And the most frequently quoted characteristics of love are contained in the following verses from the King James Version of the Bible (which is the version the A.A. pioneers used):

The New International Version, which is much in use today, renders 1 Cor. 13:4-6:

One of the most popular books in early A.A. was Professor Henry Drummond’s study of 1 Corinthians 13. The title of his book, The Greatest Thing in the World, was taken from the last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which reads:

Drummond’s book was part of Dr. Bob’s library, and a copy was still found in, and owned by, Dr. Bob’s family when the author interviewed Dr. Bob’s son and daughter several years ago. In much earlier years, A.A. Old-timer Bob E. had sent a memo to Bill Wilson’s wife, Lois, in which Bob E. listed The Greatest Thing in the World as one of three books Dr. Bob regularly provided to alcoholics with whom he worked. In fact, Dr. Bob’s enthusiasm for Drummond’s book is dramatized by the following remarks by a former wife of A.A. old-timer Clarence S. Clarence’s former wife, Dorothy S. M., said:

Henry Drummond himself had made a similar suggestion half a century earlier, at the close of the lecture in which he delivered his ‘greatest thing in the world’ address–the address which was later published in Drummond’s best-seller. Drummond said:

Love, then--the love of God--was a much cherished principle in early A.A. The AAs needed it, wanted it, studied it, and sought to know it. Despite "higher power" divergences in current A.A. writings and meeting talk, the love of God is still a vital component of A.A. thinking and speech. Even Bill Wilson inserted the phrase "a loving God" in A.A.’s Traditions. And I well remember my good friend Seymour W., a Jew, who tried each morning to comfort his many friends in the fellowship. The telephone on Seymour’s "God" line would ring for many about 6:00 A.M. The message to the bedraggled A.A. was "God loves you." And Seymour would hang up. It was a coveted privilege to be on Seymour’s "God-loves-you" list. What a way to start the day in early sobriety!

Further illustrating the great store placed on God’s love and on the Corinthians love principle by A.A. pioneers is their frequent rendition of Jesus Christ’s message in Mark 12:30-31. These Gospel verses deal with what Jesus called the two great commandments:

The foregoing verses, from the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament, were cited for the standard of "Absolute Love," as it was discussed in AA of Akron’s A Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous (one of the four pamphlets commissioned by Dr. Bob for use among early AAs). The Old Testament also contained the very same commandments to which Jesus referred, underlining the importance of love of God and of neighbor in all the commandments of the Bible:

A.A. literature contains no specifics on, or detailing of, the impact of, 1 Corinthians 13 on A.A. But this cherished "essential," as Dr. Bob put it, deserves to be revived, promulgated, and applied today. The particulars can be seen by reading 1 Corinthians 13 itself; by noting the frequent mention of "Love" in the Big Book; by studying the reading and remarks of Dr. Bob and Anne; by remembering Bill Wilson’s specific mention of Corinthians; and by the repeated mention of 1 Corinthians 13 in A.A.’s religious sources. The nine love "ingredients," as they were summarized by Henry Drummond, permeate A.A.’s basic text and can fairly be proclaimed to be among those "principles to be practiced" at the level of A.A.’s Twelfth Step. Regrettably, Wilson just plain ignored all the "principles" in his Twelfth Step chapter.

The fundamental principle is, of course, love. The component "ingredients" or "virtues" involved in such love are: patience; tolerance; kindness; humility; honesty; unselfishness; consideration for others; and the avoidance of anger, jealousy, envy, pride, and wrongdoing.

As previously covered, almost every one of these virtues can be found as well in Jesus’ sermon on the mount and in the Book of James. The principles are defined in the sermon on the mount in specific terms that elaborate upon what constitutes doing the will of God in the love category. And, in James, from the standpoint of action and service to God and service to others through reliance upon God.

These were also the very the principles of love and service of which Dr. Bob spoke in his farewell address and defined as the essence of A.A.’s spiritual program of recovery.

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