the statement that God is love (1 Jn 4:8,16). This focuses attention to the essential character of love in God to the extent that love can be regarded as a summary of how God approaches people. This love approach should be distinguished from human love. It is God who loves and who initiates love, not humans (1 Jn 4:10, 19). John is overwhelmed by the thought of God's love, which has enabled people to become children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, 1 Jn 3:1; also cf. Jn 1:12). Moreover, if people are to love one another, God's love must be the source (1 Jn 4:7). In fact, those who do not show love to those in need are closing their hearts to the abiding presence of God's love (1 Jn 3:17).
From the Gospel of John, it is definitely clear that the Evangelist, when referring to God's love, does not explain an ontological characteristic of God, a quality locked up in God self. Actually, it may be questioned whether such an abstract form of love is conceivable, as love must have an object. The fact that so much is made of the Father's love for the Son in John's gospel is a strong indication that already within the Godhead God's love has an object. Whilst the New Testament is mainly concerned with humans as the object of God's love, Guthrie (1981:105) pays special attention to the love relation between the Father and the Son in the Gospel of John. The love of the Father can only be understood and only make sense in the event of Jesus' incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.
The first reference and expression of God's love in the Gospel of John occur in John 3:16. God revealed his love by sending his one and only (μονογενής) Son into the world (Jn 3:16). From this text, we can firstly deduce that Jesus Christ is the full expression of God's love. Secondly, Christians will never be able to fully grasp the identity and character of God. The Bible, despite acknowledging its divine inspiration, cannot fully communicate and explain the attributes or qualities of a God nobody has ever seen (Jn 1:18; 1 Jn 4: 12, cf. 4:20). Christians do believe in the love, forgiveness and grace/mercy of God, but will never comprehend it completely; although, we still need to continuously investigate it. The objective of this study, from the perspective of the Gospel of John, was to investigate the concept of God's transcendent love and how God can immanently be experienced as a God of love. Firstly, the article constructs a Johannine picture (concept) of love between the Father and the Son. Secondly, it points out how the love of God is foundationally linked to and 'experienced' of the familia Dei.
God's love is a life-giving love. Before any person had become a Christian, he or she was dead in his or her sins, but through faith in Jesus as the Son of God, humans receive the authority to become the children of God (1:12). The objective of this study, from the perspective of the Gospel of John, investigates how God has revealed his love and how he can be experienced as a God of love. Firstly, the study constructs a Johannine picture (concept) of love between the Father and the Son. Secondly, it points out how the 'lived experience' of the love of God is foundationally linked to the familia Dei and to the mutual love between God, Jesus and Jesus' followers.

The love of God in John: A concept
This section firstly points out how the Evangelist reflects on the unity between the Father and the Son to contextualise the nature and existence of the love of God. This constitutes an example of what this love conceptually is and how this love of God can be experienced within the familia Dei to serve as a witness to the world. Secondly, this immanent love and unity between the Father and the Son will be examined. Throughout John, the following texts refer to the love of the Father for the Son (ἀγαπάω,3:35;10:17;15:9;17: 23,24,26;φιλέω,5:20) and the Son's love for the Father (ἀγαπάω, 14:31). 1

The mutuality of love and unity in the Gospel of John
This section primarily focusses on John 17:20-23 to reflect on the unity between the Father, Son and indirectly with a brief reference to the unity between the children of God with the Father and Son. It is axiomatic that love creates unity and that unity can induce love. Therefore, it can be deduced that love and unity are the two sides of a coin. They complement one another. In John 17:20-23, an extended parallelism that occurs in these verses verifies the above reasoning. This reasoning is further confirmed in John 17:24, 26 and 15:9-17 where Jesus refers to the same love that exists between the Father, himself, and his followers.
