1 Corinthians 13:12

1Co_13:12

For now we see through a glass darkly.

Seeing darkly

I. We see through a glass darkly.

1. There is a literal significance in these words. With our physical organs of vision we do not see essential realities. This is an elementary law of optics; our sensuous vision is only a mirror upon which realities cast shadows.

2. We see our fellow-men with double veils between ourselves and them--they hidden from us in a drapery of flesh, and we looking through the glazed windows of our own organism. How much do we really know of them? The lesson here is that we should think more charitably of our fellow-men. Under the hardest concealment there is some goodness that shrinks from exposing itself, and the most careless and frivolous have their moments of thought and devotion. If ever one man is truly revealed to another, it is only by the agency of love and sympathy. The lightnings of the satirist do not rend open the door of the deepest heart.

3. So it is with the forms and objects of the actual world, the chemist, the botanist, the physiologist, after all how much below the rind have they pierced? How soon they are balked? The moment they get below forms and positions, and certain relations of things, everything becomes as impalpable as the shapes that pass over the surface of the mirror. Science, with all it has achieved, is merely a catalogue of appearances; its terminology is merely a set of equivalents, words masking the deep facts which we do not know. The chemist boasts that he can almost reconstruct the original tissues of the human frame. But what then? He cannot give life; nay, he cannot even tell what it is.

4. Astronomy is the oldest and most complete of all the sciences. Yet the questions in Job are just as applicable to our day as to his. It is a singular fact that objects which are the most remote from us fall within the arrangements of this most complete science. The nearer we get to our personality, the more deep the problems become. Astronomy is so satisfactory only because we are not near enough to it to touch the real problems which it presents. The most familiar objects--how the grass grows, how the fingers move--become to us unexplainable. And if, then it is thus with the more familiar objects, how is it with unknown realities or those which are known only by intermediate revelations?

5. Now if the creations of God which are most intimate are confessedly but as shadows of shapes upon a mirror, how must it be with the infinite God Himself? We behold Him only through His works, and there as in a glass darkly. And so in regard to His providential dealings with us. We cannot take in the vastness of Gods plan, surely, if we cannot take in the essence of His works! We behold only processes, parts of things. As the child that might come into the laboratory of his father, the chemist, could not begin to comprehend from the transaction in which the father was engaged the great work at which he aimed, so we, children all of us, in a thousand years see but one of Gods processes, and yet we talk and act as though we saw the whole, and challenge the Almighty because everything is not made clearly consistent with our idea of His goodness. Gods most beneficent agencies appear to us only in shadow at the best. And thus it is that even the most beneficent providences of God sometimes appear like the ministers of wrath. We see but the transient aspects of death; it is but a shadow on the mirror, and this is a lesson for our faith in all the workings of God.

II. Although we see darkly, we do see something.

1. It is not a mere reflection, it is a reality behind the reflection. There are shadows, but there never is a shadow without something to cast a shadow. And remember also it is we who see darkly, not that the things themselves are dark. Faith, therefore, is the only legitimate conclusion from the capacity of seeing at all.

(1) What do you make of these instincts of something higher and something better that have prevailed in all ages of the world and in all souls? are all these the images of nothingness? How can we have the shadows without the substance, or have the forms of things mirrored before us that do not exist in reality?

(2) And then the affections, the great working of mans love, there is the thing that Paul fell back upon in this chapter. Mans love assures us that in this depth of nature in which God has planted within us there must be something higher and better.

2. There is great grandeur in the fact that Christianity has not made a full revelation of the things to come. There is a reason for that in the discipline we need. Gradual growth must develop us and make us all that we should be; Christianity should not reveal everything to us. But at the same time, as a religion of benevolence, Christianity would have informed us if these great primary instincts played us false. Jesus Christ would have told us if these affections of Our nature prophesied untruly. Yes, we see darkly, but we do see. And in that fact there is proof that we shall see better face to face.

3. Even with this dim, imperfect mirror there are degrees of seeing. We all see darkly enough--the clearest-sighted of us--but sometimes there is a film upon the eye of the observer as well as upon the mirror.

(1) Sometimes men have their eyes darkened all over with the scales of appetite, so that all that they see is distorted, is made abominable.

(2) And sometimes then see nothing on the mirror of this life but a gigantic image of self. Like the giant of the Hartz Mountains, they see projected upon life merely an enlarged idea of their own wants and of their own greatness.

(3) But there are men who apprehend the reality of things which come darkly, and feel that there is a substance back of those shadows.

4. It is a momentous period in our being when a man awakes to a sense of realities. That is conversion to come to a sense that there are spiritual realities beyond our present vision, to come to a sense that our souls, God, Christ, eternity are real. (E. H. Chapin, D.D.)

The body, the dark medium of spiritual vision

It needs no illustration to show that our vision of spiritual things is very dim. The cause of this is our subject: the medium is dark, that medium is the body. Through the five senses we gather all the lights that flash on our consciousness and form within us ideas. But why is it dark? The body tends--

I. To materialise the conceptions of the mind. We judge after the flesh.

II. To sway the decisions of the mind. The desires of the flesh often move and master the soul.

III. To clog the operations of the mind. Business, sleep, refreshment, exercise, disease, all these interrupt the soul. Our visions of spiritual things being so dim. Conclusion:

1. None should pride themselves in their knowledge.

2. None should arrogate infallibility of judgment.

3. We should anticipate brighter and fuller visions, when the medium is removed, and we see face to face. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

The enigma of life

The idea seems to be that just as when a man looks into a metal mirror, such as the ancients used, sees only a dim and ghost-like reflection of himself; so we, gazing ever upon the world of the known, see at best but a shadow of the truth. And just as a man puzzling over a riddle which is insoluble, sees a half, or some less or greater portion, of the meaning wrapped up in it, so it is with reference to all our knowledge. It does but amount to a guess more or less near or wide of the truth. Truth is wrapped in a riddle, life is a great and unexplained parable, but what urges us on is the feeling that by and by we shall stand face to face with the reality, and shall no more have to content ourselves with its mere representation.

I. The enigma of life. An enigma is a form of thought and speech which half reveals and half conceals the soul of truth. If you take any of those proverbs which form the current thought-coin of the world, you will find it to be only a hint of the truth to which it points. Hence almost every such saying may be capped by others which express the exact opposite. There are proverbs which tell us that to live for the day is the best wisdom, others which tell us to consider the end; some which emphasise the value of money, others which warn that loss is more profitable than gain. For we are many-sided creatures, and truth, to seem like truth at all, must be chameleon-like in its aspect. Our Saviour deliberately taught the multitude in riddles, which are but transcripts of that immense parable of nature and human life on which we are ever gazing.

1. Nature is full of oracles which never say quite clearly what is meant. God addresses us in an oblique, not in a direct manner. There are times of anxiety when we wish it would please God to speak to us no more in these riddles. But if the wish were granted it would be unbearable, and your prayer would soon be that this excess of knowledge might be again hidden from your soul.

2. What an enigma is human nature! Few of us know anything but the surface. The great masters in poetry go a little below, but not far. What is human nature? Good or evil? Or, neither good nor evil, but a mixture or conflict, a result determined by education and circumstance? None but the ignorant will undertake to answer such questions oft-hand. You or I know as much about it as Calvin or as Shakespeare, which is not much. The soul is the enigma of enigmas. It is the meeting-point of heaven and hell. It is the scene of contention of good and evil spirits. The angel and the demon, the saint and the sinner, are in each heart. We look from day to day into the mirror of conscience, and see an image fainter or clearer of self. We note changes in that self, yet find that self the same. Sometimes that image frightens us, and again, under the spell of music or of prayer, a celestial glory falls upon that image.

II. What is the temper of mind that befits usin presence of this enigma?

1. Evidently a lowly habit, the very opposite of all conceit and dogmatism about the great problems of existence. Things mean much more than they seem to any one of us. Humility, the sense that our opinions are very partial, begets slowly a truer judgment of the relative value of things. We learn to appraise the contents of the world, and gradually to give them their right place in the scale of spiritual value. And we may learn, above all, better to know our own place and value, somewhere between the highest and the lowest point.

2. And thus, through lowliness, we may reach patience and leisure of mind; for we must not be hasty or impatient if we would live with God. Our eagerness to come to conclusions and to set the world to rights may imply a forgetfulness that the world is in Gods charge, not ours. Our anxiety to get to a terminus seems to ignore that we have all eternity before us. Every great subject requires to be re-examined, every great book to be re-studied and revised. The forms of our religion must undergo incessant change; its essence abides, for the spirit of Jesus is the essence of Christianity. This is rooted not in any particular sort of intellectual acquirement, but simply in love. Love alone abideth.

III. Love is the last solution of the enigma of life. As a principle in our own minds, love, says St. Paul, is greater than either faith or hope. The moment the spring of love dries in the heart, that moment we cease to believe and to hope. If we are true to love in the little world we govern, it cannot well be doubtful that He is true to love in the vast world He governs. The cause of any serious infidelity that exists lies here; men doubt whether God is as loving as themselves. But whence came your own love? You did not create it, and will you deny the Giver in the very strength of His gift? We cannot explain the problem of existence, but we can feel that that is already explained in the mind of God. In proportion as we live in Gods love, shall we find the faith, and the hope, and the courage to face the facts of life, so long as those qualities are needed. (Prof. E. Johnson.)

Christian mysteries

Why God has mingled with the revelation of His will to man so much that is confessedly obscure. Note--

I. That the obscurity is nothing more than is to be expected from analogy. It is remarkable that mysteries sensibly multiply as knowledge increases. In every direction we soon reach the limits of human knowledge. How little does the educated man know of the mysteries connected with our bodily frame; but let the physiologist speak, and he will tell you that every separate member and vessel and nerve of the human frame is full of mystery. The peasant that turns up the ground, and casts in the seed, perceives no mystery in its growth; but the philosopher, who understands the wonderful process of vegetation, is conscious of difficulties which he cannot solve in its several stages towards maturity. Since, then, there is so much that is mysterious in the natural world, revelation is the production of the same Being, and bears the same characteristic feature of its great Original.

II. The mysterious part of Christianity arises from the very nature of the Christian revelation. The truths which it announces transcend the comprehension of the human mind. Who can by searching find out God, who can find out the Almighty to perfection?

1. The doctrine of three persons in one God is an instance of this. The mystery does not consist in any ambiguity of language, but in the nature of the subject; not in the teacher, but in the small ability of the scholar.

2. The facts of revelation are accompanied with a similar difficulty. They do not come under human observation. Redemption through Christ is a series of operations which stands alone, belongs to a class of its own, and is not to be judged of by the measuring line of human policy. As well might a man, ignorant of the rules of art, pass his judgment on its most finished production. As well might the babe of yesterday exercise his faculties on the higher problems of nature, as men attempt to estimate the wisdom, love, and mercy that shine in the gospel of Jesus Christ. His ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, etc.

3. The regeneration of the soul transcends the common observation. It is a fact taught; us by revelation, and experienced by the subject of it; but is only to be studied and known by others through the medium of its results.

4. The resurrection from the dead is not in accordance with our experience. We have no means of ascertaining the account of this truth. There is clearly no impossibility in it. The same power that formed our bodies may obviously reconstruct them. It is a field of Divine operation into which we cannot enter, and the mode in which the work will be accomplished is among the secrets of the Deity.

III. The mystery that accompanies revelation tends to increase the efficacy of the gospel.

1. It tends to humble us before God, which is the great end of the gospel. God is worthy of universal adoration, and the elements of this exercise of the mind are awe and reverential feeling. But this state of mind can never be produced by anything that we fully understand. Familiarity breeds contempt. The more distinctly we realise the limits of our knowledge the deeper will be our impression of the grandeur of the Divine mind. The wisdom of God, in His restorative system of mercy, abases man in the very faculty which caused our fall. He humbles us at the very root of the tree of knowledge, teaching us to submit our understandings to the guidance of His Word.

2. It tends to excite our diligence in examining Divine truth. The obscurity that conceals it is a reason for continuing our researches. God has made His revelation of a kind to try our best faculties. Were all that is to be known easy of apprehension it would be a departure from the usual mode of Divine procedure. In nature the most valuable is not found upon the surface. Gold is dug from the bowels of the earth, and pearls are gathered from the depths of the ocean.

3. It is necessary to make us more desirous of heaven, where we shall enjoy perfect knowledge. The attainment of the loftiest intellect on earth is but the alphabet of knowledge, compared with what we shall know hereafter.

4. It lies at the foundation of the Christians hope. It must be mysterious that God should so love a ruined world. (S. Summers.)

Now and then

Paul had just been speaking of the child and the man, and no doubt that but dimly represents the difference between the Now in this world and the Then in the world to come.

I. Now.

1. Our present organs of vision implied in we see. These are our mental and spiritual powers of apprehension and knowledge. Through these we learn all we know of God. But these organs are weak and defective by reason--

(1) Of sin.

(2) Want of proper activity and culture.

2. Our present medium of seeing--through a glass darkly. Spiritual and Divine things are seen only by reflection, and that which reflects is incapable of giving a full representation, because of--

(1) Its own defectiveness.

(2) Our defective vision.

(3) The magnitude of that which is to be revealed.

The glass through which we see consists of three things--

(a) Nature.

(b) Revelation.

(c) Providence.

These three represent God in His works, His words, and His ways. But that there is mystery and darkness about them who is vain enough to deny? That God is seen in these we all admit; but when, with our weak vision, we peer into these reflectors, what more can we say than that we see through a glass darkly.

II. Then.

1. Our future organs of vision will be very much the same as now; but how greatly developed and improved no mortal may know. The comprehensive knowledge, the strength and sweep of vision enjoyed by the redeemed may defy the powers of the most daring imagination to conceive.

2. Our future medium of seeing--face to face. No glass any more, but blessed contact--actual presence.

(1) The enormity of sin.

(2) The love of God in the gift of His Son.

(3) The righteousness of Gods moral government. (T. Kelly.)

Now and then

There is all the difference between viewing an object through an obscure medium and closely inspecting it with the naked eye. Now we see through a glass darkly in a riddle! So weak are our perceptions that plain truths often puzzle us. It is a matter of congratulation that we do see, though we have much cause for diffidence, because we do but see through a glass darkly. Thank God we do know; but let it check our conceit, we know only in part. Note--

I. Some things that we do see now, which we are to see more fully and distinctly hereafter.

1. Ourselves. To see ourselves is one of the first steps in true religion. The mass of men have never seen themselves. They have only seen the flattering image of themselves.

(1) We have been taught to see our ruin in the fall and our actual sinfulness. But in heaven we shall see, as we have not yet seen, how desperate a mischief was the fall, and the blackness of sin as we have never seen it here.

(2) We know to-day that we are saved; but that robe of righteousness which covers us now, as it shall cover us then, will be better seen by us.

(3) Here we know that we are adopted; but there we shall know better what it is to be the sons of God, for here it doth not yet appear what we shall be, there shall we not only see the estates that belong to us, but actually enjoy them.

2. The Church.

(1) We know there is a Church of God, but there we shall know something more of the numbers of the chosen than we do now, it may be to our intense surprise. There we shall find some amongst the company of Gods elect whom we in our bitterness of spirit had condemned, and there we shall miss some who, in our charity, we have conceived to be perfectly secure.

(2) We shall understand then what the history of the Church has been in all the past, and why it has been so strange a history of conflict and conquest.

3. The providence of God.

(1) We believe all things work together for good to them that love God; but still it is rather a matter of faith than a matter of sight with us. Then some of us will say, I have fretted and troubled myself over what was, after all, the richest mercy the Lord ever sent.

(2) We shall there, perhaps, discover that wars, pestilences, and earthquakes are, after all, necessary cogs in the great wheel of the Divine machinery; and He who sits upon the throne at this moment will then make it manifest to us that His government was right.

4. The doctrines of the gospel and the mysteries of the faith. How much more of authentic truth shall we discern when the mists and shadows have dissolved; and how much more shall we understand when raised to that higher sphere and endowed with brighter faculties none of us can tell.

5. Jesus. We have seen enough of Him to know that He is altogether lovely; we can say of Him, He is all my salvation and all my desire. Yet when we once get to the court of the Great King we shall declare that the half has not been told us. The streets of gold will have small attraction to us, and the harps of angels will but slightly enchant us, compared with the King in the midst of the throne. We shall see Jesus.

6. The pure in heart shall see God. God is seen now in His works and in His Word. Little indeed could these eyes bear of the beatific vision, yet we have reason to expect that, as far as creatures can bear the sight of the infinite Creator, we shall be permitted to see God.

II. How this very remarkable change shall be, effected.

1. No doubt many of these things will be more clearly revealed. Here we are in the dim twilight; there we shall be in the blaze of noon. God has declared something of Himself by His prophets and apostles. He has, through His Son, spoken more plainly. These are the first steps to knowledge. But there the only-wise God shall unveil to us the mysteries, and exhibit to us the glories of His everlasting kingdom. The revelation we now have suits us as me, clad in our poor mortal bodies; the revelation then will suit us as immortal spirits.

2. Here we are at a distance from many of the things we long to know something of, but there we shall be nearer to them.

3. We shall be better qualified to see them than we are now. It would be an inconvenience for us to know here as much as we shall know in heaven. But up there we shall have our minds and our systems strengthened to receive more, without the damage that would come to us here from overleaping the boundaries of order, Divinely appointed.

4. Besides, the atmosphere of heaven is so much clearer than this. Here there is the smoke of daily care, the constant dust of toil, the mist of trouble perpetually rising.

III. The practical lessons.

1. Gratitude. Let us be very thankful for all we do see. Those who do not see now even through a glass darkly, shall never see face to face.

2. Hopefulness. You shall see better by and by.

3. Forbearance. Our disputes are often childish. Two persons in the dark have differed about a colour. If we brought candles in they would not show what it was; but if we look at it to-morrow morning we shall be able to tell. How many difficulties in the Word of God are like this! Not yet can they be justly discriminated; till the day dawn the apocalyptic symbols will not be all transparent to our own understanding. Besides, we have no time to waste while there is so much work to do.

