What Does 1 Corinthians 13:13 Mean?
And now trust, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.THE KEY
Love is the greatest among the things that remain.
THE MEANING
Trust, hope, and love remain with you now. Love holds the greatest place among them, not as a passing feeling but as the enduring bond at the heart of this triad.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that certainty or expectation outranks love: among these enduring realities, love is greatest.
THE ROOT
ἀγάπη
agapē
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
agap-
The Greek word family of love and being beloved.
The KJV’s “charity” here is ἀγάπη (agapē, love), the same family as loving and being beloved. That family makes love a relationship that connects people, not only an act of generosity.
ALSO GROWS
agapaō: To love
ἀγαπάω
The verb form makes love something enacted between people.
agapētos: Beloved
ἀγαπητός
The same family names the one who is held in love, showing its relational reach.
μένει
menei
GROWS FROM
μεν-
men-
To remain, stay, or continue.
The same word describes trust, hope, and love: all three remain. Its word family also reaches toward dwelling and endurance, so “abideth” carries the sense of staying present, not merely appearing for a moment.
ALSO GROWS
monē: Dwelling, abode
μονή
This related noun gives remaining the sense of a place where one stays.
hypomenō: To endure, remain steadfast
ὑπομένω
This compound carries the same staying into endurance through difficulty.
πίστις
pistis
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
The word family of being persuaded and trusting.
πίστις (pistis, trust) belongs to the family of πείθω (peithō, persuade or trust) and πιστός (pistos, trustworthy). The verse’s “faith” can therefore be heard as reliance, one of the enduring realities that love surpasses in greatness.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: To persuade, trust
πείθω
This related verb brings out the movement from persuasion into reliance.
pistos: Trustworthy, reliable
πιστός
The related adjective shows trust as a bond with what can be relied upon.
pisteuō: To trust, believe
πιστεύω
This verb makes the same word family a lived act of trust.
THE PATTERN
What remains is gathered under love: trust and hope endure, while love holds the greatest place.
Love never falls; whether there are prophecies, they shall be made idle; whether there are tongues, they shall come to rest; whether there is knowledge, it shall be made idle.Remembering without a gap your work of trust, your toil of love, and your remaining under of hope in our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, before the face of God and our Father.O extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his faithful love reaches to the ages.THE THREAD
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.John’s “continue” comes from μένω (menō, remain), the same word family as “abideth,” and “my love” is ἀγάπη (agapē, love), the same word as “charity.” This verse brings the two roots together: what remains is a life continuing in love.
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