The following is an extended parallelism ( Figure 1) constructed from John 17:20-23 to indicate how important the Evangelist regards the concept of unity between the Father, Son and God's children for the comprehension of the love of God. This parallelism is founded on the 'grammatical structure, the theological content as well as the rhetorical argument' (Van Der Merwe 2017a:5). More parallels occur also in 'words, phrases and prepositional structures'. The repetition 2 in this parallel is used by the Evangelist for emphasis and to expound the unity theme, which constitutes the medium for love in the Gospel of John (cf. Van Der Merwe 2017a:5) which is evident from John 15:9-17.
2.Participation or engagement is often enhanced by repeating words, principles and concepts. The reader engages the created images and dialectic embedded in the rhetoric of the text. Yoder points out, from a didactic perspective, that the value of 'repetition has long been recognised as an effective means to clarify, emphasise and recapitulate; moreover, its connection with memory makes it of specific didactic value ' (2005:174). According to her, repetition 'principally serves as a means to "interpellate" readers; that is, to call on times again to take up a particular subject position' (2005:175).
The first cluster of verses (17:20-21) denotes the mutual immanence of the Father and Jesus (17:21) and consequently (ἵνα) also denotes the disciples to be 'in' Jesus and the Father (17:21). The second cluster 3 of verses (17:22-23) refers to the oneness between the Father and Jesus (ἡμεῖς ἕν, 17:22) and to the immanency of the Father in Jesus (καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοί, 17:23) and consequently (ἵνα) that the disciples may be completely one. The disciples are said to be in the Father and Jesus in verse 17:21 ('ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν'), and Jesus and the Father are in the disciples in verse 17:23 ('ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοί'; cf. Van Der Merwe 2017a:5). These formulae of immanence explain how the love in the Godhead and between Jesus and his disciples and mutual love amongst the disciples corporately is constituted and consequently evolved into the disciples' experience of divine love. 4 Beasley-Murray (1999:302) interprets this unity between Jesus' disciples as mutual participation in 'that unity within the Godhead'.
The three interactive levels as shown in Figure 2 of the relationship emanate from Figure 1. Figure 2 indicates that the unity and implied love 5 between Jesus and the Father create a paradigm (καθώς) of unity and love that should exist between Jesus and his disciples and amongst the disciples communally. The unity and love reality  between Jesus and his disciples should constitute 3.The variations in the second cluster of texts offer new perspectives. This is evident from the inclusion of new matters: δόξαν, τετελειωμένοι, ἠγάπησας (Van Der Merwe 2017a:5).

5.
Although there is no reference to love in these texts, love is implied as a result of the two references to love (17:24, 26) between the Father and the Son and John 15 where the immanence of love between the Father, Son and disciples is described. the basis (ἐν/ἓν) for the disciples' love and unity as the fundamental objectives (ἵνα) of love and unity in the Christian community. Jesus endeavours here to emphasise the existence of unity amongst his disciples. He parallelises their unity with the unity existing between the Father and himself. These disciples must also realise that their unity with Jesus 6 and amongst themselves can only be achieved through their love for one another. This is specifically evident from John 13-15. The disciples' unity is only complete (τετελειωμένοι) when they are united in God ('ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ὦσιν') through their love for one another. Then their unity reflects the love of God (15:9-10) and becomes the love of God experiential by both -those who receive love and those who show love. Ridderbos (1997) is convinced that the prescribed unity by the Evangelist is: [T]he great object that Jesus aimed at during his life on earth and now also desires from the Father for the future of the Christian communion: 'in order that they may be all in one 7 even as we are one '. (p. 559) All this constitutes the context for what follows now.

The love and unity between the Father and the Son
The noun 'Father' (πατήρ) appears to be the most familiar metaphoric depiction of God in the Gospel of John. It appears nearly 120 times in comparison to the 108 times of the appearance of 'God' (θεός ;Juel 1997:316;Reinhartz 1999:1, 6;Thompson 1999:24). All appearances are in the singular form. Davies (1992:120) identifies that the noun 'Father' expresses a relation. In the Gospel of John, it specifically refers to the relation between the Father and Jesus (and believers referred to as the children of God, 1:13). Consequently, such a relation makes God knowledgeable and explicitly experiential. 8 God is distinctively the Father of Jesus who is the Son. Almost all the assertions about God as Father incorporate the function and identity of the Son vice versa. Hence, assertions about the Father are assertions about the Son -to declare the Son involves declaring the Father (Thompson 2014:155). God is exclusively characterised in relationship to Jesus; he is then presented as Father and Jesus as Son (Juel 1997:317).
