Troublesome Topic: Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 13:2, 8-13

This word means “to see, know or perceive.”

This type of “knowledge” is the practical knowledge for life that is only acquired through experience in living. It would be impossible to gain “all” of this kind of knowledge because it is impossible to experience what everyone experiences. But the point here is that if I could be miraculously endowed with the gift of knowledge on such a high level but did not have love, I would still be nothing. There would be no value in having such a gift without love.

This is the word for “fall, fail, cast down.”

The key idea behind this verb is “to make inactive or motionless” in the sense of “to render inoperable, non-functioning.” The part about it being “brought down” is provided by the preposition “down” which is attached to the verb “to make inactive or motionless.”

Here the meaning is “to cease or come to an end.”

This is the singular form of the same verb used of prophecies earlier in this verse. It means “to make inactive or motionless” in the sense of “to render inoperable, non-functioning.”

This is the preposition “out or from.” Many English translations use the preposition “in” because it sounds better in English. The idea here is that our knowledge comes “out from” a small portion of a much larger whole.

This word means “a part, a portion, a share” and is always contrasted with the whole. There is a state of completeness which stands in contrast with this small portion of the whole.

This verb is in the imperfect tense which should properly be rendered “I was speaking (as a child),” “it was my habit to speak (as a child).” But in order to make it sound better in English without losing the intent of the verb form, I have rendered it in my translation as “I always spoke.” This same verb form is used in the next two verbs in this verse.

This verb is often rendered “to think” but it also means “to feel.” It comes from the noun “diaphragm or midsection” (think torso) and was used of “the heart, or the mind.” It has much to do with one’s “inner perception or insight;” notice that “insight” includes the word “in.” While it does have to do with one’s perception of self, it also involves one’s understanding of the world around him based on the starting point of what is inside him. This is much more than thinking; it is thinking and feeling at the same time. Our opinions are based on a variety of things such as our emotions, experiences, knowledge and relationships. The connection to the diaphragm or the midsection is that the diaphragm is used to regulate our breathing.

This is the Greek word from which we get our English words “logic, and logical.” It means “to compute, count, calculate, take into account reckon, reason and then come to a conclusion, come to the bottom line, decide.”

This verb and the next one are in the perfect tense, which, in Greek writing means that the action being referred to happened in the past but its consequences have remained and are still active at the time the statement was made.

This is the Greek word from which we get out English word “enigma” which means “a mystery or a riddle.” It refers to something obscure, unclear.

The preposition used here means “through or by means of.” This is a bit different than the preposition “in.”

This verb is in the Aorist tense, which is one of the past tenses of Greek. It can serve as a simple past; it can give greater force to the past action; it can focus on the finished nature of that past action (the latter does not apply here). Most translators who render its usage here as some type of past tense rather than a present tense, choose to highlight the forcefulness of the verb by including an English adverb such as “fully, completely, etc.”

Faith primarily means “to be persuaded.” It also means “to be convinced, confident” and then to act on that persuasion with “trust and fidelity.”

Hope has the basic meaning of “expectation of what is sure.” It is “the joyful and confident expectation of God doing what He said He would do.” It can also be expressed with the words “anticipation, confidence, and trust.”

This is the kind of love that sees something in others worth investing in, even if no one else sees it. It is willing to act in a self-sacrificing manner in order to help the other person. It is the giving kind of love; it seeks the good of others without emotion and without wanting anything in return.