1 CORINTHIANS 12:31 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way — Paul commands zeleute (be zealous, eager) for the charismata meizones (greater gifts), which he has just ranked (apostolic authority, prophecy, teaching); then he promises to reveal 'a more excellent way' (kath' hyperbolēn hodon), which is love, the gift that transcends all other gifts.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 12:31
“Desire earnestly,” says he, “the better gifts. And a still more excellent way show I unto you.” Now by saying this, he gently hinted that they were the cause of their own receiving the lesser gifts, and had it in their power, if they would, to receive the greater. For when he says, “desire earnestly,” he demands from them all diligence and desire for spiritual things. And he said not, the greater gifts, but “the better,” i.e., the more useful, those which would profit. And…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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