1 Corinthians 13

13:1-7

Vocabulary

• χαλκός, ὁ – copper, brass (gong)
• ἠχέω – I sound, ring out
• κύμβαλον, τό – cymbal
• ἀλαλαζω- I clash; cry out loudly
• κἄν – and if, even if
• μεθίστημι – remove
• ψωμίζω – I feed, divide in small pieces, fritter
• τὰ ὑπάρχοντα – one’s belongings
• καίω – burn
• ὠφελέω – help, benefit, profit
• μακροθυμέω – I have patience
• χρηστεύομαι – I am kind
• ζηλόω – I am jealous; I strive
• περπερεύομαι – I boast, brag
• ἀσχημονέω – I behave disgracefully, dishonourably
• παροξύνω – provoke to wrath, irritate
• συγκαίρω – I rejoice together with
• στέγω- I bear, endure
• ὑπομένω – I bear, am steadfast, patient

Translation

1. Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον.	If I speak with the tongues of men [and women] and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω προφητείαν καὶ εἰδῶ τὰ μυστήρια πάντα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω πᾶσαν τὴν πίστιν ὥστε ὄρη μεθιστάναι, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐθέν εἰμι.	And if I have [the gift of] prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move a mountain, but I do not have love, I am nobody.
3. κἂν ψωμίσω πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου καὶ ἐὰν παραδῶ τὸ σῶμά μου ἵνα καυχήσωμαι, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦμαι.	And if I gave away all my possessions, and if I delivered my body in order that I might boast, but I do not have love, I gain nothing.
4. Ἡ ἀγάπη μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐ ζηλοῖ, [ἡ ἀγάπη] οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐ φυσιοῦται,	Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous, [love] does not brag, it does not cause conceit,
5. οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς, οὐ παροξύνεται, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν,	It is not rude, it does not seek [the good] of itself, it does not suffer provocation, it does not consider [or keep a record of] evil,
6. οὐ χαίρει ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, συγχαίρει δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ·	It does not rejoice concerning unrighteousness, but rejoices together with the truth.
7. πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ἐλπίζει, πάντα ὑπομένει.	It bears all things, believes (trusts?) all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [Alternately, πάντα may be adverbial, i.e. ‘always bearing…’]

Notes

1-3 – ‘The Necessity of Love’

• Applicable both at a personal and community level

1

• Distinction between human & angelic tongues (angelic in emphatic position at the end)
  • Human eloquence vs. glossolalia
  • Difference of opinion amongst Corinthians re glossolalia – human or angelic? cf. Testament of Job 48-50, were a daughter of Job is said to speak ‘ecstatically in the angelic dialect’.
  • Reference to glossolalia + hyperbolic ‘even if they were the tongues of angels’. Paul uses angels as form of heightening elsewhere (1 Cor 4:9, 6:3; Gal 1:8)
• ἀγάπη is not a precise term, but rather a colourless one taken up in LXX and NT.
• χαλκὸς (brass gong) and κύμβαλον (cymbal) are both monotonic instruments. cf. flute & harp of 14:7-9. Used in mystery religions either to invoke a god or, drive away demons or rouse worshippers (Prior, 227-8).

2

• Broadens his reference beyond tongues to other types of giftedness. Intensifies it to hypothetically extreme degree.
• Echo language of Jesus in Mk 11:23

3

• Further broadening to encompass laudable and self-sacrificing action:
  • Charitable giving
  • ??
• t.v. καυχήσωμαι (‘boast’ or ‘glory’) vs. καυθήσομαι (‘be burnt’)
  • Selling oneself into slavery (literal or metaphorical??), an intensification of previous giving. But for one’s own glory rather than love for others.
    • PRO: Early and reliable early evidence
    • PRO: Harder reading
    • PRO: Transcriptional evidence – scribes more likely to try and improve the sense by substituting similar sounding word
    • PRO: 35 other uses in Pauline corpus
    • CON: PRO: Internal evidence, for no need to declare boasting or glorying worthless – ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω becomes superfluous. Although, Paul doesn’t necessarily consider ‘glorying’ to be bad cf. 15:31.
  • Martyrdom by fire
    • PRO: Impressive number of witnesses
    • CON: Martyrdom more likely to have crept in in later era, when death by fire was more common.
    • CON: would expect, as more natural expression, ἵνα καυθῇ (‘that it may be burnt’) or ἱνα + subjunctive.
• ‘Gain nothing’ instead of ‘am nothing’ – shift may not be significant, but if it is, it could be addressing Jewish ideas of gaining credit with God by unusually good acts.

4-7 – ‘The Character of Love’

• Definition of ἀγάπη.
• Unbroken series of verbs – love is known by how it acts
  • All present continuous, denoting habitual action (Prior, 229-30).

4

• Both passive (μακρθυμεῖ) and active (χρηστεύεται).
• Series of 7 negatives
• περπερεύεται – a fairly gross boasting (rare)
• φυσιοῦται – being puffed up, which Paul has already condemned numerous times in this letter.

5

• οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἐαυτῆς – ‘it does not seek the things of itself’ – cf. 10:24, 33
• οὐ παροξύνεται – verb to be angered -> ‘not easily angered’

6

• οὐ χαίρει ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ
  • Seeing others in the wrong
  • Taking pleasure in gaining advantage over others through wrong-doing.
  • Sympathy with wrong-doing.
  • Whichever, it is lack of love that is important, so probably one of first two.

7

• Climax
• Rapid fire πάντα repeated. Adverbial function? This makes best sense of middle two clauses at least.
• στέγει – bears, endures, protects, covers, sustains
  • cf. 9:12b, hence synonymous with ὑπομένει (‘endures’).
  • Chiasm, with faith & hope also closely related.
• How do these things relate to love? Live life of Christian faith and hope in all circumstances, and this will govern how you relate to God and to others.

13:8-13

Vocabulary

• οὐδεποτε – never
• παύω – cause to stop; mid. cease
• φρονέω – I think
• ἔσοπτρον, τό – mirror
• αἴνιγμα, τό – riddle, indistinct image
  • ἐν αἰνίγματι – dimly
• μείζων – greater, better

Translation

8. Ἡ ἀγάπη οὐδέποτε πίπτει· εἴτε δὲ προφητεῖαι, καταργηθήσονται· εἴτε γλῶσσαι, παύσονται· εἴτε γνῶσις, καταργηθήσεται.	Love never falls. Now prophecies, they will be nullified; tongues, they will cease; knowledge, it will be nullified.
9. ἐκ μέρους γὰρ γινώσκομεν καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν	For we know from a fragment and we prophesy from a fragment
10. ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται.	But whenever the perfect thing comes, that which [is] from a fragment will be nullified.
11. ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐφρόνουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος· ὅτε γέγονα ἀνήρ, κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου.	When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; when I became a man, I nullified the things of a child.
12. βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι᾿ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον· ἄρτι γινώσκω ἐκ μέρους, τότε δὲ ἐπιγνώσομαι καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην.	For we see now through a mirror in a dim reflection, but then face to face. Now I know from a fragment, but then I shall fully know, even as I have been fully known.
13. Νυνὶ δὲ μένει πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη, τὰ τρία ταῦτα· μείζων δὲ τούτων ἡ ἀγάπη.	Now faith, hope and love, these three remain; but love is the greatest of these.

Notes

8-13 – ‘The Permanence of Love

• Return to contrasting love with prophecy, tongues & knowledge

8

• Does ‘love never fails’ connect with what precedes or follows? Bridge between them. Thus, both love continues under all circumstances and is eternal.
• End of sign-gifts after apostolic era? Context makes clear that the eschaton is in view.
• Cessation of γνῶσις refers to end of partial knowledge.

9-10

• Explanation of why these things come to an end – they belong to an age of incompleteness.
• ἐκ μέρους – ‘part by part’ or ‘piece by piece’

11

• Reinforces image of incompleteness by suggesting childhood state in which the aid of spiritual gifts is appropriate, in contrast with time of perfection to come.

12

• Second analogy: mirror. Indirectness (and hence incompleteness) of vision.
• God’s knowledge of us is already complete (καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην).

13

• Conclusion: triad of faith, hope, love, then singling out love.
• Singling out:
  • Context?
  • Eschatological?
• νυνὶ δὲ μένει – logical rather than temporal
• Triad unexpected, and thus independent origin of passage? but cf. v. 7.