For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
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1 Corinthians 13:9-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
Parallel Translations
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For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
-
For oure knowledge is vnparfect and oure prophesyinge is vnperfet.
But when that which is parfect is come then that which is vnparfet shall be done awaye.
When I was a chylde I spake as a chylde I vnderstode as a childe I ymagened as a chylde. But assone as I was a man I put awaye childesshnes.
Now we se in a glasse even in a darke speakynge: but then shall we se face to face. Now I knowe vnparfectly: but then shall I knowe even as I am knowen.
Show all 3 translations
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For we knowe in part, and we prophecie in part.
But when that which is perfect, is come, then that which is in part, shalbe abolished.
When I was a childe, I spake as a childe, I vnderstoode as a childe, I thought as a childe: but when I became a man, I put away childish thinges.
For nowe we see through a glasse darkely: but then shall wee see face to face. Nowe I know in part: but then shall I know euen as I am knowen.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (41)
- 1 Corinthians 14:20 (v11) Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.
- 1 John 3:2 (vv9, 12) Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for…
- 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (v11) Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you…
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 (v12) But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even…
- 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 (v12) For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
Show all 39 cross-references
- Galatians 4:1 (v11) But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all,
- Ecclesiastes 11:10 (v11) Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
- Philippians 3:12 (v12) Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold…
- Revelation 22:4 (v12) They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 (v12) for we walk by faith, not by sight.
- Colossians 2:2-3 (v9) that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that…
- Matthew 5:8 (v12) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
- Ephesians 3:18-19 (v9) may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which…
- James 1:23 (v12) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 (vv9–10) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
- Psalms 139:6 (v9) This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
- Isaiah 60:19-20 (v10) The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting…
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (v9) But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has…
- Romans 8:18 (v12) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
- 1 Corinthians 8:2 (v9) But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
- 1 Corinthians 8:3 (v12) But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him.
- 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 (v10) for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the…
- Job 11:7-8 (v9) “Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper…
- Isaiah 24:23 (v10) Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and glory will be…
- Genesis 32:30 (v12) Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
- Psalms 40:5 (v9) Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to…
- Proverbs 30:4 (v9) Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has…
- Matthew 11:27 (v9) All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the…
- Romans 11:34 (v9) “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
- Ephesians 3:8 (v9) To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- 1 Peter 1:10-12 (v9) Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for…
- Revelation 22:4-5 (v10) They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sun light; for the…
- Numbers 12:8 (v12) With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to…
- Matthew 18:10 (v12) See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in…
- John 10:15 (v12) even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
- Exodus 33:11 (v12) Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a…
- Job 26:14 (v9) Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
- Revelation 21:22-23 (v10) I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for…
- Judges 14:12-19 (v12) Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then…
39 distinct cross-references across this passage (41 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv9–12 He now proves that prophecy, and other gifts of…
He now proves that prophecy, and other gifts of that nature, are done away, because they are conferred upon us to help our infirmity. Now our imperfection will one day have an end. Hence the use, even of those gifts, will, at the same time, be discontinued, for it were absurd that they should remain and be of no use. They will, therefore, perish. This subject he pursues to the end of the chapter.
9. We know in part This passage is misinterpreted by most persons, as if it meant that our knowledge, and in like manner our prophecy, is not yet perfect, but that we are daily making progress in them. Paul’s meaning, however, is — that it is owing to our imperfection that we at present have knowledge and prophecy. Hence the phrase in part means — “Because we are not yet perfect.” Knowledge and prophecy, therefore, have place among us so long as that imperfection cleaves to us, to which they are helps. It is true, indeed, that we ought to make progress during our whole life, and that everything that we have is merely begun. Let us observe, however, what Paul designs to prove — that the gifts in question are but temporary. Now he proves this from the circumstance, that the advantage of them is only for a time — so long as we aim at the mark by making progress every day.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12 The reason: Because we are now in the state,…
The reason: Because we are now in the state, that we have need to learn daily, and therefore we have need of those helps, to wit, of the gift of tongues, and knowledge, and also of those that teach them. But to what purpose serve they then, when we have obtained and gotten the full knowledge of God, which serve now but for them which are imperfect, and go by degrees to perfection?
We learn imperfectly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy…
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Ver. 9. We prophesy in part] We therefore know but imperfectly, because we are taught but imperfectly. My greatest knowledge, said Chytraeus, is to know that I know nothing. (Melch. Adam.) And not only in most other things am I ignorant, said Augustine, {Epist. cxix. chapt. xxi.} but even in the Scriptures (my chief study and trade of life) multo plura nescio quam scio I am ignorant of more matters than I know. The rabbins in their comments upon Scripture, when they meet with hard knots that they cannot explicate, they solve all with this, Elia cum venerit, solver omnia, Elias, when he comes, shall assoil all our doubts. Erastus at the point of death said, that he therefore held it a happiness to die, because now he should fully understand an answer to all those harder questions wherein here he could have no satisfaction. (Melch. Adam, in Vita Erasti.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–12 For we know in part; it was truly said,…
For we know in part; it was truly said, as to things human, that the greatest part of those things that we know, is the least part of those things which we are ignorant of. A great measure of Divine things is also unknown to us, and the knowledge of them reserved for thr resurrection and day of judgment, Joh 14:20.
