1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
There are three major kinds of love identified by three Greek words; eros, phileo, and agape.
We are most familiar with eros love, or romantic love.
As its name indicates, eros is passionate or sexual love (eros is the source of the English word erotic). The second major kind of love is phileo the Greek word for friendship love.
Phileo refers to brotherly love and is most often exhibited in a close friendship. Best friends will display this generous and affectionate love for each other as each seeks to make the other happy.
Agape is the most powerful, noblest type of love. Agape is sacrificial love. Agape love is more than a feeling—it is an act of the will. This is the kind of love that can be commanded and controlled or directed by the mind and will of the person who chooses to love.
This is the love that God has for His people and that prompted the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, for our sins.
Love does not dishonor others, or as is rendered in the New Living Translation (NLT), Love is not rude.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NLT Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. (emphasis mine)
The Greek phrase for “love is not rude” could literally be translated “does not act unbecomingly” or “does not act inappropriately.” Agape doesn’t seek to cause problems, and it doesn’t belittle others. Agape chooses appropriate actions and responses that help other people.
To be rude is to be offensively impolite or ill-mannered, insensitive, impolite, disrespectful and inconsiderate of other people’s feelings and needs. The opposite of this is to be polite, respectful and considerate of other people’s feelings and needs. Agape is not rude. Rudeness is rooted in selfishness. The rude person is communicating that “it’s all about me.” Agape, by contrast, cannot be selfish,because it is concerned for the other person’s well-being.
God expects us not to be rude in word or in conduct. This doesn’t mean that we never stand for what is right or that we allow bad behavior to persist. It just means that in our approach to resolving such matters, we still put forth the effort to “speak the truth in love”
Ephesians 4:14-16 NIV Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (emphasis mine)