The Meaning of 1 Corinthians 13:2 Explained

1 Corinthians 13:2

KJV: And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

YLT: and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

Darby: And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

ASV: And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  though  I have  [the gift of] prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge;  and  though  I have  all  faith,  so  that I could remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I am  nothing. 

What does 1 Corinthians 13:2 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Prophecy was a higher gift than glossolalia (speaking in tongues) but was still inferior to love (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5). Earlier Paul wrote of the importance of understanding life from God"s perspective and grasping the truths previously not revealed but now made known by His apostles ( 1 Corinthians 2:6-13). Nevertheless the truth without love is like food without drink. Possession of spiritual gifts is not the sign of the Spirit, but loving behavior is.
Even faith great enough to move mountains is not as important as love ( 1 Corinthians 12:9; cf. Matthew 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6). A mountain is a universal symbol of something immovable. This is hyperbole.

Context Summary

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - The One Essential For All
With what wonder his amanuensis must have looked up, as the Apostle broke into this exquisite sonnet on love! His radiant spirit had caught a glimpse of the living Savior. Jesus sits for His portrait in these glowing sentences, and of Him every clause is true. Substitute His name for love throughout the chapter, and say whether it is not an exact likeness. With Paul love stands for that strong, sustained, and holy subordination of self for others, which begins in will and act and is afterward suffused by emotion, as a cloud lying in the pathway of the rising sun. But if you want the divine love, you must get it after the manner of the bay which opens its bosom to the incoming tide. God is love, and if you would love, you must abide in Him and He in you. Love is better than miracles, gifts, or philanthropy, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. Love is the parent of all that is most delightful in the moral sphere, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Love is the best of all, because it is eternal. All else will perish. Our highest attainments will be as the babblings and playthings of childhood. But when we are in touch with the reality of things, love will be all in all. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Corinthians 13

1  All gifts,
3  however excellent, are of no worth without love
4  The praises thereof,
13  as love is greatest before hope and faith

Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 13:2

I am nothing [ουτεν ειμι]
Not ουτεις — outheis nobody, but an absolute zero. This form in τ — th rather than δ — d (ουδεν — ouden) had a vogue for a while (Robertson, Grammar, p. 219). [source]
All mysteries [τὰ μυστήρια πάντα]
The mysteries, all of them. See on Romans 11:25. The article indicates the well-known spiritual problems which exercise men's minds. [source]
All faith [πᾶσαν τὴν πίστιν]
All the special faith which works miracles. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 13:2

