1 Corinthians 13:6 means that real love takes no pleasure in wrongdoing and finds its joy in what is true and right. Paul wrote this as part of his famous chapter on love, addressed to the believers in the church at Corinth, a congregation that was divided, proud, and often careless about how they treated one another.
Doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth…
1 Corinthians 13:6 (WEB)
What 1 Corinthians 13:6 Means
The verse makes two contrasts. The first is a negative one: love does not rejoice when people do wrong. The word translated “unrighteousness” points to injustice, a life that runs against God’s standards, whether in our own conduct or in someone else’s. Paul is saying that a loving heart does not feel satisfaction when others fall, get away with harm, or see their wrongdoing rewarded.
The second contrast is positive: love rejoices with the truth. Here the verb carries a sense of delight that sits alongside what is honest and good. When truth wins out, when a person chooses integrity, when a wrong is set right, a loving person is glad. The verse does not promise that love will always feel happy, and it does not ask us to pretend that evil is not evil. It describes where love’s gladness is placed.
It is worth noticing what the verse does not say. It does not tell us to be cold toward sinners or to celebrate every personal defeat of our opponents. It is a description of the character of love, which Paul has been unfolding in the verses before it, and not a checklist to be scored against others.
The Context of 1 Corinthians 13:6
First Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul, traditionally in the mid-50s AD, to a church in a busy Greek port city. The Corinthians were gifted, eager for spiritual experiences, and quick to compare their gifts and rank one another. They had turned spiritual gifts into a source of status, and Paul needed to redirect them.
Chapter 13 sits between his discussion of spiritual gifts in chapter 12 and his teaching on the resurrection in chapter 15. Just before verse 6, Paul lists what love is not willing to do: it does not envy, boast, or seek its own way. Verse 6 continues that list by naming a moral posture, the refusal to be glad about wrong. Reading the verse in that setting shows that Paul is describing love as a whole way of seeing other people, not a feeling reserved for certain moments.
Key Phrases in 1 Corinthians 13:6
Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
(WEB)
Paul writes that love must be sincere and that believers should hold fast to what is good. This connects directly with 1 Corinthians 13:6, since rejoicing with the truth is one way love stays genuine and clings to goodness rather than to what is merely pleasing.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
(WEB)
Here Paul lists the things that deserve our attention, including what is true, honorable, and right. Setting our minds on these things naturally shapes the heart to rejoice with the truth instead of taking pleasure in what is unrighteous.
A Short Prayer From 1 Corinthians 13:6
Lord, you are the God of truth, and you delight in what is right. Search my heart where I have found quiet satisfaction in another person’s failure or in wrong being exposed. Forgive me for those moments, and change the way I respond to what is unjust. Give me a love that is glad when truth prevails and grieved when people are hurt by lies. Help me to speak honestly and to pray for those who have done wrong. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