In the prologue (Jn 1:18), God is referred to as the Father of the μονογενής θεὸς (only God/Son), 9 which again is signified 6.The unity between Jesus (God) and his disciples is not 'ontological' but 'functional'. This unity is constituted by God's love and comprises obedience (say and do, will of God), glorification, 'abiding in' and laying down one's life for other and to die in oneself.
9.Robertson maintains that the way in which Jesus is 'Son' of God is different from the way in which we can become 'children of God' (Jn 1:12): Jesus' relationship with God 'stands apart' (Robertson 2011:325). The reference to Jesus as 'only Son' in the Gospel of John claims that Jesus has a unique intimacy and unity with God. Therefore, he could be 'speaking God's words...doing God's work...and sharing in God's glory' (Edwards 2003 The Father's love is not directed to the Father self, but always to other (cf. Shin 2019:146) and lies on two levels -love within the trinity and love towards God's creation in which humans are situated. The love of the Father is central in the Father's relation with the Son. This is evident from John 17:24, '[y]ou loved Me before the foundation of the world'. This love was at work before the incarnation. 10 It also fits the relationship of the risen and exalted Jesus to God, as the Gospel says that he is now 'in the bosom of the Father' (1:18). The image is like that of a banquet where people recline around a table. The one who receives special favour lies with his head on the chest of his father who is the host. The Gospel uses this familiar image to depict the Father's love for the Son in a manner and idiom that can be understood to some extent by human beings. At the same time, it emphasises the unique character of this relationship. The Father loves the Son in an idiosyncratic way and this has implications for understanding Jesus' mission and ministry (Keener 2005(Keener [2003:583).
The authority the Father gives to the Son also expresses his love; and the Son uses this authority to convey love. The Son experiences the love of the Father in the responsibilities the Father gave him as well as the power to execute them. 10:17). The Son is also willing to bring love into the world because he himself loves the Father (14:31; 15:9-10). Love is what the Father and Son share to constitute the unity between them and this love has been given to humans through the life and crucifixion of Jesus. The reason is that the 'love that comes from God makes it possible for people to relate to Father and Son and to become part of a community that is shaped by their love in 17:23-26' (Koester 2008:50).

The love of God in John:
A 'lived experience'

Spirituality and mindset: A 'lived experience' of God's love
The title of this article starts with the phrase 'The Christian spirituality of the love of God'. Owing to a plethora of definitions, it is necessary to define how the notion, 'Christian spirituality', is used in this article. The definitions of three influential scholars in Christian spirituality will be consulted to define a working definition for this study. In conclusion, distinguishing the love activities of God in this world should not be only a matter of observation or perception but also requires a discernment of eyes of faith (Brümmer 2011:156

Birth into the familia Dei
The only manner to gain access to the familia Dei is through a new birth being begotten by God (1:12; born of the Spirit, 3:3-8). Becoming children of God means sharing the same Father with Jesus (20:17) and experiencing the same divine love. Only the revealers from above could truly induct them into the heavenly realm (3:13-18). To become children of God entails the reception of the divine nature or character of which Jesus is the perfect image (Keener 2005(Keener [2003:403). When a person believes in Jesus (1:12), he or she has been born into the familia Dei by God (1:13). In 3:3-13, the Evangelist elaborates and explains this birth from God in more detail. This birth transforms people to become children of God. New birth is more than a metaphor of social conversion from one group to another; although it includes that it is, in fact, an image of absolute transformation (Keener 2005(Keener [2003:552), which enables the newborn to experience God's love, God's presence and God's involvement in everyday life.
