格林多前书 1 Corinthians Chapter 13
1 Corinthians
Chapter 13

1 1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues 2 but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

我若能说人间的语言,和能说天使的语言;但我若没有爱,我就成了个发声的锣,或发响的钹。

2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

我若有先知之恩,又明白一切奥秘和各种知识;我若有全备的信心,甚至能移山,但我若没有爱,我什么也不算。

3 If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

我若把我所有的财产全施舍了,我若舍身投火被焚;但我若没有爱,为我毫无益处。

4 3 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated,

爱是含忍的,爱是慈祥的,爱不嫉妒,不夸张,不自大,

5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

不作无礼的事,不求己益,不动怒,不图谋恶事,

6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

不以不义为乐,却与真理同乐:

7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

凡事包容,凡事相信,凡事盼望,凡事忍耐。

8 4 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

爱永存不朽,而先知之恩,终必消失;语言之恩,终必停止;知识之恩,终必消逝。

9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially,

因为我们现在所知道的,只是局部的;我们作先知所讲的,也只是局部的;

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

及至那圆满的一来到,局部的,就必要消逝。

11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

当我是孩子的时候,说话像孩子,看事像孩子,思想像孩子;几时我一成了人,就把孩子的事丢弃了。

12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

我们现在是借着镜子观看,模糊不清,到那时,就要面对面的观看了。我现在所认识的,只是局部的,那时我就要全认清了,如同我全被认清一样。

13 5 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

现今存在的,有信、望、爱这三样,但其中最大的是爱。



Footnotes(注解)

1 [1-13] This chapter involves a shift of perspective and a new point. All or part of the material may once have been an independent piece in the style of Hellenistic eulogies of virtues, but it is now integrated, by editing, into the context of 1 Cor 12-14 (cf the reference to tongues and prophecy) and into the letter as a whole (cf the references to knowledge and to behavior). The function of 1 Cor 13 within the discussion of spiritual gifts is to relativize all the charisms by contrasting them with the more basic, pervasive, and enduring value that gives them their purpose and their effectiveness. The rhetoric of this chapter is striking.

2 [1-3] An inventory of gifts, arranged in careful gradation: neither tongues (on the lowest rung), nor prophecy, knowledge, or faith, nor even self-sacrifice has value unless informed by love.

3 [4-7] This paragraph is developed by personification and enumeration, defining love by what it does or does not do. The Greek contains fifteen verbs; it is natural to translate many of them by adjectives in English.

4 [8-13] The final paragraph announces its topic, Love never fails (1 Cor 13:8), then develops the permanence of love in contrast to the charisms (1 Cor 13:9-12), and finally asserts love's superiority even over the other "theological virtues" (1 Cor 13:13).

5 [13] In speaking of love, Paul is led by spontaneous association to mention faith and hope as well. They are already a well-known triad (cf 1 Thes 1:3), three interrelated (cf 1 Cor 13:7) features of Christian life, more fundamental than any particular charism. The greatest . . . is love: love is operative even within the other members of the triad (7), so that it has a certain primacy among them. Or, if the perspective is temporal, love will remain (cf "never fails," 1 Cor 13:8) even when faith has yielded to sight and hope to possession.