4. Aspiration. It is natural for us to want to know, but we shall not know as we are known till we are present with the Lord. We are at school now; we shall go soon to the great university of heaven, and take our degree there. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Now and then

I. Now we see all things in the mirror of our own experience. It is impossible for either child or man to travel beyond the stage of knowledge, or experience, to which he has reached in his ideas and judgment of things. The uncivilised barbarian of the wilds cannot be made to realise, by description, the wonders of a great modern city. Thus through an imperfect mirror of knowledge and feeling we now see--

1. God.

2. The Saviour.

3. Heaven.

II. Then we see all things by actual presence and contact. Face to face.

1. The glory of God.

2. The love of the Saviour.

3. The wonders of heaven.

So shall we know even as we are known. The child becomes a man. Imperfection of knowledge and experience give way to the perfection of both. Then, like the queen of Sheba, we shall find that not the half has been told us. (Clerical World.)

The now and then of life

The present life, in and by itself, is imperfect. Its completeness consists alone in viewing it as a part of a more complete whole. The present life is but a side, necessitating, to its completeness, another side. Viewed as a part of an entire whole, its discrepancies are corrected, its mysteries partially solved, and its significance and importance immeasurably enhanced. Note--

I. The extremes of life, as viewed relative to time:--now and then. These extremes are parts of the same piece, only different in place, and perhaps also in circumstances and relations. The now and then of life--

1. Are dependent upon each other. The then of life is dependent upon the now of it as to its fact and character. There must be some antecedent now before there can be an anticipative then. The now would be worth but little without the then, any more than to-day could be highly prized without a hope of tomorrow. The then inspires us in our present discouragements, or depresses us in its anticipation. The thenof life influences our minds as we view it applicable to our state and character. The guilty receives it with fear, the innocent with joy.

2. Are extremes only possible in conscious reality to superior beings. Now belongs to all existences alike; but only a rational being can conceive in thought of the future, and he, as a moral being, can anticipate it through his hope or fear.

3. Have in them all provided and possible for us. All the past crowds the present, and will follow us, in some form or other, to the future. All that is needed to fill the present hour and fit us for the future is given us in the now, and all the blessings and privileges of the.heaven of the future will be included in the then. Whatever you need is within the compass of the now: whatever you hope and wish is comprehended in the then.

4. Present themselves very differently to our conviction and faith. The present is a matter of direct consciousness, the future is a matter of inference. Our experience is all in the now. We look at the then through promises and hope. The religion of the present would not only be absurd without the future, but groundless and impossible.

5. Are comprehensive only of one order. The moral order of truth and rectitude which obtains now will be the same then. The authority which demands certain things now will be in force and unchanged then; nor will the essential powers of man be different then to what they are now.

6. May be extremely different, and in no case will they be identical. Now we maybe happy and successful, but there may a then when these will not be our portion any more. Let the now be true and right, and the then will have its hope and brightness.

II. The superiority of the then over the now. As regards--

1. The mode of perception. In this state we behold spiritual objects through a glass. All the means and things in our earthly state are but glasses to show something unseen and spiritual above sense and our present imperfect perceptions. What is the universe but one glorious glass to show us the more glorious Maker? And what is the Bible but a glass of the Divine and spiritual in man and the universe? Christianity, in all its means and ordinances, is a glass to us of the real and spiritual above and beyond themselves. But with all the assistance of our glass media our perception is feeble of things invisible and eternal. And why? Is it in our glasses or our way of using them, or in a deficiency in our spiritual perception? Partly in all these. But in our future state it will be face to face. There will be no veil over the face of things, and many things we use are things for rude childish condition: the condition of manhood will dispense with them as unfit and useless. In the then condition of our being, the distance will be reduced into nearness, the attitude will be advantageous, the expression will be clear and in sight, and the powers of the soul will be strengthened and matured.

2. Clearness. In this state of things we see nothing perfectly clear. But in our future state not only win our perceptions be more acute and perfect, we shall not be subject to delusions and illusions, which so much confuse and mar our perceptions in this world.

3. The degree of knowledge. We in part know something about most things, but in the light of another day we shall probably learn that our profoundest knowledge is but a small part. The present condition of things does not allow us to know except in part. The imperfections of our senses, the weakness and afflictions of our minds and bodies, the cares and anxieties of life, the want of means, the shortness of life, and other obstructions, are things which prevent our knowledge being anything but very partial. But such imperfection is not to be always our lot. Then we shall know as now we are known. We shall know holy intelligences as they shall know us. As they and we are but part of the same family, and they the most perfect, their knowledge of us appears to be a natural conclusion. As they know us in our lower home, so shall we know them in their higher one. As they know us in our trials, so shall we know them in their joys. Though our knowledge of God will be infinitely less perfect of Him than His is of us, yet He will be known to us as real, as a fact, as we are to Him.

III. The advancement of life as viewed between the present and the future, Advancement, in some form or other, is seen everywhere. Life is a school for it, and everywhere there are suitable means and agents. This law runs through Christian life, and never is suspended, either in time or eternity.

1. It is a personal advancement. The few cannot procure it for the many, or the many for the few.

2. It is the advancement of the good and true in life--from the childhood of weakness to the manhood of strength.

3. It is a thing of consciousness to its subjects. The advancement which is outside our conscious knowledge must be outside our will, faith, and activity, for the thing that is written there we have in common with them. Such an advancement is the one of a plant or a brute, and not of a rational man.

4. It is an advancement which is comprehensive of all requisite life. It is complete both in quality and degree.

5. It is an advancement above the power of common and natural means to produce. (T. Hughes.)

Present knowledge and future

I. The imperfection of our present knowledge of Divine things. It is said to be twofold, an imperfection of kind and an imperfection of degree.

1. The first is illustrated by two comparisons.

(1) We see by means of a mirror; that is to say, it is a reflection of truth we have at present, not the very truth itself. The copy is both defective and misleading. How often is the face of the mirror occupied with other images! How often is the vision distorted by passion or guilty remembrance!

(2) We see darkly, in a riddle, enigma, or dark saying. Our knowledge comes to us through words, the source of so much misunderstanding and confusion. We apply a human language to measure Divine things. What is infinity, eternity? Each a riddle.

2. But our present knowledge is also imperfect in degree. I know in part. Our great difficulty in religion is to know how to combine. We have several portions of Divine truth communicated to us, but in many cases without the connecting link--Gods justice and mercy: His hatred of sin, and permission of the existence of evil; mans free will and Gods free grace. But we know that God sees them in one. And what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.

II. The future perfection of our knowledge.

1. But then face to face. Our knowledge of truth will be direct; not by reflection, but by intuition. And it will be personal. Face to face implies a person: The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2. Even as I was known. Therefore our knowledge will be thorough; through and through. God is a heart-searching God. And it will be comprehensive. Gods insight is large as well as minute. Notwithstanding a fault, He sees a servant; notwithstanding a good quality, He sees an enemy. Seeing minutest qualities, He judges of the character as a whole. We also shall see Gods truth in its reconciling harmony and perfect unity. The imperfection of our present knowledge of Divine things must make no one idle in the pursuit of it. In this also, Whosoever hath, to him shall be given. Finally, though many of our theologies may be contradicted, nothing that we have known of the living Saviour Himself will be contradicted, nothing that we have learned of Him by experience, or seen of Him in prayer. (Dean Vaughan.)

The knowledge of God

What Paul prophesies for man, Christ already possesses. Paul says, Some day I shall know God as God knows me. Jesus says, As God knows me, even so I do now know God. This is mans highest hope. It has been realised already in the man Christ Jesus. Thus we know that our hope is not a vain hope.

1. God knows me, says St. Paul. That was his fundamental conviction. But that conviction involved another. If the Father knew the child, it must be in the childs power to know the Father. Paul was no agnostic. Known perfectly, he knew but in part; but the time would come when he should know as he was known. And this certainty of a future knowledge was itself a present knowledge.

2. This future knowledge means perfect obedience in the future; perfect harmony between the childs action and the Fathers will. When Jesus said, The Father knoweth Me, He meant, God has a will for every act of Mine And when He said, I know the Father, He meant, In every act of Mine, I do the Fathers will. So with us. With perfect freedom answering to every will of God. There alone is peace and power. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)

