John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 13:2

"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." — 1 Corinthians 13:2 (ASV)

The chapter division being so absurd, I could not help but change it, especially since I could not conveniently interpret it otherwise. For what purpose did it serve to connect with what goes before a detached sentence, which agrees so well with what comes after—nay more, is thereby rendered complete?

It is likely that it happened through a mistake by the transcribers.

However that may be, after commanding that primary attention should be given to edification, he now declares that he will show them something of greater importance—that everything be regulated according to the rule of love. This, then, is the most excellent way, when love is the regulating principle of all our actions.

And, at the outset, he starts with this premise: that all excellencies are of no value without love; for nothing is so excellent or estimable that it is not corrupted in the sight of God, if love is lacking.

Nor does he teach anything here but what he teaches elsewhere, when he declares that it is the end of the law and the bond of perfection (1 Timothy 1:5), and also when he makes the holiness of the godly consist entirely in this (Colossians 3:14)—for what else does God require from us in the second Table of the Law?

It is not surprising then, if all our deeds are evaluated by this test—their appearing to proceed from love. It is also not surprising if gifts, otherwise excellent, derive their true value only when they are made subservient to love.

1. If I should speak with the tongues of men. He begins with eloquence, which is, admittedly, an admirable gift in itself; but when separated from love, it does not commend a man in God's estimation.

   When he speaks of the tongue of angels, he uses a hyperbolical expression to denote something singular or distinguished. At the same time, I explain it rather as referring to the diversity of languages, which the Corinthians highly esteemed, measuring everything by ambition and not by its fruitfulness.

   “Master all languages,” he says, “not merely of men, but even of Angels. In that case, you have no reason to think that you are more highly esteemed in God's sight than a mere cymbal, if you do not have love.”

2. And if I should have the gift of prophecy. He reduces to nothing the dignity of even this endowment, which, nevertheless, he had preferred to all others.

   To know all mysteries might seem to be added to the term prophecy by way of explanation, but since the term knowledge is immediately added (of which he had previously made mention by itself in 1 Corinthians 12:8), it is worth considering whether the knowledge of mysteries may not be used here to mean wisdom. As for myself, while I would not venture to affirm that it is so, I am much inclined to that opinion.

3. The faith of which he speaks is special, as is evident from the clause that is immediately added—so that I remove mountains. Therefore, the Sophists accomplish nothing when they misuse this passage to detract from the excellence of faith.

   Since, therefore, the term faith is (πολύσημον) used in a variety of senses, the prudent reader should observe in what sense it is taken here. Paul, however, as I have already stated, is his own interpreter by restricting faith here to miracles.

   It is what Chrysostom calls the “faith of miracles,” and what we term a “special faith,” because it does not grasp Christ fully, but simply His power in working miracles; and therefore it may sometimes exist in a person without the Spirit of sanctification, as it did in Judas.