The sixteenth and final description of covenant love in I Corinthians 13 is that charity “never faileth.” This testimony of unfailing love is a fitting way for the great chapter on love to conclude. The Apostle Paul continued in the remainder of I Corinthians 13:8 to contrast love with several other things: “but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

When prophecies fail, love remains. When tongues cease, love remains. When knowledge fades, love remains. Paul was not speaking ill of any of these other things! But he elevated love—true Biblical love, covenant love—as higher and greater than all because it “never faileth.”

The Greek expression translated here as “never” is an emphatic form. The Greek word is οὐδέποτε (oudepote). It is a compound word that is composed of four smaller particles; literally, the word could be rendered by the emphatic phrase “not ever at any time.” 

True love will “not ever at any time” fail. The Greek word for “fail” is ἐκπίπτω (ekpipto), which literally means “to fall out.” As used throughout the New Testament, this word has several nuances that can be amplified here in these helpful ways. 

Covenant love will not diminish in time

Mere romantic feelings can fade over time. A boyfriend who “loves” a young lady may be emotionally caught up in a moment of interest. Even though he may profess repeatedly that his feelings and attractions for her are deep and strong, truthfully, those emotions may only be momentary. 

After a little time passes, the young man may forget about the young lady that he “loved”! In the excitement of a new connection or friendship, his professed “love” proves to be fickle. In contrast, covenant love does not dim with the passage of time. 

Covenant love will not fade over distance

According to Song of Solomon 8:7, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” No matter how far away one with true love for another may be called by duty or circumstance, his love will not fade or fail.

Truly, there is some truth in the old adage that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Some of the sweetest expressions of love found in the Song of Solomon come from the woman after she has said, “my beloved had withdrawn himself” (Song of Solomon 5:6). The Apostle Peter applied this truth to our love of our Savior: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8).

Covenant love will not ever be without effect

Another important application of unfailing love is to recognize that true love is never without effect. Effects may not be seen or known, but they are present nevertheless. Just as we love God because He first loved us, when we love our spouse and our children in a Christlike, sacrificial way, it is never vain or empty. 

In I John 3:18, John, sometimes called the apostle of love, wrote, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Love is manifested in actions and has measurable effects. John continued in his epistle, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (I John 4:9).