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1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,⁠ but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.⁠ 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.⁠ 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit. 4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.⁠ 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.⁠ 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.⁠ 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,⁠ 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face.⁠ Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Corinthians 13:9 and Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 13

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In the Manichean Acts of Archelaus, Mani interprets Paul's words about partial and complete knowledge from 1 Corinthians to describe his own mission to bring final understanding. Mani presents himself as the 'perfect' one who fulfills Paul's expectation.

Passages

1 Corinthians 13:9

New Testament
7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 13

Early Christian · Acta Archelai
I, in truth, am the Paraclete, whose mission was announced of old time by Jesus, and who was to come to convince the world of sin and unrighteousness. And even as Paul, who was sent before me, said of himself, that he knew in part, and prophesied in part, so I reserve the perfect for myself, in order that I may do away with that which is in part. Therefore receive this third testimony, that I am an elect apostle of Christ; and if you choose to accept my words, you will find salvation; but if you refuse them, eternal fire will have you to consume you.
313–348 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hegemonius, Acts of Archelaus

References

"... In a striking correlation between the Acts of Archelaus’s portrayal of Mani and that found in primary Manichaean texts, Mani is shown basing his authority in the Christian scriptures. Despite being the founder of a new religion that is characterized as complementary to non-Christian traditions as well as Christian ones, Mani himself is consistently “the apostle of Jesus Christ” and cites New Testament texts not only in addressing the Christian west, but in texts aimed at and preserved in the mission into the heart of non-Christian Asia. Despite Hegemonius’ effort to alienate Mani from Christianity, and some arguments put forward in the early phase of modern research into Manichaeism, the evidence is now clear that Mani emerged from a religious environment in which “Christianity” in some form was the primary starting point. Mani explicitly claims to be the Paraclete in Acts of Archelaus 15, and cites a number of passages in support of this claim, including John 16:7 (compare Kephalaia 14.7–11). He considers it part of his role to complete knowledge of what Paul admitted he knew incompletely in 1 Corinthians 13:9. The North African Manichaean leader Felix, more than a hundred years later, cites exactly this same combination of passages in justifying his belief in Mani as the Paraclete ..."
Jason BeDuhn, “A War of Words: Intertextuality and the Struggle over the Legacy of Christ in the Acta Archelai,” in Frontiers of Faith: The Christian Encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus, ed. Jason BeDuhn and Paul Allan Mirecki (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 77–102.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Corinthians 13:9 and Hegemonius, Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with Manes 13

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