1 Corinthians 13:2

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church, which was ranking members by spiritual gifts; this verse sits at the center of his argument that gifts without love are void.

The words — εἰδῶ (eidō), "I understand," paired with μυστήρια (mustēria), "mysteries," names the highest reach of spiritual knowledge Paul could offer, making the concession total.

The thread — 1 John 4:8 states that whoever does not love does not know God; 1 John 4:20 calls such a person a liar. The bracketing verses 1 Corinthians 13:1 and 13:3 frame this as the middle of a three-part dismantling of self-sufficiency.

Why it lands — It removes every credential a reader might use to feel spiritually secure. The question it forces is whether your faith is a résumé or a relationship.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Matthew 17:20 “Because you have so little faith,” He answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 21:21 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
1 Corinthians 12:8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit,
1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Corinthians 14:1 Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.