And we prophesy in part; nor can the communication of our knowledge to that, be larger than what we by prophecy communicate; we having ourselves but a short and imperfect communication of Divine things, we can communicate but an imperfect degree of knowledge to others.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10–12 As the imperfect twilight is done away by the…
As the imperfect twilight is done away by the opening of the perfect day; so at death, when that which is perfect takes place, then that which was imperfect shall be done away.
Blessed be God for the hopes of that blessed place and state, where all imperfections shall cease, especially the imperfection of our knowledge.
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Alas! here all that we know, either of the word or works of God, is but a part, a little part; and blessed be God that this perfect state doth not succeed the imperfect one after a long interval, (at the resurrection and re-union of the body,) but the imperfect state of the soul immediately is done away by the coming of the perfect one; the glass is laid by as useless, when we come to see face to face, and eye to eye.
O happy and vast difference between the Christian’s present and future state!
True, he now begins to know; he knows in part here; but verily what he here knows is little of what he should know, little of that he might know, little of that others know, little of that he desires to know, and little of that he shall know, when he comes to heaven; then all imperfections shall be done away, when that which is perfect is come.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–12 But when that which is perfect is come,.... When…
But when that which is perfect is come,.... When perfect knowledge of God, of Christ, and of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven shall take place; which will not in this life, but in that which is to come. So the Jews say (r) that at the resurrection, upon the reunion of the soul and body,
"the children of men shall attain to , "perfect knowledge";''
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which is what the apostle refers to here:
and then that which is in part, shall be done away: the imperfection of knowledge shall be removed; the imperfect manner of communicating knowledge, and of receiving and acquiring it, will cease: thus the apostle explains what he means by the cessation and failing of knowledge, and prophecy; not that knowledge itself will be no more, and a state of ignorance and darkness succeed; but imperfect knowledge will vanish away, or rather will be perfected, or be swallowed up in perfect knowledge; the imperfection of it will disappear; and it will be no more taught and received in part; the whole of truth will be clearly known.
(r) Midrash Haneelam in Zohar in Gen. fol. 69. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9–12 For we know in part, and we prophesy in…
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part - The wisest of men have here but short, narrow, imperfect conceptions, even of the things round about them, and much more of the deep things of God. And even the prophecies which men deliver from God are far from taking in the whole of future events, or of that wisdom and knowledge of God which is treasured up in the scripture Revelation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–12 Verse 9. For we know in part] We have…
Verse 9. For we know in part] We have here but little knowledge even of earthly, and much less of heavenly, things. He that knows most knows little in comparison of what is known by angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. And as we know so very little, how deficient must we be if we have not much love! Angels may wonder at the imperfection of our knowledge; and separate spirits may wonder at the perfection of their own, having obtained so much more in consequence of being separated from the body, than they could conceive to be possible while in that body. When Sir Isaac Newton had made such astonishing discoveries in the laws of nature, far surpassing any thing that had been done by all his predecessors in science from the days of Solomon; one of our poets, considering the scantiness of human knowledge when compared with that which is possessed by the inhabitants of heaven, reduced his meditations on the subject to the following nervous and expressive epigram:--
Superior beings, when of late they saw
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A mortal man explain all nature's law,
Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And show'd our NEWTON as we show an ape.
These fine lines are a paraphrase from a saying of Plato, from whom our poet borrows without acknowledging the debt. The words are these: ανθρωπον ὁ σοφωτατος προς θεον πιθηκος φανειται· "The wisest of mortals will appear but an ape in the estimation of God." Vid. Hipp. Maj. vol. xi. p. 21. Edit. Bipont.