Imperfect knowledge

Perhaps you are inclined to ask, Why are there mysteries at all in the revelations vouchsafed by God to man? Why should not the truths which it is of importance for us to know, be declared in language level to our capacities, and involving in them nothing to stagger our belief, or perplex our reason? I would meet this question with another, Why are there mysteries in the works of God? Why is this material universe filled with wonders which we cannot explain? and why are the design and objects for which an immeasurable portion of it was created, altogether concealed from us? There are persons of such sluggish and unthinking habits that thy live constantly in the midst of marvels without ever bestowing a thought upon them; and yet these very men who take all for granted, and never even appear to be aware of these everyday miracles, are apt, all at once, to grow scrupulous and over-cautious, and to demand proofs such as cannot be supplied, when they are called to give their assent to the mysteries of inspiration. Others there are who make the human mind their study; and surely there cannot be a subject more open to constant observation and intimate search than this. And yet, to teach us, as it would almost seem, how very limited our knowledge is, and how much there is to be believed which cannot be understood, these very inquiries into our own mental actions and endowments, appear to be, of all others, the least attended with any conclusive or satisfactory results. Others, again, there are who, building upon the unchangeable foundation of abstract truths, have investigated the laws which govern the heavenly bodies, and traced the handiwork of God in the glories of the firmament. But this very pursuit, which of all others most magnifies the capacities of the human mind, and seems to elevate our race to rank but a little lower than the angels, what does it open to us but fresh mysteries, and fresh demands upon our faith and humility? That there are mysteries both in nature and revelation, affords therefore some presumption that, since in this respect at least the systems are not opposed to each other, both may have the same author. But this presumption is strengthened when we trace the analogy further, and consider the rules which seem to hold alike in the mysteries of nature and in those of revelation. In the first place, they are matters which we are not qualified to understand; and in the second, they would not profit us at all, in our present state of existence, even if we could understand them. The mode of our present existence and the arrangements needful for its support, are familiar, and to a certain extent intelligible to us; but what conception could by any means be conveyed to us of existences and qualities unlike our own? The utmost stretch of human language could only express to us what they were not; and so far therefore from having any information communicated to us, we certainly might be more perplexed, but not wiser, than we were before. If this be true respecting the inhabitant of some other planet, must it not be equally true respecting the nature of the unseen world of spirits, and of the supreme and eternal God who reigns there? And, again, if we could understand them, what advantage would it be to us? Should we be better able to control our passions, by being informed about those who had no such passions to control? Should we be directed to a better use of our own faculties, by hearing of a race who had no pursuits or qualities in common with ourselves? God permits, and science enables us to learn, just so much with regard to the heavenly bodies, their orbits, and variations, as may in any way conduce to the enlargement of our understanding, or our general well-being. To allow more than this, to pamper an unseemly and useless curiosity, would not be in agreement with the unfathomable wisdom of Him who does nothing in vain. The application of the same limit to the revelations contained in His Word is sufficiently obvious. But there is a still further analogy in the practical results which follow from the existence of these mysteries, and which they were doubtless intended to effect. What can so forcibly inculcate humility as the experimental proof of our own ignorance and infirmity? And if such be the salutary lesson which natures mysteries impress upon a thinking and a well-ordered mind, do not the mysteries of revelation enforce the same upon the student of Gods will and Word? But further than this, they also indirectly serve to promote the acquirement of most important truths. The philosopher, in his attempts to investigate that which is inexplicable by human powers, has often been led incidentally to the discovery of much real knowledge; and he, whose curiosity may have led him to open the Bible with the view of displaying his own sagacity in unravelling its marvels, may, in the end, have not only had his vanity chastened and, corrected, but his soul enriched with some treasure of Divine wisdom, revealing juster views of himself, and better hopes and desires than he had entertained before. Surely, then, the analogy between the mysteries of the material universe and the revealed Word of God; the rules which appear to hold respecting both; and the practical results to which both are calculated to lead, would teach us to ascribe them to one gracious and incomprehensible Author, and to acquiesce in them, without one shadow of misgiving or inquisitive discontent. But besides this, there is another reason why mysteries must form a necessary part of a revelation proceeding from heaven, and at, other practical consequence of their existence to be deduced from the text. If the Word of God contained only just what we could understand, might we not with some show of reason doubt whether it could be Gods Word at all? Might we not say, The Supreme Being would surely never have interfered to instruct His people, where their own natural powers might have proved a sufficient guide. That which man can understand so clearly in all its bearings, it is hardly too much to say that man might have discovered; and the absence of everything which calls for submissive faith is no weak argument against its Divine original? Mysteries then may, in some sort, be called the very credentials of a revelation. But again; I said that there is a practical consequence of the existence of mysteries in the gospel of our salvation, to be deduced from the expressions of St. Paul in the text. We are anxious to understand all mysteries and all knowledge. He tells us where this yearning shall be satisfied to the uttermost. It shall be in that kingdom of glory where we shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face; where we shall not know in part, but know even as we are known. He that would reach to such intellectual sublimities must have had his soul purified to a meetness for the society of angels, and for approaching the more immediate presence of the Eternal. And further yet, the illustration taken by the apostle may aptly represent the posture of mind which befits the aspirant after heavenly wisdom. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. What are the characteristics of a good and intelligent child? His curiosity; his simplicity; his ready acquiescence in such explanations as he may receive upon the subjects of his inquiries: his cheerful confidence in his instructors, and his willing obedience to their injunctions. (T. Ainger, M.A.)

The imperfection of our present knowledge

I. The properties of our present knowledge which the apostle here mentions.

1. This may refer to the extent or objects of our knowledge.

(1) It is partial. Compare the views of a worm or any minuter insect with those of a man who has the largest and most comprehensive sight of the works of nature, and you have a faint image of the unknown difference there is between our present and future sphere of knowledge.

(2) We know but in part even those few things that do fall within the compass of our present knowledge. There is not the least particle of matter we see, or the least dust of earth we tread on, but what puzzles the most penetrating and philosophic minds. We see only the outside of things, their external properties, their dimensions, form, figure, and colour; but as to their essence or internal substance, the cohesion of their constituent parts, and the laws of that cohesion, we can give no account at all of them. And if we know so little of material, how much less do we know of spiritual substances, which we have much fewer helps and opportunities of being acquainted with! And if we examine our knowledge of abstracted truths, or points of speculation and reason, how very defective does it appear!

2. Our knowledge is not only partial, but very indistinct. We see through a glass. This glass is twofold--reason and faith; by which we realise and represent to the mind future, distant, and invisible things. And happy is it for us that we have these excellent glasses to assist the eye of the mind, whose sight without the help of both would be very short and very defective. But the unhappiness of it is that these glasses, though very excellent in themselves, are often obscured and spoiled by the mists of errors, passions, and prejudices which hang upon them, and make them unable to penetrate through the darkness which lies between them and the distant objects they are intended to descry, which render our sight of those objects very obscure and indistinct. Not to say that imagination, as a false medium, often comes between, which enormously magnifies some objects and diminishes others as much.

3. Our present knowledge is not only very confined and indistinct, but very uncertain also. Our best knowledge is often but mere conjecture, and that conjecture may depend only on mere fancy, arising from a particular state or motion of the animal spirits, and resting more on mechanical than rational supports. For we not only see through a glass, but darkly. Future things are as yet concealed from us, wrapped up in allegory, riddle, or dark enigma, which gives us only a few indirect hints or a mystical representation of the thing intended, by which we are left to guess it out. And hence it is that multitudes form no notion at all concerning the objects of abstract science, whilst some are very dubious in the right, and others very confident in the wrong. And not only matters of abstruse speculation, but the plainest things in religion are by many but uncertainly understood. Not that the things themselves are uncertain, but it is uncertain whether the persons that boast the greater knowledge of them do form a conception of them that is certainly right, especially considering the medium they look through--that is, the lusts, passions, and prejudices with which they are beset.

4. The last view which the apostle gives us of the deficiency of human knowledge in the present state is by comparing it with that of children or infants. We are as yet in our non-age, and but children in understanding. Children, you know, through the immaturity of their faculties, the liveliness of their fancy, the strength of their passions, and inexperience of their age, are very liable to be mistaken; to take up with the first notions that are instilled without examination, to retain the first impressions that are made, whether right or wrong, to be fond of the little knowledge they have, to be confident in it, and to despise others for the want of it; whilst persons of greater sense, experience, and understanding, see that all their confidence is owing to their ignorance, and look upon them with pity. But not with half so much pity as we shall look upon ourselves hereafter when, emerged out of this obscurity in which we dwell, we look back from that region of light upon this land of darkness, and consider all our former ignorance, errors, false judgment, confidence, and prejudices, when we were but children in knowledge; when we saw through a glass darkly, and knew but in part, and spake and reasoned and thought as mere infants in understanding.

II. What kind of knowledge the apostle is here speaking of.

1. How partial, indistinct, uncertain, and low is our knowledge of the ever-blessed God! We diminish His Divine dignities in all our thoughts; we depreciate His excellencies in our most elevated conceptions: when we put our mind to the utmost stretch to form the sublimest ideas of His eternal glories, how soon do we find it overwhelmed with the weight of so astonishing a subject! For ah! how can immensity be confined in a hands breadth? Here all finite faculties are entirely swallowed up, like a drop in the ocean, and we are lost in astonishment at the poverty of our powers.

2. It is but very little we know of ourselves. We know not the wonders either of our external or internal frame; the faculties of our nature; our capacities for service and happiness; the motives and springs of our conduct; the passions that govern us; the conduct and improvement of our superior powers; the influences to which they are liable; the purposes to which they are to be directed, and the manner in which they are to be employed in order to our happiness and usefulness, for which ends we received them. And which is worse, we do not so much as know either our ignorance or knowledge; we shut our eyes upon the former and wonderfully admire the latter, though it be, perhaps, but little better.

3. Our knowledge of Divine and religious things in general is exceedingly defective. It is sad to see what amazing ignorance there is amougst a multitude even of Christians about the great things of religion; and that not only in the deep and disputable mysteries of it, but in some of its most plain and important principles; nay, about the essential nature and most substantial truths of it, and even the plainest parts of practical religion; and this not only amongst the lowest order of men who have had no advantages of education, but among persons of a more elevated rank, who have had sufficient opportunities of being better instructed; but having no heart to improve the prize put into their hands, are apt to despise it as a very unnecessary part of learning, and neither value others the more for having it, nor themselves the less for wanting it.

