So (Good News Bible‘s “Meanwhile”) is literally “now.” In some contexts it may refer to time. The word used in verse 13, however, often has a logical meaning; in 12.18, 20 it was translated “as it is.” If this is the meaning here, there will be a contrast between complete knowledge that Paul hopes for, and the present in which faith, hope, and love remain. However, it is more likely that this verse is a summing up of what has gone before, and either so or “Meanwhile” would accurately fit the context.

These three may be expanded to “these three things” or “the following three things,” moving this noun phrase before “faith, hope, and love,” as in Good News Bible.

The greatest is strictly “the greater,” but in the New Testament the comparative form is often used with a superlative meaning, as in 12.31.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .