1 Corinthians 13:2
A final key passage in 1 Corinthians (though I will
briefly mention one more tentative example) boasts a high probability of
reflecting the influence of Jesus’s famous metaphor for the power of faith:
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1 Cor 13:2
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Matt 17:20
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If I have all faith
[πίστιν],
so as to remove mountains [ὄρη
μεθιστάναι]
…
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If you have faith [πίστιν] like a mustard seed, say to this mountain
[ὄρει], “Move [μετάβα] from here to there,” and it will be moved
[μεταβήσεται].
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When comparing this Matthean logion with the parallel in
Luke 17:6 (which involves a mulberry tree rather than a mountain), most “Q”
scholars argue that Matt 17:20 may very well reflect an earlier—if not
independent—form of the tradition. Moreover, similar sayings about moving
mountains by faith are recorded in Matt 21:21 and Mark 11:23. It appears, then,
that Jesus’s vivid way of expressing the power of belief must have circulated
in multiple forms. Paul’s varied wording (especially the verb), then, is not
that surprising; indeed, his highly compressed way of expressing this dominical
metaphor is what one would expect if “faith-to-move-mountains” had become a
favored phrase attributed to Jesus in pre-Synoptic circulation. (Gregory R.
Lanier, Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets: Noncanonical Influences on
the New Testament [Brentwood, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2024], 660-61)
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