The phrases given in Figure 3 have been used by the Evangelist to refer to this new birth into the familia Dei from different perspectives.
13.In fact, this is how God, I believe, has revealed Godself in antiquity to humans.
14.See Varghese (2009:30-32) for imagery on love in the Gospel of John. He deals with this under the imagery of 'bridegroom-bride', 'friendship' and 'covenant'.
The Gospel of John presents divine childhood always as a new birth 'of God', 'the Spirit' or 'from above' (cf. vs. 13; 3:3f.). This shows that it is not a natural quality that every human being has as a creature of God. It is the gift that is given, through love only to those who believe in the Word (Ridderbos 1997:46). This new birth into the familia Dei was made possible by means of God's love for the world (3:16) through the incarnation (1:14), crucifixion and resurrection (19 & 20) of Jesus, the Son of God and the purifying work of the Spirit (16:8). This 'birth from God' is essential for believers to become aware and experience God's love involvement in their every-day life. , Jesus speaks about himself in the first person. Also, the consistent repetition of the axiom, 'μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί', the recurrent use of the pronoun ἐμοί and other expressions emphasise the centrality of Jesus. Although all these components are connected to Jesus, are they also complementarily connected to one another? Their accomplishment within this family will lead to the glorification of God and the experience of joy amongst God's children. According to John 15:1-17, Figure 4 illustrates the experiential principal components of life in the familia Dei.

Life in the familia Dei
These components will now be discussed in their relationship to God's love.
15.The theme of bearing fruit saturates the whole pericope, giving it a pragmatic thrust (Varghese 2009:350  The appeal is this chiasm is to give depth to the admonishment: 'μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί'. The emphasis in this chiasm is obedience. Jesus emphasises his example of obedience to be an example (καθώς) to his disciples to be followed -to abide in him. The love relation between the Son and the Father is principally sustained by the unconditional obedience of the Son to the Father (Shin 2019:147).
Those who will abide in Jesus will be labelled as disciples of Jesus, as a designation of their new identity in Jesus. This reciprocal indwelling will cause an austere conversion. 'To abide' (μένω) will then become a fundamental activity for experiencing the love of God and for being obedient. 17 This will cause the followers of Jesus to mature over a length of time into a new community of love and friendship. In such an environment, 'to abide' is then to be openly interconnected to the conduct of obedience and the love of Jesus. disciples and Jesus. The mutual indwelling of the Father and Son is the source and standard of Christ's mutual indwelling in believers. John 15 applies the union to the obedience and love life of believers (Peterson 2013:24-25). 18 Obedience and the love commandment: Love and obedience characterise life in the familia Dei. A valuation of Jesus' love command (15:9-10) denotes that 'obedience evolves out of love and reciprocally love out of obedience' (cf. Barrett 1978:476). Jesus brought his disciples into the unity and love of the Father-Son relationship (Köstenberger 1998:189). He was endorsed and sent by the Father to accomplish this distinctive task on behalf of the Father; hence, 'the one who (Thompson 2014:158) obeys the Son is the one who works in full harmony with the Father ' (2014:159). 19 The implication is that the love, existent from the beginning (cf. Jn 1:1) 'between God and the Word, between the Father and the Son', emanated in the human sphere (Moloney 2013:37-70;cf. Keener 2005cf. Keener [2003:1064). Therefore, the words of Jesus 'that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them' (Jn 17:26).
In the literary context of the Son of Man (Jn 3:14) being 'lifted up' in crucifixion, the aorist ἔδωκεν in John 3:16 clearly refers to Jesus' death on the cross. 20 This passage defines the crucifixion as the ultimate expression of divine love for humanity (cf. Rom 5:5-8) 21 as well as the ultimate expression of Jesus' obedience to the Father. The reference in John 3:16 '[f]or God so loved the world' is a qualitative reference to God's love rather than quantitative expression. The adverb Οὕτως in John 3:16 means, '[t]his is how God loves the world'. This God's love is sensible from the incarnation (ἔδωκεν) as well as the crucifixion (ἔδωκεν). Both the incarnation and cross are the ultimate expression of God's love. Nowhere in this Gospel does God say, 'I love you;' rather, he demonstrates his (Keener 2005(Keener [2003:566) love for humanity by selfsacrifice (13:34; 14:31); the culmination of his obedience to the Father. Here, God gives the gift of his Son (τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ) to the world. This love is of the same sort as the Father's (Keener 2005(Keener [2003:567) love for the Son (3:35; 15:9; 17:23). This act of love is exemplified on a narrative level in Jesus' love for his friends. 22 He entered the realm of hostility to bring them life (11:5, 7-8) by means of the cross (13:34). It 19.Jesus refers to this mutual love between the disciples in chapters 13 and 14.
20.The Evangelist stresses the significance of Jesus's incarnation for union with him. John 6 refers on six occasions to Jesus, the bread of life, who came 'from heaven ' (6:32, 33, 38, 50, 51, 58) and four occasions to the Father who 'sent' him (6:38, 39, 44, 57). The incarnation is indispensable for the atonement and resurrection of the Son of God and for sinners to be united with him. It was imperative for Jesus to become one of us that we could be united with him. For Jesus's words: '[w]hoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him' (v. 56), for this feeding and drinking to occur, God had to become a man. It is axiomatic: no incarnation and no union with Christ (Peterson 2015:15).
The two expressions given in Figure 6 construct a parallelism, which expresses the intimate relationship between the Father, Jesus and the disciples.
According to this analysis, the nature of love is at the beginning parallel or equivalent to the love at the end. This designates the representative flow of this love. This implies that the Son allocates the love that emanates from the Father to the Son to the disciples; and it is expected of each disciple to express this love mutually. The love of the Father for Jesus constitutes the example (καθώς, 15:9; also cf. Figure 2) of Jesus' love for his disciples. The Son, therefore, loves his disciples with the same divine love as the Father loves him (Brown 1972:663). The mutual love between Jesus and his disciples constitutes the basis of the disciples' mutual love for one another. In the same sense, the disciples must love one another. The tendency here is that love is transferred beyond borders. Within the community of the disciples, their mutual love is a group countenance -the identity of disciples is determined by and becomes evident from their mutual love relationship (cf. Van Der Merwe 1996:446).
Similarly, the obedient love relations of the disciples should expose their love for their master (and the Father unity with God. The phrase, 'τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε' ('you will keep my commandments', Jn 14:15), is a designation of their unity and attachment with Jesus.
(2) All this denotes that the love of Jesus and his disciples will be equal to the love of the Father. This infers an obedience from the disciples to be equivalent to the obedience of Jesus to the commandments of the Father. The love of the disciples has to reverberate Jesus' love because the love of God defines the quality of this love. This implies that the love of Jesus' behaviour (Van Der Merwe 1996:448;Van Der Watt 1992:83) will epitomise their unity. According to Van Der Watt (1992:86), the obedience of Jesus to the will of the Father (4:34; 5:30; 8:38; 8:29) has then become his will. Consequently, his will has become similar to the Father's will. If this reasoning is true, then it denotes that Jesus' commandments to his disciples relate to the Father's will for Jesus. Then, the Father's will for Jesus parallels the Father's will for them.
Any clarification of the presence of love in a person must refer to God as the origin of love (cf Furnish 1972:133). This love of God then is concretely revealed in Jesus. When a person accepts Jesus and his revelation of God faithfully (1:12), the love of God will certainly manifest in him (see 17:23-26;cf. Koester 2008:50). This then implies that the love of the Father and the Son is equivalent to that experienced by the disciples. This love does not refer to love as a personal affection, rather to the existential being of a disciple of Jesus for fellow disciples. It determines the person's entire existence. To abide in love, as demanded by Jesus, means to continue in the love they have received from Jesus, which he again experienced from the Father (cf. Bultmann 1941:416). The disciples of Jesus will experience God and God's love through mutual love for one another. God works through people with people. When a person lives in a close relationship with God, God becomes a bigger reality and is experienced by those who make contact with these people -Jesus and later his disciples.
In conclusion, the Father sets an example of how love should be performed. Analogously, the Son and the disciples have to love. Therefore, the love of Jesus' disciples should not differ from Jesus' love, because the quality of Jesus' love is defined by God's love. This consequently implies that the disciples' love is purely an expression and a manifestation of God's love. Their conduct must equate to the conduct of Jesus in particular situations (Van Der Watt 1992:83) in order to bear much fruit.
http://www.ve.org.za Open Access fruit lies on two levels 24 : (1) in the disciples' obedience to love which would foster unity with Jesus and unity amongst themselves 25 and (2) when their love and unity will influence 'the world to believe (πιστεύῃ, 17:21)/to know (γινώσκῃ, 17:23) that God has sent his Son into the world'. 26 The disciples will bear much fruit when they know Jesus intimately (abide, Jn 15), and when they obey Jesus' commands and follow his example (Jn 13). Their relationship with Jesus is to reveal Jesus' relationship with the Father (cf. Köstenberger 1998:191f). The readers of the Gospel of John must realise that any failure to honour the Son implies failure to honour God (5:23;Carson 1991:518). From the reasoning so far, it is evident that the 'intimate union' Jesus promises to the disciples is not a mystical experience. It comprises a relational encounter because of its labelling with the term 'love' (15:9-10; cf. Dodd (1998Dodd ( [1953 In the Gospel of John, joy seems to be a fundamental motif (especially in 15:11; 17:13). Joy is presented or understood as a result of love. It points out those believers who are 24.Scholars differ in their understanding and interpretation of 'fruit bearing'. See Bolt (1992:13-14) for a brief discussion on this.
25.This statement can be verified from the high occurrence of love terminology in the pericope (15:1-17).
Glorifying the Father: John 17:1-5 is the culmination of the glorification theme and reasoning in the Gospel of John. The verb, δοξάζω, occurs four times (all in the aorist) and the noun, δόξα, once. The four verbs form a chiastic pattern with 'eternal life' as the centre. This means that the glorification of both the Son and the Father relates with the accomplishment of salvation, which includes the revelation of both Father and Son (1:18). This chiasm emphasises that the essence of salvation is the love of God for the world and is manifested in the crucifixion (and resurrection) of Jesus, the Christ (Figure 7).  FIGURE 7: Chiasm of the glory-motif.
A δόξασόν σου τὸν υἱόν (1:1) B ἵνα ὁ υἱὸς δοξάσῃ σέ (1:1) C ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ 28 (1:3) B 1 ἐγώ σε .. ἐδόξασα (1:4) A 1 δόξασόν με σύ (1:5) the cross 29 ('Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You ' , John 17:1, and 'I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do', 17:4). In the same event, the Father is glorified when His love becomes evident in the glorification of the Son. The Father will be further glorified 30 when his children love one another and are obedient to Jesus' commands.

Conclusion
The Gospel of John is probably the book in the New Testament that gives us the best explanation of the love quality of God. Chapters 15 and 17 complement one another with regard to what God's love comprises. The Evangelist succeeds in the presentation of Jesus as not only the personalisation and objectification of God's love but also the content around which the love of God revolves and emanates, for the Son is part of the divine.
The Gospel of John clearly communicates that the familia Dei is the environment in which the children of God should experience this love every day. Experiencing this love of God lies in the 'mutual abiding of Jesus/disciple; the mutual loving of God/Son/other; obedience and the bearing of fruit in abundance'. The unity generated through this love should contribute to be a powerful witness to the world to come to faith in Jesus and to know and to experience that Jesus has been sent by the Father (God) into this world.
In the familia Dei, the love of God is seen and experienced every day when Paul says: [L]ove suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.