We prophesy in part] Even the sublimest prophets have been able to say but little of the heavenly state; and the best preachers have left the Spirit of God very much to supply. And had we no more religious knowledge than we can derive from men and books, and had we no farther instruction in the knowledge of God and ourselves than we derive from preaching, our religious experience would be low indeed. Yet it is our duty to acquire all the knowledge we possibly can; and as preaching is the ordinary means by which God is pleased to instruct and convert the soul, we should diligently and thankfully use it. For we have neither reason nor Scripture to suppose that God will give us that immediately from himself which he has promised to convey only by the use of means. Even this his blessing makes effectual; and, after all, his Spirit supplies much that man cannot teach. Every preacher should take care to inculcate this on the hearts of his hearers. When you have learned all you can from your ministers, remember you have much to learn from God; and for this you should diligently wait on him by the reading of his word, and by incessant prayer.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v11 1Co 13:11-12. When I was a child, &c. —…
1Co 13:11-12. When I was a child, &c. — The difference between our present and future conceptions of spiritual things may be illustrated by the knowledge of a child compared to that of a man. For in our present state, we are mere infants in knowledge, in comparison of what we shall be hereafter. I spake as a child — Would naturally do, words hardly intelligible, and often unmeaning; I understood — Or was affected, as εφρονουν may be rendered; as a child — That is, thrown into transports of joy or grief on trifling occasions, which manly reason soon taught me to despise. I thought — Ελογιζομην, I reasoned; as a child — In a weak, inconclusive, and sometimes ridiculous manner. But when I became a man — My faculties being ripened; I put away childish things — Of my own accord, willingly, without trouble; and entertained sentiments, and engaged in pursuits, correspondent to such advancements of age and reason. Such shall be the improvements of the heavenly state, in comparison with those which the most eminent Christians can attain on earth. For now we see — Even the things that surround us; through a glass — The expression, δι’ εσοπτρου, thus rendered, Dr. Pearce thinks, “signifies any of those transparent substances which the ancients used in their windows, such as thin plates of horn, transparent stone, and the like, through which they saw the objects without obscurely. But others are of opinion that the word denotes a brazen mirror, like those of which Moses made the laver, Exo 38:8; and that the apostle’s meaning is, that we see things as it were by images reflected from a mirror. But this does not accord with seeing things obscurely. Darkly — Εν αινιγματι, literally, in an enigma, or riddle. A riddle being a discourse in which one thing is put for another, which is in some respects like it, we are said to see things at present in a riddle, because in the revelations of God, invisible things are represented by visible, and spiritual things by natural, and eternal things by such as are temporal.” But then — We shall see, not a faint reflection, or an obscure resemblance, but the objects themselves, in a clear and distinct manner; face to face — As men see each other, when they behold each the other’s face. Now I know in part — Even when God himself reveals things to me, a great part of them is still kept under the veil; but then shall I know even as also I am known — In a clear, full, comprehensive manner; in some measure like God, who penetrates the centre of every object, and sees at one glance through my soul and all things. It is justly observed by Dr. Macknight here, “that the darkness in which things at present are involved, is in some respects necessary; for as in childhood our knowledge and conception of things are wisely made imperfect, that we may the more easily submit to the exercises and discipline which are proper to our childish state; so in the present life, which in relation to the whole of our existence may be called childhood, our knowledge of invisible things is appointed to be imperfect, that we may employ ourselves with pleasure in the occupations of the present life. But when the season of childhood is over, and the grand scenes of the heavenly world open upon us, we shall no more see spiritual things darkly as in a riddle, but we shall see them clearly, and shall fully know even as we ourselves are fully known of superior beings, or of our most familiar friends. In short, we shall leave off all those imperfect methods of acquiring knowledge which we made use of on earth.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–12 For we know in part - Compare the note…
For we know in part - Compare the note on 1Co 12:27. This expression means “only in part;” that is, “imperfectly.” Our knowledge here is imperfect and obscure. It may, therefore, all vanish in the eternal world amidst its superior brightness; and we should not regard that as of such vast value which is imperfect and obscure; compare the note at 1Co 8:2. This idea of the obscurity and imperfection of our knowledge, as compared with heaven, the apostle illustrates 1Co 13:11 by comparing it with the knowledge which a child has, compared with that in maturer years and 1Co 13:12 by the knowledge which we have in looking through a glass - an imperfect medium - compared with that which we have in looking closely and directly at an object without any medium.
And we prophesy in part - This does not mean that we partly “know” the truths of religion, and partly “conjecture” or “guess” at them; or that we know only a part of them, and “conjecture” the remainder. But the apostle is showing the imperfection of the prophetic gift; and he observes, that there is the same imperfection which attends knowledge. It is only in part; it is imperfect; it is indistinct, compared with the full view of truth in heaven; it is obscure, and all that is imparted by that gift will soon become dim and lost in the superior brightness and glory of the heavenly world. The “argument” is, that we ought not to seek so anxiously that which is so imperfect and obscure, and which must soon vanish away; but we should rather seek that love which is permanent, expanding, and eternal.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–11 St. Augustine proves from this text, that the saints…
St. Augustine proves from this text, that the saints in heaven have a more perfect knowledge of what passes here below, than when they sojourned on earth. (De Civit. Dei. lib. xxii. chap. 29.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9–12 in part--partially and imperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to…
in part--partially and imperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to the "perfect man," "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:11-13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. In part—Our knowledge and our prophecies, based upon…
9. In part—Our knowledge and our prophecies, based upon our knowledge, are alike limited and temporary.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. and we prophesy in part] All inspired utterances…
9. and we prophesy in part] All inspired utterances are but partial revelations of Divine Truth.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–12 (9) We know in part.—Knowledge and preaching are incomplete;…
(9) We know in part.—Knowledge and preaching are incomplete; therefore, when this dispensation ends, and the complete dispensation is brought in, these imperfect gifts shall cease. Gifts are but the implements of the divine husbandry; graces are the seeds themselves. When the great harvest-time comes, the instruments, however useful, will be cast aside altogether; the seeds will, by the very process of death, be transformed into blossoms and fruits, and in that perfected form remain for ever.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–12 We know in part. The expression applies directly to…
We know in part. The expression applies directly to religious knowledge, and should be a rebuke to the pretence to infallibility and completeness which is sometimes usurped by religious men.
