My Notes
Authors
John Calvin - Commentaries
**And if I should have the gift of prophecy. He brings down to nothing the dignity of even this endowment, 777777 “La dignite mesme de la prophetie;” — “The dignity even of prophecy.” which, nevertheless, he had preferred to all others. _To know all mysteries, _might seem to be added to the term _prophecy, _by way of explanation, but as the term _knowledge _is immediately added, of which he had previously made mention by itself, (1 Corinthians 12:8 ,) it will deserve your consideration, whether the _knowledge of mysteries _may not be used here to mean _wisdom. _As for myself, while I would not venture to affirm that it is so, I am much inclined to that opinion.
That _faith, _of which he speaks, is special, as is evident from the clause that is immediately added — so that I remove mountains Hence the Sophists accomplish nothing, when they pervert this passage for the purpose of detracting from the excellence of faith. As, therefore, the term faith is _(πολύσημον) used in a variety of senses, _it is the part of the prudent reader to observe in what signification it is taken. Paul, however, as I have already stated, is his own interpreter, by restricting _faith, _here, to miracles. It is what Chrysostom calls the _“faith _of miracles,” and what we term a “special faith,” because it does not apprehend a whole Christ, but simply his power in working miracles; and hence it may sometimes exist in a man without the Spirit of sanctification, as it did in Judas. 778778 The reader will observe, that this is, in substance, what has been stated by Calvin previously, when commenting on 1 Corinthians 12:10 . — Ed.