4. How inscrutable are the ways of Providence! If we turn but our eyes to the government of this lower world, we are soon lost in the mazes of infinite wisdom, and can never in the least conceive how good can arise from so much visible evil, order out of so much confusion, and beauty out of so much deformity. And yet that ,all things under the government of God are well and wisely managed we cannot doubt. But if we turn our thoughts to other worlds and other species of created beings (of which, without doubt, there are innumerable), all under the wise care and government of the same Almighty and Universal Monarch who is the daily object of our adoration, how do we blush and mourn under our present ignorance, and look upon ourselves and all our knowledge comparatively as nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity!

III. Whence it is that all our best attainments in knowledge are at present so very poor and defective.

1. Our mental powers themselves are at present but very feeble and defective.

2. The powers of the human mind at present are not only weak, but miserably confined and cramped in their operations by the union of the soul with a crazy and corruptible body.

3. Our sphere of knowledge is here very much contracted. Alas! what knowledge of the world or men can be expected from one who hath lived all his life in a dungeon?

4. Under all these disadvantages, the time that is here allowed us for attaining knowledge is very short.

5. How often are we diverted from this pursuit! How many avocations do we meet with from the world and the affairs of it, which necessarily claim a good part of our attention and care, and rob us of that time which might have been more usefully employed in augmenting the furniture of the mind!

6. How often are we perplexed, entangled, and bewildered by our own prejudices and those of others, whereby we are often turned aside from the right path of wisdom, and put upon a wrong scent. So that instead of making a progress in the right way of knowledge, we have enough to do to recover our wanderings from it. And it is sometimes the main business of the latter part of life to retract the errors of the former. To what end, now, perhaps you will be apt to say, have you given us this very diminutive view of human knowledge?

I answer--

1. To excite our most ardent desires after that world of light and liberty where, disencumbered from our present embarrassments, we shall enjoy the pleasures of pure and perfect science.

2. To show how very little reason the most understanding man on earth has to be vain of his knowledge.

3. That holy, humble, upright souls, who have had but few means and opportunities of attaining knowledge, may not be too much discouraged under a consciousness of their present ignorance. (J. Mason, A.M.)

The perfection of our future knowledge

I. The properties of our future knowledge.

1. It will be distinct and clear; no longer confused and obscure as it now is while we look through a glass.

2. It will be certain and satisfying; no longer conjectural and enigmatical as it now is while we look through a glass darkly.

3. It will be perfect and complete in its kind; and no longer defective as it now is whilst we know but in part, for we shall then know even as we are known.

II. Some of the various objects of it.

1. The most glorious and felicitating object of our thus improved and enlightened understanding will be the ever-blessed God Himself. It is true the great and blessed God, as a pure and perfect Spirit, can never be seen with bodily eyes. But we must not think that the soul is capable of no distinct and clear perceptions but what it receives by means of bodily organs. It has even now a power of realising and ascertaining, of contemplating and enjoying things that are not seen. And when our mental powers shall be unconfined, enlarged, and improved, as we are sure they will be in heaven (and we know not but there may be new faculties superadded, suitable to the new objects of contemplation), we shall then as distinctly and clearly discern and contemplate spiritual and invisible objects, as we now do material ones by an eye of sense.

2. Then shall we begin to know ourselves. For whatever it may be thought, man is as yet one of the greatest mysteries to himself; that is a subject about which he knows as little as almost anything which falls within the compass of his understanding. Then he will begin to think as an immortal creature ought to do, which he very rarely does now, whilst his mind is sensualised, his understanding cramped, his sentiments debased, and his heart captivated by low and earthly things. Then will he look up to his original with perpetual adoration and joy, and live up to the dignity of an intelligent and immortal being, made for the honour of his great Creator, in whose praise and service all his powers will be for ever delightfully employed.

3. Our sense of religious and Divine things will then be strong, comprehensive, and clear. Then only shall we begin to be infallible, and perhaps be ashamed of our former ignorance when we thought ourselves most so. Then shall we discern the wrong paths in which we trod, as plainly as a benighted traveller at the rising of the morning sun, and be able, it may be, to trace our errors up to their original, the first wrong impression we received which insensibly turned us aside from the path of truth, which we were never able afterwards to recover, whilst at the same time we shall adore the guard and guidance of Divine grace which preserved our feeble and fickle minds from imbibing errors of a more dangerous and pernicious tendency.

4. Glorious and surprising then will be the new discoveries we shall make in the works of God. The hidden mysteries of nature which now lie too deep for our ken, and baffle all our most exquisite and laborious research, will then lie open to our view, and we shall have an intuitive knowledge of what it now costs us the study of an age to attain an imperfect notice of.

5. What a sweet and sublime entertainment will the enlarged mind enjoy in contemplating the wise and wondrous ways of Providence!

III. What just and solid reasons we have to believe that our knowledge hereafter wilt, be so complete and satisfying.

1. Because we are sure that in heaven there will be nothing wanting to perfect the happiness of a glorified spirit.

2. Its powers, capacities, and desires will be then inconceivably enlarged and opened, and consequently the objects and extent of its knowledge must be proportionably increased.

Conclusion:

1. Let us remember that all the natural powers and faculties of the mind will then be in their full strength and maturity.

2. Our sphere of knowledge will then be vastly enlarged.

3. The enlarged powers of our mind will then be free from all their present encumbrances.

4. We shall have no wrong prejudices and prepossessions to overcome or guard against, by which our free progress in true knowledge is now so much obstructed.

5. We shall then meet with no more avocations to divert us from the pursuit of knowledge.

6. This speedy progress in knowledge we shall make, not only a few years, but to all eternity. (J. Mason, M.A.)

The joy of revelation

Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as also I am known fully. What joy, what exultation, what ardour, what longing there is in these words! They carry us far on and far away--far on beyond this present time of this passing world, far away from the scenes of this present life. Then--when time and change and varying seasons are past--then, when the alternations of cloud and sunshine are over--when doubt, and difficulty, and perplexity have been left behind--then I shall know fully. Then, in a sense more complete than the words have ever yet borne, I shall be able to say, The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. His vision has reached the innermost shrine. Like another St. John, a door has been opened to him in heaven. A voice has said to him, Come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. But for what was the apostles heart yearning? He was yearning for the full knowledge of God (ἐπιγνῶσις). Yes, but what made him yearn for that knowledge? Because he had known the joy of knowledge. Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully. But is, then, knowledge a joy? All things round us witness to the fact that knowledge is believed to be a source of happiness. And does not every advance in knowledge make us eager for a further advance still, as mountain climbers find fresh peaks still luring them on to the delight of further efforts? Are we not ready to cry out ,gain and again with the apostle, We know only in part? And if this be so with all forms of mere earthly knowledge, must it not be far more so with heavenly knowledge? These strange powers which we possess of thought, of reflection, of consideration, of meditation, of insight, of memory, of intuition, of investigation, were not given us that they might be spent only on what one of our poets calls so well these earth-born idols of this lower air. Man was not made only that he might know the records of history, the niceties of language, the wonders of physical science, the conclusions of mathematics. We were created with all our powers of mind that we might know God. Not in vain has theology been called Scientiarum Scientia. The science of all sciences is the knowledge of God. Aye, and it was the joy of this knowledge which was filling the apostles heart when he wrote these words, Then shall I know fully, even as also I am known fully. Already he knows God in the tenderness of His Fatherhood, in the fulness of His pardoning love, in the atonement wrought out by the Son of God, in the might of the indwelling Spirit, in the richness of the gifts poured out on, poured into the Church. That knowledge has grown upon him more and more since the day when the pleading voice of his Lord broke in upon him with the question, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? Every past revelation has brought to him an increase of faith, of hope, of love, of peace, of happiness, and joy, and has taught him to realise more fully what will be the exceeding bliss of the complete revelation of God to those who are brought to see Him face to face. So rejoicing, so hoping, so expecting, so yearning, lie cries out, Then shall I know fully, even as also I am fully known. All bars all hindrances, all veils will be withdrawn. And now let us see how the joy of this knowledge came so to grow in the mind of St. Paul. First, clearly, because he set himself with intense earnestness to receive in all its vividness and distinctness the revelation that came from God. He felt deeply the tenderness of God in making known the truth. He felt as strongly the responsibility of man for receiving into his mind the fulness of truth in all its purity, in preserving it from all error that might dim or disturb it. No doubt ever crossed his mind that God could be known. Still less did he question the power of God to reveal Himself. How should not the best of all Fathers teach His children? Then quick upon the thought of this love of God came the feeling that if God is so loving as to tell to His children the secrets of their own nature--their sin, their fall, the way of their recovery, and of their union with Himself, nay, if God goes further still and tells them even the secrets of the mystery of His own being, then the children in very gratitude must be ready to learn in its fulness the lessons that the Heavenly Father has given them. So see how jealously St. Paul ever guards the truth. Not an angel from heaven is to persuade us to receive any other gospel than that which we have received. Yes, indeed, the knowledge of God grew upon his soul because he set himself to use in their fulness and exactness all the Divine utterances of truth. He was the unswerving disciple of a Master that spoke with authority, and he taught men to observe all things which that Master had commanded. Is not this the secret of the growth of knowledge of God--the getting clearly before the soul the things that He has taught? To us, as to him, it will bring a higher joy than any other kind of knowledge can bring. In us, as in him, it will waken up a thirst for a fuller, a more complete knowledge. To us, as to him, the knowledge which we have already as a gift from God, will be a pledge that it is the will of God to carry to their highest perfection the revelations which even here have been so full of joy. Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as also I am fully known. Even as also I am fully known. As we hear these words a new thought comes breathing out through them. It was not only because he had been so careful to receive the revelation that comes from God that the knowledge of God had grown in the soul of the apostle. No, he had known God personally, something as one friend knows another; nay, in a manner more intimate. There had been between him and God the close communion of the creature with the Creator, of the redeemed with the Redeemer, of the spirit of man with the indwelling and sanctifying Spirit. There is no knowledge which so grows, which so blesses, as the knowledge which the soul gains by living in close communion with God. Oh! live, move, act, speak, think as in His sacred, loving, penetrating presence. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Live with souls kept consciously ever open to His influences. In the power of the Holy Ghost press into an ever closer union with the living Christ till He lives more wholly in you and you more wholly in Him. Then, then indeed, the joy of knowing God will grow more and more upon you. The sacred doctrine of the Trinity, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost will be no mere abstract truth to you. It will be a revelation of a love personal to yourself in the light of which you will live. (R. W. Randall, M.A.)

