Buried within chapters about the Holy Spirit and church unity is the "love" chapter. This is probably the most famous portion of 1st Corinthians and perhaps even all of Paul's epistles as verses 4-8 are frequently read at weddings today.
Throughout the chapter, Paul emphasizes that the greatest gift and treasure is in fact love. One can serve each other to great extremes, but if the heart is devoid of love, it is a meaningless sacrifice.
Just as we read this chapter aloud at weddings today, I imagine this chapter would have had the same impact to the originally intended audience. When this letter was read aloud to the church of Corinth, the power of the language would have given the letter and all its substance an authenticity and authority that the divided church needed.
For us, it is a reminder that we might feel superior to others (from the food we eat, the sacrifices we make, or even our own holiness and purity), but it is love that outweighs all.
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