Vers. 9, 10.
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The partial and the perfect.
Christianity is an intellectual religion as distinct from religions of ritual and ceremony. It is propagated and maintained by preaching and by teaching. It encourages inquiry, study, science. And, accordingly, there is some danger lest those who seize upon this characteristic of Christianity should give way to the temptation of spiritual pride. It is well that the infirmity and imperfection of our knowledge should be brought vividly before our minds, as it is in this passage. At the same time, provision is made against discouragement by an assurance that the partial and transitory shall be succeeded by the perfect and the eternal.
I OUR APPREHENSION AND COMMUNICATION OF TRUTH IS PARTIAL.
1. This is a result of the limitation of our powers. This may be a doctrine humbling to human pride, but it is not to be disputed. It should be observed that the apostle speaks of himself as well as of private Christians; and from this we infer that revelation and inspiration are alike conditioned by the very limited powers of man.
2. It is a result of the limitation of our opportunities. We can only know what is brought before us; we cannot create truth. It pleases God that only glimpses and whisperings of Divine truth should be afforded to us. Our knowledge is therefore partial, as is the measure of truth which its Author sets before us.
3. It is a result of the brevity of our life. Human life is short as compared with the universe in which it is passed, and which has so many sides of contact with our understanding. And if nature cannot be known in all its fulness by even the most diligent student, how shall revelation be mastered in a lifetime? There is a religious side to every truth of fact, and the man of science, if a Christian, need never be at a loss for material for religious contemplation and emotion.
II THAT WHICH IS PARTIAL IS DESTINED TO PERISH. It cannot be meant that any truth shall cease to be truth, that any aspect of religion once justified shall so change its character as to be disowned. We have known Christ, and such knowledge is not transitory, for it is eternal life. But special gifts, like the variety of prophecy known in the primitive Church, served their purpose, and were no more. Our systems of theology, our presentations of doctrine, our modes of homiletic, are adapted, more or less, to our age and circumstances, but they are only for a season. Partial knowledge may be useful whilst perfect knowledge is impossible; but only then.
III FOR THE PERFECT SHALL COME TO ABOLISH THE PARTIAL. The star shall not disappear because lost in the dense black cloud, but because it shall melt in the splendour of the day. Our prospect is not one to inspire melancholy; or if a shade of pensiveness pass over the soul in the prospect of the disappearance of what is so familiar and so dear, that pensiveness may well give way to content and hope when we look forward to the glory which shall be revealed. T.
Vers. 9, 10.
Partial knowledge.
"We know in part." Partial knowledge is of four kinds.
I There is a partial knowledge that is a NECESSITY. The knowledge of the highest intelligent creature must by the necessity of nature be partial. What he knows is as nothing compared with the knowable, still less with the unknowable. "Who by searching can find out God?
II There is a partial knowledge that is a CALAMITY. Our necessary ignorance is not a calamity; on the contrary, it is a benediction. The necessarily unknown acts as a stimulus to our intellectual faculties. But our ignorance of things that are really knowable must be ever more or less a disadvantage. Ignorance of true ethics, of political economy, agriculture, laws of health, beneficent rules of conduct, true religion, entails incalculable injuries. Ignorance of these things is the night, the winter, of intellect.
III There is a partial knowledge that is SINFUL. A partial knowledge of our moral condition, the claims of God, the means of redemption, where a fuller knowledge is attainable, is a sin. Ignorance of Christ in a land of churches and Bibles, is a sin, and that of no ordinary heinousness. It is a calamity to the heathen; it is a crime to us.
IV There is a partial knowledge that is BENEFICENT. Our ignorance of our future is a blessing. Were the whole of our future to be spread out before us, with all its trials and sorrows, and all the circumstances connected with our death, life would become intolerable; it is mercy that has woven the veil that hides the future.
CONCLUSION. Our partial knowledge should make us humble, studious, undogmatic. devout.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9–12 We know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co_13:9-10
We know in part, and we prophesy in part.
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We know in part
I. The imperfection of our knowledge.
1. We know but little.
2. That little is mixed with much error.
3. Includes much that is useless.
4. Is very imperfectly apprehended.
II. Its causes.
1. Intellectual.
2. Physical.
3. Moral.
III. Its lessons.
1. Humility.
2. Docility.
3. Distrust of our own understanding.
4. Hope. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
We know in part
The apostle says this not simply of the wisdom of this world, but of Divinely-given knowledge. A reverence not according to knowledge has led Christians to forget this, and to argue as if inspired writers gave us final and complete knowledge about the ways of God. This is not so, and hence much that is fragmentary even in Scripture, and representations which cannot be harmonised yet.