The future state a self-conscious state

A moments reflection will convince any one that the article and fact of death must of itself make a vast accession to the amount of a mans knowledge, because death introduces him into an entirely new state of existence. Foreign travel adds much to our stock of ideas, because we go into regions of the earth of which we had known only by the hearing of the ear. But the great and last journey that man takes carries him over into a province of which no book, not even the Bible itself, gives him any distinct cognition, as to the style of its scenery or the texture of its objects. But death carries man over into the new and entirely different mode of existence, so that he knows by direct observation and immediate intuition. A flood of new information pours in upon the disembodied spirit, such as he can,or by any possibility acquire upon earth, and yet such as he cannot by any possibility escape from in his new residence. But not only does the exchange of worlds make a vast addition to our stores of information respecting the nature of the invisible realm, and the mode of existence there, it also makes a vast addition to the kind and degree of our knowledge respecting ourselves, and our personal relationships to God. This is by far the most important part of the new acquisition which we gain by the passage from time to eternity, and it is to this that the apostle directs attention in the text. The latter clause of the text specifies the general characteristic of existence in the future world. It is a mode of existence in which the rational mind knows even as it is known. It is a world of knowledge--of conscious knowledge. In thus unequivocally asserting that our existence beyond the tomb is one of distinct consciousness, revelation has taught us what we most desire and need to know. The future, then, is a mode of existence in which the soul knows even as it is known. But this involves a perception in which there is no error, and no intermission. For the human spirit in eternity is known by the omniscient God. If, then, it knows in the style and manner that God knows, there can be no misconception or cessation in its cognition. Here, then, we have a glimpse into the nature of our eternal existence. It is a state of distinct and unceasing knowledge of moral truth and moral objects. The cognition is a fixed quantity. Given the soul, and the knowledge is given. If it be holy, it is always conscious of the fact. If it be sinful, it cannot for an instant lose the distressing consciousness of sin. In neither instance will it be necessary, as it generally is in this life, to make a special effort and a particular examination, in order to know the personal character. Knowledge of God and His law, in the future life, is spontaneous and inevitable; no creature can escape it. If the most thoughtless person that now walks the globe could only have a clear perception of that kind of knowledge which is awaiting him upon the other side of the tomb, he would become the most thoughtful and the most anxious of men. It would sober him like death itself. It is only because a man is unthinking, or because he imagines that the future world will be like the present one, only longer in duration, that he is so indifferent regarding it. (T. W. Shedd, D.D.)

Of a future state

Was such an obscure and imperfect discovery of another life worthy to proceed from God? Does it not afford some ground, either to tax His goodness or to suspect the evidence of its coming from Him? It plainly appears to be the plan of the Deity, in all His dispensations, to mix light with darkness, evidence with uncertainty. Whatever the reasons of this procedure be, the fact is undeniable. If, then, the future state of man be not placed in so full and clear a light as we desire, this is no more than what the analogy of all religion, both natural and revealed, gave us reason to expect. But such a solution of the difficulty will be thought imperfect. It may, perhaps, not give much satisfaction to show that all religion abounds with difficulties of a like nature. Let us call upon the sceptic, and desire him to say what measure of information would afford him entire satisfaction. This, he will tell us, requires not any long or deep deliberation. He desires only to have his view enlarged beyond the limits of this corporeal state. Instead of resting upon evidence which requires discussion, he demands the everlasting mansions to be so displayed, if in truth such mansions there be, as to place faith on a level with the evidence of sense. What noble and happy effects, he exclaims, would instantly follow, if man thus beheld his present and his future existence at once before him! But let us pause and suspend our admiration, till we coolly examine the consequences that would follow from this supposed reformation of the universe. Consider the nature and circumstances of man. Introduced into the world in an indigent condition, he is supported at first by the care of others: and, as soon as he begins to act for himself, finds labour and industry to be necessary for sustaining his life and supplying his wants. Mutual defence and interest give rise to society; and society, when formed, requires distinctions of property, diversity of conditions, subordinations of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance the general good. In a word, by the destination of his Creator and the necessities of his nature, man commences at once an active, not merely a contemplative being. Religion assumes him as such. Suppose, now, that veil to be withdrawn which conceals another world from our view. Let all obscurity vanish; let us no longer see darkly, as through a glass; but let every man enjoy that intuitive perception of Divine and eternal objects which the sceptic was supposed to desire. The immediate effect of such a discovery would be to annihilate in our eye all human objects, and to produce a total stagnation in the affairs of the world. All the studies and pursuits, the arts and labours, which now employ the activity of man, which support the order, or promote the happiness of society, would lie neglected and abandoned. Those desires and fears, those hopes and interests, by which we are at present stimulated, would cease to operate. Human life would present no objects sufficient to rouse the mind, to kindle the spirit of enterprise, or to urge the hand of industry. Whatever is now attractive in society would appear insipid. In a word, he would be no longer a fit inhabitant of this world, nor be qualified for those exertions which are allotted to him in his present sphere of being. But all his faculties being sublimated above the measure of humanity, he would be in the condition of a being of superior order, who, obliged to reside among men, would regard their pursuits with scorn, as dreams, trifles, and puerile amusements of a day. But to this reasoning it may perhaps be replied, that such consequences as I have now stated, supposing them to follow, deserve not much regard. Would not such a change prove the highest blessing to man? Is not his attachment to worldly objects the great source both of his misery and his guilt? How far the change would contribute to his welfare comes to be considered. If there be any principle fully ascertained by religion, it is that this life was intended for a state of trial and improvement to man. His preparation for a better world required a gradual purification carried on by steps of progressive discipline. The situation, therefore, here assigned him was such as to answer this design by calling forth all his active powers, by giving full scope to his moral dispositions, and bringing to light his whole character. Hence it became proper that difficulty and temptation should arise in the course of his duty. Such is the plan of Divine wisdom for mans improvement. But put the case that the plans devised by human wisdom were to take place, and that the rewards of the just were to be more fully displayed to view, the exercise of all those graces which I have mentioned would be entirely superseded. Their very names would be unknown. The obscurity which at present hangs over eternal objects preserves the competition. Remove that obscurity, and you remove human virtue from its place. You overthrow that whole system of discipline by which imperfect creatures are, in this life, gradually trained up for a more perfect state. From what has been said, it now appears that no reasonable objection to the belief of a future state arises from the imperfect discoveries of it which we enjoy; from the difficulties that are mingled with its evidence; from our seeing as through a glass, darkly; and being left to walk by faith, and not by sight. It cannot be otherwise, it ought not to be otherwise in our present state. The evidence which is afforded is sufficient for the conviction of a candid mind, though not so striking as to withdraw our attention from the present world, or altogether to overcome the impression of sensible objects. In such evidence it becomes us to acquiesce, without indulging either doubts or complaints. For, upon the supposition of immortality, this life is no other than the childhood of existence; and the measures of our knowledge must be proportioned to such a state. In a word, the whole course of things is so ordered that we neither, by an irregular and precipitate education, become men too soon, nor, by a fond and trifling indulgence, be suffered to continue children for ever. Let these reflections not only remove the doubts which may arise from our obscure knowledge of immortality, but likewise produce the highest admiration of the wisdom of our Creator. The structure of the natural world affords innumerable instances of profound design, which no attentive spectator can survey without wonder. In the moral world, where the workmanship is of much finer and more delicate contexture, subjects of still greater admiration open to view. We have now seen that the darkness of mans condition is no less essential to his well-being than the light which he enjoys. His internal powers and his external situation appear to be exactly fitted to each other. In order to do justice to the subject, I must observe that the same reasoning which has been now employed with respect to our knowledge of immortality is equally applicable to many other branches of intellectual knowledge. Thus, why we are permitted to know so little of the nature of that Eternal Being who rules the universe; why the manner in which He operates on the natural and moral world is wholly concealed. To all these, and several other inquiries of the same kind which often employ the solicitous researches of speculative men, the answer is the degree of knowledge desired would prove incompatible with the design and with the proper business of this life. It is therefore reserved for a more advanced period of our nature. One instance, in particular, of Divine wisdom is so illustrious, and corresponds so remarkably with our present subject, that I cannot pass it over without notice; that is the concealment under which Providence has placed the future events of our life on earth. How cruel is Providence! we are apt to exclaim, in denying to man the power of foresight, and in limiting him to the knowledge of the present moment! But while fancy indulges such vain desires and criminal complaints, this coveted foreknowledge must clearly appear to the eye of reason to be the most fatal gift which the Almighty could bestow. If, in this present mixed state, all the successive scenes of distress through which we are to pass, were laid before us in one view, perpetual sadness would overcast our life. Hardly would any transient gleams of intervening joy be able to force their way through the cloud. Precisely in the same manner, as by the mixture of evidence and obscurity which remains on the prospect of a future state, a proper balance is preserved betwixt our love of this life and our desire of a better. The longer that our thoughts dwell on this subject the more we must be convinced that in nothing the Divine wisdom is more admirable than in proportioning knowledge to the necessities of man. Instead of lamenting our condition, that we are permitted only to see as through a glass, darkly, we have reason to bless our Creator, no less for what He hath concealed than for what He hath allowed us to know. From the whole view which we have taken of the subject, this important instruction arises, that the great design of all the knowledge, and in particular of the religious knowledge which God hath afforded us, is to fit us for discharging the duties of life. No useless discoveries are made to us in religion. Let us, then, second the kind intentions of Providence, and act upon the plan which it hath pointed out. Checking our inquisitive solicitude about what the Almighty hath concealed, let us diligently improve what He hath made known. Before I conclude, it may be proper to observe that the reasonings in this discourse give no ground to apprehend any danger of our being too much influenced by the belief of a future state. The bias of our nature leans so much towards sense that from this side the peril is to he dreaded, and on this side the defence is to be provided. Let us, then, walk by faith, Let us strengthen this principle of action to the utmost of our power. (H. Blair, D.D.)

