“Faith so as to Remove Mountains”

Abstract

The presence of πίστις in the list of spiritual gifts in1 Cor 12:8-10 is problematic. Should not faith be the common basis of the charisms and not a particular gift? What means “faith” in 1 Cor 12:9, given that Paul includes it among the nine manifestations of the Spirit? How to understand and to translate it? Evidently, “faith” points here not simple adherence, but a very precise form of πίστις. In fact, Paul places wisdom, knowledge and “faith” in rapid succession, making them the three principal dimensions of the teaching charisms. As reflected in the repetition of the same gifts in the sequence of 13:2. Some Jewish texts talk about rabbis able to change the point of view of people whose convictions were as immovable as a mountain. They were nicknamed “mountain mover” (oker harim). Thanks to the support of rabbinic literature it becomes possible to explain the presence of πίστις among the teaching gifts in 1 Cor 12:9 and 13:2, offering a translation, certainly broad but more attentive to the semantics of the charism of faith: “if I have all the ability to deliver discourses of faith from which to convince people as immovable as mountains, but I do not have charity, I am nothing”.

Keywords

• semantic analysis
• translation
• faith
• charisma
• moving mountains