I. The part we do not know--by far the greater part; and the more we know, the more we seem not to know--as the outside of a circle gets larger as the inside is increased. Only beginners are proud of their acquirements; discoverers, who stand upon the boundaries of human knowledge, gazing with earnest eyes over the boundless untrodden region beyond, feel themselves unable to spell out the very alphabet of the universe of God.
1. What do we know about the material world? Men observe that things have certain appearances, and that changes occur with a certain regularity; but why they appear so, and how these changes take place, which obviously are the most important points to understand, belong to the part we do not know. Why a star moves or a plant grows, it is useless to ask an astronomer or a botanist.
2. So in the spiritual world. How much of goodness and how much of trial make up the facts and events of our lives! But what can we know about them--how they come, and why? What an amount of ingenuity we spend upon these questions, and how much are we perplexed! But vain are our endeavours to get at the meaning.
3. It is the same in regard to the great facts of the Christian revelation. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Why was that necessary? How was it possible? That is the part we do not know; and we must content ourselves, having appropriate evidence, with the fact that it is so. Pauls eager mind did indeed press against the furthest boundaries of inspired knowledge; but he once stopped with, O the depth of the riches, etc., and then turned to practical matters.
II. The part we no know. It is natural to us to appreciate what we lack, and to undervalue what we have. In this, as in other respects, we are but children of a larger growth. As a thousand natural wonders and beauties lie at our feet which we have not eyes attentive enough to see, or minds awake enough to study, or hearts big enough to love: so with the marvels of Christ and Christianity, of which our tongues often speak parrot-like in hymns and prayers, yet the rich significance of which we seldom feel. Our prayer should be, Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. (T. M. Herbert, M.A.)
We know in part
We wish we knew more. To appreciate the fact that we know but little, and to understand some of the reasons why, will help us to be more reconciled to our own ignorance and to that of others, and will contribute to remove some of the obstacles that lie in the way of a completer knowledge.
I. We are born with an eye graduated to some particular truth or truths, and not with a vision that spreads itself with equal facility over all truths.
1. It is no fault of ours that we cannot see the Southern Cross. That constellation does not form part of the heavens under which God intended us to live. If it had fallen to our lot to dwell in Patagonia, then we should have lived under its blaze, and it would then have been impossible for us to make out the Great Bear. No eye is able to see everything, and each eye has an outlook of its own.
2. Truth is like a diamond, and you must shift your position in order to catch the particular flash from each individual facet; which is what in the matter of truth we do not and cannot do. We can migrate from latitude to latitude, and skip from street to street; but as regards truth, we can change neither our nationality nor our address; truth is fixed, and we are born fixed in our relation to it. We are individually created into a specific angle with the truth. Truth individualises itself to each eye and makes only minute donations to each. It is with us in this respect much as it is with objects in their relation to a sunbeam, where one sort of material will pull the blue out of it; another the green; another the red, and so on through the entire bundle of colour bound up in a white ray. In the same way, each mind picks the particular truth that is native to it.
3. It is the way we are made. It has its advantages; some one aspect of truth we have power to take hold of and to feel keenly. It results in each man having his own little patch of truth to cultivate, and by that means he doubtless gets more produce on to the worlds market than he would do if he had a whole hundred acre lot to cultivate scatteringly.
4. That ought to keep us steadily at work on constructive lines, not destructive ones; telling what little we do see and know, and letting the rest go. A star is not brilliant because I happen to see it; it is brilliant because--it is brilliant. Exactly so it is of a truth. If there is some reality that your mind looks right into, but that your Christian neighbour has no sense of and no care for, it is not because he is a theological idiot, but because your little star does not happen to shine where he stands.
II. We allow the one particular bent that we are born with to assert a despotism over us.
1. If, e.g., there is some particular truth of Gods Word that we have a native bias for, we shall be almost certain to make that determine for us the portions of Scripture that we shall admit to our thought and our confidence; much as the one glowing constellation that is in the direct range of our vision will be almost certain to prevent our scouring around to detect others imperfectly disclosed.
2. The same holds of other books as well as of the Bible. Look at the library of any Christian thinker, and you will be able to determine what his theological bent is. The very particularity of his view operates to keep it narrow, and his will only be those that he can use as whet-stones upon which to whet his particularity down to a thinner edge.
3. Then, too, the habit of thinking along some congenial line, not only weakens our interest in truth lying upon other lines, but sometimes even impairs our power of appreciating truth lying upon them. Just as a creature needs a different bodily construction to enable him to live upon land from what he does to exist in water, so, to a certain degree, a different equipment is required to live and think in a region of spirit from what is required to adapt one to a world of matter; and the more exclusively we are habituated to the former, the more awkward it will make us when we undertake to make any headway in the latter. Some of us use our scientific faculties so little that they become aborted and we lose all power to appreciate scientific facts. And the converse of that is equally true.
4. So that in these days, when there is being so strong a pressure brought to bear in behalf of those branches of knowledge that deal with matter only, if you want your boy to be a Christian, see to it that he gets his mind trained in those faculties that will especially be called in play in the discernment and appreciation of spiritual truth.
III. By a deliberate act of our own will we veto the truth.
1. Truth depends for its power upon the concurrence of the mind as much as light depends for its power on the concurrence of the eye. A truth coming to us always knocks at the door and then stands outside waiting till some one comes and answers. No man is likely to be persuaded against his will. We personally decide just how much Gods Word shall do for us and how far it shall go with us. The preacher never drives it in; we let it in, and just as far as we choose. Good hearing is a far more difficult art than good preaching.
2. Christ had perfect confidence in the truth, and He had just as much confidence that when once the heart had taken the truth fairly in, something would come of it; the parable of the sower teaches that. It may rain as hard as ever it did in the days of old Noah, but the rain will start no grass so long as the downpour falls on to frozen ground.
IV. There are certain elements of Christian knowledge that can come only with the years and indeed with the centuries.
1. Experience is the only perfect teacher. We can of course crowd ourselves with facts, but that is not wisdom. Wisdom is gained by the process of somehow letting the threads of truth weave themselves into the tissue of our own life; and therefore it is not a thing to be hurried any more than you can hurry the growing of the corn. You will have to visit the country before ever you will quite understand what you have so painstakingly learned. Experience is expository; the Bible illuminates us but we illuminate the Bible. We make the Bible ours by our becoming its. We do not understand the publican until we have been on our knees by his side. We do not fathom the story of the prodigal until we have returned from the far country and have known what it is to stand in restored relations with that father. Is there any one of us who feels that he has more than merely begun to understand this chapter?
2. The simple change, too, that comes with our steady departure from childhood to manhood brings us on to a new side of some matters. Perhaps we have found out that life is not what we once thought it was going to be. Possibly the present is not quite so real as it used to be, and very likely the great future is growing upon us. One day I was looking at two large telescopic photographs of the moon, one taken when it was at its full, the other a week later. In the latter, some of the mountains that showed dull and lustreless in the earlier view, came out bright, as in the meantime the sun had passed along to the point where it could illumine the evening slopes, I remarked this to the dealer whose hair had been whitened by the years. Yes, he said, very quietly, but quite cheerily, withal, Yes, the lights are very differently arranged when you get into the last quarter. (C. H. Parkhurst, D.D.)
Limited knowledge
Knowledge is not always good. It profited our first parents little. God knew this then and He knows it now. Consider--
I. The assumption made--Now we know. It is knowledge that makes man better than the brute, that makes him like God, that develops his power, that is his salvation. We know, indeed, and therefore stand out before the heathen, the Jews, the early Christians. We have privileges which are peculiarly our own, and which none have ever enjoyed before.
II. The limitation enforced. We know in part. Of all things finite, human knowledge is the most limited. It is limited--
1. In its range.
2. In power.
III. The significance implied. This state of limited human knowledge has its purpose.
1. It places us in our own proper position. We are tempted to make our own knowledge an absolute standard. We fix rules for morality, doctrine; we organise parties and call them perfect, because we imagine our knowledge is perfect; but the authors can only see in part. It requires a serious effort to understand that others have the power of seeing what we cannot see.
2. It alters the whole tone of our spiritual life on earth. It should
(1) Remove fear, for what appears to us to be dark may in reality be light.
(2) Remove doubt, for we must trust.
(3) Lessen grief, for trials may be blessings in disguise.
IV. The privilege bestowed. Our present limited knowledge is to some extent a blessing.
1. It gives us something to look forward to--Then we shall know even as we are known. All mysteries shall one day be revealed, and then all errors shall cease.
2. It prevents much sorrow. How fearful to know all that is before us!
3. It engages our thoughts on the practical rather than the theoretical. Love is the practical duty at present; for we can love even if we cannot know. (J. J. S. Bird, M.A.)
Partial knowledge
There is a partial knowledge that is--
I. A necessity. The knowledge of the highest creature must by the necessity of nature be partial. What he knows is as nothing compared with the knowable, still less with the unknowable. Who by searching can find out God?
II. A calamity. Our necessary ignorance is not a calamity, but a benediction. It acts as a stimulus. But ignorance of knowable things must be ever a disadvantage. Ignorance of ethics, political economy, laws of health, religion, entails incalculable injuries. Ignorance of these things is the night, the winter of intellect.
III. Sinful. A partial knowledge of our moral condition, the claims of God, the means of redemption, where a fuller knowledge is attainable, is a sin. Ignorance of Christ in a land of churches and Bibles is a sin, and theft of no ordinary heinousness. It is a calamity to heathens, it is a crime to us.