Present knowledge imperfect but sufficient

I. We see darkly--very darkly.

1. We are in a world full of mystery. Every step we take, the great, deep problems strike us which we are unable to solve.

(1) Day fades away into night, the night blossoms out into day; the stars walk up and down the vault of night. We cannot but wonder why. Say that it is because the earth revolves on its axis, and moves round in its orbit, but where is the force that drives it along its path? Astronomy only magnifies the mystery. I see other worlds flying in every conceivable direction and at all possible velocities; and yet the power, the thing I want, does not come out to me. I push the mystery perhaps one step, and taking that step, I plunge again into the darkness, to ride on as my fathers have been riding through all the past, unsoothed by definitions, and formulas.

(2) But somebody says, Why, it is gravity that holds the world in its path. And so I dig down to the earth for this giant whose arms are so long and whose grip is so almighty, but I do not find him; and after my weary search I sit back in despair, muttering Gravity! and I know no more than I did before. Nature, like the man who gave the empty casket to the highwayman and kept the jewels, has given us names and kept the secret--the power.

(3) Oh I but you say, chemistry settles that. She has gone into the world and parcelled it out, saying, This is oxygen, that is nitrogen, and that is carbon, etc. So I walk along quietly after her, and say, What is oxygen, what is carbon? Ill call this carbon every time I see it in the future. I used to call it coal: and yet my soul is fed no more by carbon than it was by coal. The term does not change the fact. My poor heart cries out for the power behind this. Where did it come from? Who stored the fires in its dark bosom? Who gathered the sunbeams of so many centuries and stored them into coal? That is the power I want, and not the name.

(4) But chemistry has taken up the microscope, and says, Now we have it; we have got things in the very act of beginning to be; we have seen them actually wriggling up into life. Yes, wriggle before they existed. I am sure I see very darkly here.

(5) Suppose we go into the domain of my thoughts. This is something that you may call psychology--what can that do after all? Why, it takes up what I call my thought--gives its outer history, tells somewhat of its worth; but that is all it does. There is something behind the thought; here is the mystery it cannot touch at all.

2. Now, we are in this one universe, and should it be strange if, when we come to the things concerning eternal verities, there should be some darkness; if nature has cast a shadow over all things here, need we stumble, or be alarmed, if concerning spiritual and eternal things we see through a glass darkly? What if I cannot understand the mysteries of the incarnation, the Trinity, regeneration and resurrection--what of all that? Is it not rather the demonstration that we are under the administration of one God. May I not bring as many difficulties and arguments against the facts of your personal experience in every-day life as you can bring against the experience and facts of this spiritual and eternal life?

II. But we do see something. Though we cannot define it. Look at two or three mountain-peaks that indicate to us the inner line that possibly we cannot pass, and even surveying may not definitely define.

1. One mountain-peak is the fact of revelation itself. I do not mean the arguments by which we sustain that this book is from God, but rather the fact of the communication of God to us. There it stands. Here we are in the universe; somebody brought us here; we did not make ourselves; we cannot trace our pedigree back through the ages. Yet we are here, and so circumstanced that we must do somebodys will in order to have peace; and to do it, we must know it. We cannot reach it with our reason. We have not instinct. The animals monopolise that. Will He not come out to me? Will he take such wonderful care of His meanest creatures, and leave His best to die in the darkness? I do not see very clearly, but I see something.

2. Here is another peak--the Book itself, said to be from God. A wonderful document!--too much in it for us to comprehend; full of mysteries, yet so simple and plain in most of its parts, that it has been the food of the common people for all the centuries. It is so compact and self-sustaining, that it has defied the sharpest criticism of eighteen centuries. There it is; fifteen hundred years in the shop being made, written by forty different men, separated, as far as possible, both in station and in culture. Yet somehow these forty men tell one story, and so telling it, that as we read it we feel that it is true, because they got one inspiration. They tell the history of the race into sin, and through sin up into redemption; and where one lets go, another takes hold, so that it is one story. I do not know how it was inspired; but there is the fact. It may be dark about the depths of the book, but it is infinitely darker outside of it. Outside we have nothing; here we do have something. I do see One said to be the Son of God, the Lamb of. God who taketh away the sin of the world, giving to me the fact of peace. I cannot fathom it. Indeed, I do not know why I am cold or why I am warm; but I know when I am cold and when I am warm. I am not able to understand exactly how it is that this that I see lifted on Calvary lifts me up into a better life, but it does.

3. Here is the Church opposed by every possible power, with no human instrumentality to commend it, and yet here it is. Yesterday it was a weakling, with only a dozen followers; to-day it masters all the peoples of the earth and brings them toward itself. (Bp. Fowler.)

Partial knowledge

I. A calamity, when it is traceable to--

1. Early training in prejudice.

2. False teaching.

3. Inability to learn.

II. A crime, when owing to--

1. Prayerlessness.

2. Wilfulness.

3. Lethargy.

4. Inattention.

5. Forgetfulness.

III. A blessing, when it causes--

1. Faith to be exercised.

2. Inquiry to be evoked.

3. Filial fear to be displayed.

IV. An argument for--

1. Humility.

2. Praise.

3. Hope.

4. Alarm. (Stems and Twigs.)

Present knowledge partial but suffcient

In this imperfect and preparatory stage of our existence we have just light sufficient to command our belief in matters essential to our salvation, to direct us in the discharge of our duties to God and to one another, and conduct us to a home where we shall see clearly and know perfectly the sublime truths which have so often baffled and perplexed our reason. This is all we need, and all that God hath given. He would have us walk by faith, which is opposed alike to open vision and to perfect knowledge. The Bible stands like a waymark, pointing the pilgrim to the celestial city, but furnishing him no needless information concerning either the country of his sojourn or the scenery of his destination. The full disclosure of that which is unseen and eternal, at present, we could bear no better than the infant of an hour could bear the unsoftened splendours of the noontide sun; nor could we possibly grasp the ample sphere of truth any more than the arms of a child could embrace the moon it so much admires, or than the ken of a cricket could sweep the solar system and comprehend the stellar universe. Truth is infinite, and its study is to occupy the redeemed intellect for ever, and its discovery or development is to constitute one of the chief elements of our endless felicity; but what must be the vastness and variety of that knowledge which is constantly to afford fresh interest to the employments of eternity! and how can we hope to attain unto it in this brief infancy of our being? (J. Cross, D.D.)

Heaven a state of perfection in knowledge

I. There are many considerations which show how vast will be the attainments of the glorified spirit.

1. All causes of ignorance and error will then be entirely removed. Here below, not only the body of flesh, but still more the body of sin, darkens our understandings. But in heaven, sin will no longer becloud our minds; prejudices will be eradicated, the passions, refined, purified, and directed to their proper object, will only aid us in the pursuit of truth; and the cares and pleasures of the world can no longer affect us.

2. Our intellectual faculties will be greatly strengthened. Our faculties shall ever be in vigorous exercise, never requiring to be relaxed, always penetrating and active; our imaginations ever unclouded; our memories never losing the knowledge we have acquired.

3. Much of our improvement depends upon the society with which we associate. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise. We shall be companions of the redeemed in the world of felicity.