1 Corinthians 1:5 Ye were enriched in him [επλουτιστητε εν αυτωι]
First aorist passive indicative of πλουτιζω — ploutizō old causative verb from πλουτος — ploutos wealth, common in Attic writers, dropped out for centuries, reappeared in lxx. In N.T. only three times and alone in Paul (1 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 6:10, 2 Corinthians 6:11). The Christian finds his real riches in Christ, one of Paul‘s pregnant phrases full of the truest mysticism. In all utterance and all knowledge (εν παντι λογωι και πασηι γνωσει — en panti logōi kai pasēi gnōsei). One detail in explanation of the riches in Christ. The outward expression (λογωι — logōi) here is put before the inward knowledge (γνωσει — gnōsei) which should precede all speech. But we get at one‘s knowledge by means of his speech. Chapters 1 Corinthians 12-14 throw much light on this element in the spiritual gifts of the Corinthians (the gift of tongues, interpreting tongues, discernment) as summed up in 1 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, the greater gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:31. It was a marvellously endowed church in spite of their perversions. [source]
1 Corinthians 1:5 In all utterance and all knowledge [εν παντι λογωι και πασηι γνωσει]
One detail in explanation of the riches in Christ. The outward expression (λογωι — logōi) here is put before the inward knowledge (γνωσει — gnōsei) which should precede all speech. But we get at one‘s knowledge by means of his speech. Chapters 1 Corinthians 12-14 throw much light on this element in the spiritual gifts of the Corinthians (the gift of tongues, interpreting tongues, discernment) as summed up in 1 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, the greater gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:31. It was a marvellously endowed church in spite of their perversions. [source]
1 Corinthians 12:9 Faith [πιστις]
Not faith of surrender, saving faith, but wonder-working faith like that in 1 Corinthians 13:2 (Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21). Note here εν τωι αυτωι πνευματι — en tōi autōi pneumati (in the same Spirit) in contrast with δια — dia and κατα — kata in 1 Corinthians 12:8. [source]
Galatians 4:14 Ye despised not nor rejected [οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε]
Commonly explained by making both verbs govern your temptation. Thus the meaning would be: “You were tempted to treat my preaching contemptuously because of my bodily infirmity; but you did not despise nor reject that which was a temptation to you.” This is extremely far fetched, awkward, and quite without parallel in Paul's writings or elsewhere. It does not suit the following but received me, etc. It lays the stress on the Galatians' resistance of a temptation to despise Paul; whereas the idea of a temptation is incidental. On this construction we should rather expect Paul to say: “Ye did despise and repudiate this temptation.” Better, make your temptation, etc., dependent on ye know (Galatians 4:13); place a colon after flesh, and make both verbs govern me in the following clause. Rend. “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel to you the first time, and (ye know) your temptation which was in my flesh: ye did not despise nor reject me, but received me.” The last clause thus forms one of a series of short and detached clauses beginning with Galatians 4:10. Ὁυκ ἐξουθενήσατε yedid not set at nought, from οὐδέν nothingThe form οὐθέν occurs Luke 22:35; Luke 23:14; Acts 19:27; Acts 26:26; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 2 Corinthians 11:8. For the compound here, comp. Luke 18:9; Luke 23:11; Acts 4:11; 2 Corinthians 10:10. oClass. Ἑξεπτύσατε spurnedN.T.oLit. spat out. A strong metaphor, adding the idea of contempt to that of setting at nought. Comp. Hom. Od. v. 322; Aristoph. Wasps, 792. The two verbs express contemptuous indifference. Ἑμέσαι tovomit, as a figure of contemptuous rejection, is found in Revelation 3:16. The simple πτύειν tospit only in the literal sense in N.T. Mark 7:33; Mark 8:23; John 9:6, and no other compound occurs. [source]
Colossians 1:13 Translated [μετέστησεν]
The word occurs five times in the New Testament: of putting out of the stewardship, Luke 16:4; of the removal of Saul from the kingdom, Acts 13:22; of Paul turning away much people, Acts 19:26; and of removing mountains, 1 Corinthians 13:2. A change of kingdoms is indicated. [source]
Colossians 1:13 Translated [μετεστησεν]
First aorist active indicative of μετιστημι — methistēmi and transitive (not intransitive like second aorist μετεστη — metestē). Old word. See note on 1 Corinthians 13:2. Changed us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Of the Son of his love (του υιου της αγαπης αυτου — tou huiou tēs agapēs autou). Probably objective genitive (αγαπης — agapēs), the Son who is the object of the Father‘s love like αγαπητος — agapētos (beloved) in Matthew 3:17. Others would take it as describing love as the origin of the Son which is true, but hardly pertinent here. But Paul here rules out the whole system of aeons and angels that the Gnostics placed above Christ. It is Christ‘s Kingdom in which he is King. He has moral and spiritual sovereignty. [source]
1 Timothy 1:18 According to the prophecies which went before on thee [κατὰ τὰς προαγούσας ἐπὶ σὲ προφητείας]
Const, according to with I commit: which went before is to be taken absolutely, and not with on thee: const. prophecies with on these. On thee means concerning thee. The sense of the whole passage is: “I commit this charge unto thee in accordance with prophetic intimations which I formerly received concerning thee.” Prophecy is ranked among the foremost of the special spiritual endowments enumerated by Paul. See Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Corinthians 13:2, 1 Corinthians 13:8; 1 Corinthians 14:6, 1 Corinthians 14:22. In 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11, prophets come next after apostles in the list of those whom God has appointed in the church. In Ephesians 2:20, believers, Jew and Gentile, are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. According to 1 Timothy 4:14, prophecy has previously designated Timothy as the recipient of a special spiritual gift; and the prophecies in our passage are the single expressions or detailed contents of the prophecy mentioned there. Προαγεῖν togo before is not used by Paul. In the Pastorals and Hebrews it appears only as an intransitive verb, and so in the only instance in Luke, Luke 18:39. In Acts always transitive, to bring forth. See Acts 12:6; Acts 16:30; Acts 17:5; Acts 25:26. [source]
Revelation 6:14 As a scroll when it is rolled up [ως βιβλιον ελισσομενον]
Present passive participle of ελισσω — helissō old verb, to roll up, in N.T. only here (from Isaiah 34:4) and Hebrews 1:12 (from Psalm 102:27). Vivid picture of the expanse of the sky rolled up and away as a papyrus roll (Luke 4:17).Were moved (εκινητησαν — ekinēthēsan). First aorist passive indicative of κινεω — kineō to move.Out of their places See also Revelation 16:20 for these violent displacements in the earth‘s crust. Cf. Nahum 1:5; Jeremiah 4:24. Jesus spoke of faith removing mountains (of difficulty) as in Mark 11:23 (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:2). [source]
Revelation 6:14 Out of their places [εκ των τοπων αυτων]
See also Revelation 16:20 for these violent displacements in the earth‘s crust. Cf. Nahum 1:5; Jeremiah 4:24. Jesus spoke of faith removing mountains (of difficulty) as in Mark 11:23 (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:2). [source]

What do the individual words in 1 Corinthians 13:2 mean?

And if I should have prophecy understand the mysteries all all the knowledge faith so as mountains to remove love however not have nothing I am
καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω προφητείαν εἰδῶ τὰ μυστήρια πάντα πᾶσαν τὴν γνῶσιν πίστιν ὥστε ὄρη μεθιστάναι ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω οὐθέν εἰμι

ἔχω  I  should  have 
Parse: Verb, Present Subjunctive Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ἔχω  
Sense: to have, i.e. to hold.
προφητείαν  prophecy 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: προφητεία  
Sense: prophecy.
εἰδῶ  understand 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Subjunctive Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: οἶδα  
Sense: to see.
μυστήρια  mysteries 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: μυστήριον  
Sense: hidden thing, secret, mystery.
γνῶσιν  knowledge 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: γνῶσις  
Sense: knowledge signifies in general intelligence, understanding.
πίστιν  faith 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: πίστις  
Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
ὥστε  so  as 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὥστε  
Sense: so that, insomuch that.
ὄρη  mountains 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ὄρος  
Sense: a mountain.
μεθιστάναι  to  remove 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: μεθιστάνω 
Sense: to transpose, transfer, remove from one place to another.
ἀγάπην  love 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀγάπη  
Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence.
δὲ  however 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
οὐθέν  nothing 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: οὐδείς 
Sense: no one, nothing.
εἰμι  I  am 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.