IV. Beneficent. Our ignorance of our future is a blessing. Were the whole of our future to be spread out before us, with all its trials, sorrows, death, life would become intolerable; it is mercy that has woven the veil that hides the future. Conclusion: Our partial knowledge should make us humble, studious, undogmatic, devout. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Our partial knowledge
is:--
I. A discipline to diligence.
1. We require our children to know, and then we give them, not the knowledge that they seek, but the key of that knowledge. Doubtless the teacher imparts knowledge, but his greater function is in wisely keeping it back until it is fairly won. So God teaches without telling; sets alluring objects of knowledge almost within sight and reach; sets ajar the doors of science, and writes up, Ask, and ye shall receive, etc.
2. And no faithful seeker seeks in vain. Perhaps he finds somewhat other than he sought, as Saul sought the straying asses and found a kingdom. Men sought by alchemy for the philosophers stone, the elixir of life, etc., and found them not, but found marvellous things in the quest, and by and by found themselves at the splendid portals of the great treasure-house of modern chemistry. Geography explored unknown seas for a new route to Cipango and Cathay, and lo! a new continent was given as her reward. Astrology adventured out vaguely among the stars, seeking she knew not what, and became transfigured into astronomy.
3. But ever with what is given is something yet reserved. Each new discovery discloses new questions yet to be answered. And what is true in the study of material things is even more impressively true in the higher study of man, and duty, and God. Ye shall know, if ye shall follow on to know the Lord.
II. A discipline to humility and patience. And so good a discipline is it that they who have learned the most are commonly the humblest, for they know how inadequate their knowledge is. For running through the very midst of human life, in its most intimate concerns, is a line of unanswerable questions. Along the seam between will and motive, foreknowledge and responsibility, eternity and time, spirit and matter, the absolute and the conditioned, are ranged the antinomies over which the only wisdom is to despair and be patient. And that is the wisdom which after these six thousand years of discipline, theology and philosophy are only now at last beginning to learn.
III. A discipline to charity towards others whose knowledge is yet more narrowly limited or is on a different side from ours. We are vexed at their narrowness, and do not think what reason we give them or others to be vexed at ours. Probably none of us are aware where our knowledge is nearest akin to ignorance and error. Likely enough it is at the very point where we are most positive. We need, as a training in charity, to look upon the things of others as well as upon our own things. Vinet says, The men of two hundred years hence will be looking back with astonishment on some monstrous error that was unconsciously held by the best Christians of the nineteenth century. This is the constant story of the past. And it is right that we should be reminded of it; not that we should cease to hold the truth or hold it with timorous or hesitating grasp, but that we should learn to hold the truth no longer in unrighteousness or in self-righteousness, but in love.
IV. A discipline to faith. We speak of a man of great and settled faith, meaning a learned, confident theologian, who has surveyed and triangulated the whole field of sacred knowledge. Eternity, Trinity, Atonement, all these are quite clear and definite to him. Nay, rather, he is a man, so far as this goes, of no faith at all. He has not the necessary antecedent condition of faith that should bring him to the feet of the great Teacher, and to lay his hand in that of the only Guide. And you who, vexed by doubts and uncertainties and limitations, have been wont to say, But for these I might believe, learn now to speak in a higher strain, and say, In spite of these--no; because of these I must--I do believe. To whom can I go but to Him who hath the words of eternal life? Blessed be God, who hath fenced up my way of knowledge that so I might learn to feel for the leading of His hand, and walk by faith, not by sight.
V. A discipline to hope. It is not for always, this which is in part, even though it is expedient for us now. It is the dimness which turns our mind toward the day-star and the coming dawn. This hunger and thirst unsatisfied are a continual promise of the coming time when I shall be filled. In this mood I can well afford to await that glorious time for which I am not yet prepared, but for which God is preparing me, when that which is perfect shall have come and these things which are in part shall be done away--when I shall see face to face and know even as I am known. (L. W. Bacon, D.D.)
Present defect and future perfection
I. A statement of present defect.
1. The gifts themselves.
(1) The knowledge is not ordinary but extraordinary, being the effect of supernatural influence (1Co_12:8).
(2) The gift of prophecy comprehended much. Sometimes it meant the power of foretelling future events; sometimes celebrating the praises of God by a Divine afflatus; sometimes the power of teaching the doctrines of the gospel by the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. So it means here.
(3) We may, however, apply the terms to that more ordinary knowledge and teaching which is the present qualification of all who have received the Spirit and have the knowledge of the truth of God. This is knowledge which none can possibly surpass, and which very few can equal.
2. The imperfection ascribed to these gifts.
(1) The Spirit of God never gave a full development of all His revelations. Even the apostles themselves did not know all that it was possible to know respecting Jesus Christ. Paul, with all his knowledge, says, I have suffered the loss of all things--that I may know Him. And as the knowledge was imperfect, so was the prophecy. The inspired apostle found himself on the shore of a boundless ocean, and exclaimed, O the depth of the riches! etc.
(2) And so to us the same imperfection attaches most strongly. The pride of our nature may induce us to imagine otherwise; but that pride will very soon be checked. The man who has studied the hardest, who has been most frequently wrapt into visions of future times--even he must still say, I know in part--I prophesy in part. And I would ask a Christian of the highest class, if any illuminations, in which he has been enabled hitherto to rejoice, have permitted him yet to say, That which is perfect is come? Consider what you know of God--of His government of the universe, of the councils of His will, and of the connection of these with His actions--and then say how incomplete is your knowledge! Consider what you know of the mediatorial influence of Christ--of the fall transformation of the soul into His image--of the future state. You have, it is true, facts to believe, but you cannot comprehend their fulness; you study, you meditate, you explore--but you are soon lost; and you come to the conclusion, I know in part.
(3) And then some will say, Where there is so much mystery, there should be no faith. But if you will reason thus on religion, extend your reasoning to life, to nature, to all around you. You know that you live; you sit, you think, you hear, you speak; but how soon will you find your knowledge, even on these subjects, limited and nonplussed! Here we must be content to see imperfectly--to comprehend as in enigma. We can only stand as it were on the threshold of the temple; it is in the future age that the veil will be rent, that the inner sanctuary will be open to our gaze, and the fire that burns on the golden altar revealed.
3. The reasons on which this imperfection is founded.
(1) Mans moral pollution. The most sinful are always the, most ignorant. Adam by transgression lost much of his knowledge; and in proportion as transgression increased, ignorance abounded. Sin has a tendency to pervert the imagination, and forms an hindrance in the way of attaining the pure and sublime knowledge of religion.
(2) Mans intellectual weakness. There is much in Divine knowledge that we have not a capacity for knowing. Engaged as we all are on material objects, and able to see only through the medium of our senses, what wonder is it if we be compelled to confess, We know in part?
(3) The designs of God in connection with mans present and future state. It is not the design of God that we should know all. The future state is to make up for the defects of the present. It is this which makes heaven an object of such ardent desire to the Christian.
II. An anticipation of future perfection.
1. In regard to some future state of the Church upon earth. Look at the Church in our own day; see how abundantly our information has increased. Yet the Church is now in a very imperfect state compared with what it shall be in the last days; then many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. None shall say to his neighbour or his brother, Know the Lord, etc.
2. In reference to the state of the Church in heaven. Then it will be truly said, That which is perfect is come.
(1) A perfection of purity.
(2) Of power.
(3) Of knowledge.
(4) Of happiness. (J. Parsons.)
Present imperfection and future perjection
Observe--
I. The imperfection of our present condition.
1. Gifts are but partially distributed.
2. Are imperfect.
3. Are adapted to a state of imperfection.
II. The perfection of heaven.
1. Certainly anticipated.
2. Implies the removal of all imperfection and its causes.
3. The consummation of our nature and its consequent happiness. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. For we know in part, and prophesy in…
9. For we know in part, and prophesy in part. A reason why these gifts should pass away. Our knowledge is now only partial, and the prophecy only gives glimpses. These are all imperfect and fragmentary, and hence must give way to something better.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. “We now know in part.” All of our…
9. “We now know in part.” All of our knowledge here is fragmentary, but gleams of light amid worlds of darkness; the brightest light attainable here but as a dim star, contrasted with the meridian sun in his noonday glory, when compared to the unutterable effulgence of Heavenly day. “We prophesy Our efforts to understand the mysteries of godliness revealed in the Bible are only calculated to flood us with the humiliating realization of our ignorance. Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest philosopher of modern times, said he felt like a little boy on the shore of time, picking up a pebble or a shell here and there, while the mighty deep rolled before him unexplored. Socrates, the greatest philosopher of the ancient world, said: “This much do I know, I know nothing. “
PERFECTION OF GLORY
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv9–12 For we know in part, and we prophesy in…
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 For now we see indirectly in a mirror
For now we see indirectly in a mirror
Mirrors in Paul's day were made of polished metal rather than glass and provided a dim, vague reflection.
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now we see
Possible meanings are 1) "now we see Christ" or 2) "now we see God."
but then face to face
"but then we will see Christ face to face" This means that we will be physically present with Christ. (See: Ellipsis and Synecdoche)
I will know fully
The word "Christ" is understood. AT: "I will know Christ fully" (See: Ellipsis)
just as I have been fully known
This can be stated as active. AT: "just as Christ has known me fully" (See: Active or Passive)
faith, future confidence, and love
These abstract nouns can be expressed in phrases with verbs. AT: "we must trust the Lord, be confident that he will do what he has promised, and love him and others" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
children
face
know
faith
confidence
love
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 12 13:9 None of the spiritual gifts gives us full…
13:9 None of the spiritual gifts gives us full understanding; unlike love, they are all limited in their benefits.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.