4. There the redeemed shall be instructed by the all-wise God (Rev_21:22).

5. The knowledge of the saved will be increasing throughout eternity.

II. What shall be the objects of our knowledge? The glorified saints shall know God--

1. In His nature.

2. His attributes.

3. His works of creation.

4. His works of Providence.

5. Redemption through the blood of Jesus.

6. The Word of God.

III. What will be its chief properties. Our knowledge shall be--

1. Immediate and intuitive. Instead of the labour, cares, processes of reasoning, that are here necessary, we shall have only to open our souls for the reception of that celestial light which will flow into them from God, the source of light.

2. Full and adequate, both in variety and degree, and certain and infallible.

3. Transforming.

4. Beatifying.

5. Unfading and eternal.

Conclusion: This subject--

1. Is calculated to animate Christians and comfort them. You now lament that you know so little of God and the Redeemer; wait till the light of eternity shall burst upon your view, and then you shall know even as you are known.

2. Leads us to lament the doom of men of unsanctified genius and learning.

3. Should give us consolation on the death of pious friends. You may again meet them, advanced in knowledge and perfect in bliss. (H. Kollock, D.D.)

Recognition in heaven

1. There is something very solemn in this anticipation of my future being; Then shall I know even as also I am known; that there will be a clearness and certainty around me, no prejudice, no distorting medium, no unsettling estimate, no tremulous light; and that this same clearness and certainty will not only shine around, but through me, so that as little possible as it is for me to mistake anything will it be for others to mistake me; I can no longer wear a mask; I can no longer practise an imposition; I intuitively know, and as intuitively am known.

2. It is a relief, in considering that universal perception which we shall take of others, and others shall take of us, to institute the inquiry, Will Christian friends then meet--will they recognise each other? We cannot withstand a thought of the past. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. In casting my eye over the present assembly, I am only struck with bereavement and loss; I know not whither to turn to find some friend of my youth. But is there an absolute privation? We must think of heaven as aa existing reality. We speak of it as if forgetting that it is only future to us. But our brethren, sainted and glorified in heaven, have their present beatitudes, splendours, and songs. Let us think of them, therefore, as only separated from us by a veil, which will soon be torn aside. Will there be those who shall be ready to welcome us? Shall there be those whom we ourselves remember? This is not a barren speculation; it is that which surely has engaged every thinking mind and every susceptible heart. Oh, renowned day, exclaimed the Roman orator, when I shall have reached the Divine assemblage of those minds with which I have congenial predilections, and shall escape this untoward and uncongenial throng! We but depart, said the lyrist of the same nation, to meet our AEneas, and our Tully, and our Ancus.

I. The contrary conclusion implies a destruction which is quite opposite to the dealings of God with our nature. If I do not know in heaven those whom I have known here, there must have taken place an imperfection in my mind. We must suppose that God blots out some of the exercises of the recollection. But this seems quite opposite to His ordinary dealings with us; and therefore, unless there was the strongest proof that we should not, know each other, we should argue that it was contrary to all that we might infer. Now, heaven is the consummation of our present happiness. And what makes us happier upon earth than mutual acquaintance? I have no greater joy, said the beloved disciple, than to hear that my children walk in truth: and was that joy entirely torn from his spirit when he passed from this world of distraction and discord to that region where all was love? Besides, it is impossible to think that all will be without a history and without a name; some, we know, will be preeminent; we shall sit down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob, in the kingdom of God. And will all other spirits flit before us unstoried and nameless?

II. But let Scripture decide.

1. When David thought of his dying child, he agonised in fasting and in prayer; when that child was taken away he found encouragement. I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. That his head should recline on the same clod? Nay; here is an intimation of immortality and of the communings of two spirits in that immortality. And the same remark may be made when the pious are said to be buried with their fathers. It is chilling and repulsive to think that the cemetery only is referred to, and that there is no mingling of the departed except in the dust of the sepulchre.

2. There are other phrases in the latter portion of the Christian Scriptures which we think are absolutely decisive. Knowing, says the apostle, that He who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, shall also raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. And again, he adjures those to whom he writes, by our gathering together unto Jesus Christ. Now there seems to be a banishment of all point and of all spirit, unless you suppose that they will know each other. To prove how disinterested was the spirit and purpose of the first Christian teachers, they always rested their labours upon a reward, which consisted in the glory of those spirits whom they had saved. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and our joy. That I may rejoice in the day of the Lord that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Look to yourselves, that ye receive a full reward. That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now this cannot, for a moment, be separated from the recognition of those who were the fruits of their ministry (see particularly 1Th_4:13-17).

3. When standing near the grave of Bethany, our Lord says, Thy brother shall rise again; was it that that brother was to be absorbed and lost in the myriads of spirits; so that the sisters who had lately laid him in the grave should see him and know him no more?

4. The process of judgment seems to include this recognition of each other. A cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of Jesus shall not be without its reward. The Saviour, specifying those who are before Him, shall say, I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat, etc. Now, this is reflected in the persons of those who are in the crowd: Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.

5. Then, when we go further, and consider the Christian doctrine upon she destruction and overthrow of death. O grave, where is thy victory? Now, this implies that all that death has done of evil and of pain shall be compensated. But what has been a more bitter consequence of death than bereavement? How, if that is never repaired, can it be said that death has no sting, that the grave has no victory?

6. But think of the happiness of the heavenly world. Will all remembrance of that world which we have left be suspended? Shall we not think of the means of our conversion--what we have done for others--what others have done for us? Hear the new language: Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Is not this a rush of the past upon the soul? Is not this like living again? Conclusion: We are not at all, however, unconscious that objections may be raised against this doctrine. If we recognise our beloved friends, must we not deplore the absence of those who, whatever was their guilt, were dear to our bosoms, and were twined around our hearts? But remember that you are perfect in heaven. You cannot conceive of that which is perfect in heaven without the most entire acquiescence, in what God has arranged, or what God has suffered. (R. W. Hamilton, D.D.)

Individual recognition in eternity

I. Subordinate arguments. Testimony in its favour might be drawn--

1. From the constitutional sociality of our nature, that renders such an expectation as our mutual recognition hereafter conducive to our happiness, heaven being the scene where all the innocent sources that contribute to felicity would be probably accumulated.

2. From our enlarged capacities of knowledge and enjoyment in a future state.

3. From the common assent of mankind in all ages.

4. From the incidental inference drawn from the like general belief of mankind in the appearances of the dead, and their being recognised by the parties to whom they appeared, as was undoubtedly the case in the instances of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration, and of the bodies of the saints that arose after our Lords resurrection.

5. From the analogy of sleep, the Scriptural type of death, the persons of individuals, both dead and living, being clearly identified in the dreams of the night, and therefore leading to the inference that such persons would be equally identified after they and we shall have fallen asleep in Jesus.

II. The scriptural argument.

1. Old Testament (1Sa_28:11, etc.). If a parted spirit and a living man could be mutually recognised, then it is even more probable if both individuals had departed they could equally recognise each other. David, indeed, proposes an express comfort to himself from such an expectation, when bereaved of his child (2Sa_12:29, etc.). Where would be the special consolation in the fathers being lost to the child, as the child had been lost to the father, if death were the final extinction of the power of recognition and recovery each of the other?

2. New Testament. In the parable of Dives and Lazarus not only does the rich man recognise Lazarus, but converses with him, and Lazarus is represented in Abrahams bosom, i.e., in terms of close intimacy with Abraham. The reply of our Lord to the Sadducees, in Mat_22:1-46, implies that if men in the resurrection are to resemble the angels, men will enjoy the like privilege of knowing each other, even as they are known. This view may be further confirmed from 1Co_15:54. The angels sing this: the angels, then, must recognise in the redeemed spirits who had died, or how could they triumph over their escape from and defeat of death? But not only angels triumph in the victory of their brethren from the flesh; St. John (Rev_7:13) tells us of one of the elders, i.e., an Old Testament saint, who was perfectly acquainted with the persons and the antecedent trials of some triumphant souls. Moreover, death was the effect and penalty of sin. If man had not sinned, the union of earthly attachments and relationships, for aught we now, had been immortal. If in Christ all the effects of sin shall be abolished, man will be reinstated, though with much superadded glory, in all the privileges which he originally enjoyed, and therefore with a capacity of renewing and perpetuating his communion with them, over whom death shall have no more dominion. Again, in Luk_13:28, it is stated as one of the peculiar aggravations of the anguish of lost souls that they should recognise in the realms of glory those who had not been so highly favoured as themselves.

3. Again, there is a moral necessity for individual remembrance at least in the scene of judgment. We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to give an account of the deeds done in the body (Mat_25:34, etc.; 1Th_2:19; Heb_13:17). Thus the penitent thief makes the fact of his recognition the burthen of his dying prayer, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom! and had there been any error or mere fanaticism in the hope, Jesus would have corrected it; but, on the contrary, He sanctioned and established it in the tender answer--To-day thou shalt be with Me in paradise. The Lord knoweth them that are His here; His name shall be in their foreheads there; and thus each shall recognise another, and all their common Lord. Conclusion: But if we shall rejoice to recognise our friends in heaven, must we not be grieved at the absence of others, in hell? The consequence is not necessary. The Lord may give His risen people large capacities for joy without a single capacity for sorrow. