4. Love is patient; love is kind. With this verse Paul begins the second section of his presentation (vv. 4–8a), in which he personifies love “as a thinking and choosing being which inspires the behavior of the faithful in many different fields” (Spicq, Agape, 150). He lists its sixteen characteristics by the use of the same number of verbs. The symmetry of his short sentences allows the character of love to emerge. Paul shows that love is not a mere feeling, but it evokes a mode of action. Patience
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