Ver. 2. Prophecy in its widest range, and faith at its utmost stretch—in those lacking love, both amount to ‘‘no- thing!” (ay) εἰδῶ τὰ μυστήρια πάντα κ.τ.λ. “If I know all the mysteries (of revelation) and all the knowledge (relating thereto),” explains καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω προφητείαν by stating the source, or resources, from which ‘‘ prophecy” is drawn: πᾶσαν τ. γνῶσιν (attached somewhat awkwardly to εἰδῶ), combined with τ. pvert., posits a mental grasp of the contents of revela- tion added to the supernatural insight which discovers them (see notes on λόγος
See note below.
γνώσεως and προφητεία, xii. 8 ff.), as e.g. in the case of Isaiah. Hn. supplies ἔχω, instead of the nearer εἰδῶ, before τ. γνῶσιν (cf. viii. 1, το), reading “if I have all knowledge” as a second, dis- tinct assumption following on “ if I know all mysteries,’ on account of the in- congtuity of Prophecy and Knowledge; but the point of P.’s extreme supposition lies in this unusual combination—the intellect of a philosopher joined to the inspiration of a seer.—For μυστήρια, see note on ii. 1.— ior (see note on xii. ϱ) ὥστε µεθιστάνειν Spn—an allusion to the hyperbolical sayings of Jesus ad rem (Matt. xvii. 20, xxi. 21; see notes in vol. i.); in the pr. (continuous) inf.—‘‘ to re- move mountain after mountain” (Ed.). Whatever God may be pleased to accom- plish through such a man (cf. iii. 9), he is personally worthless. On the form οὐθέν, see Wr., p. 48; for the thought, cf. ili. 18, 2 Cor. xii. 11, Gal. vi. 3.
Ver. 3. The suppositions of these three vv. cover three principal forms of activity in the Church—the spheres, viz., of supernatural manifestation, of spiritual influence, of material aid (3); loveless men who show conspicuous power in these several respects, in the first in-
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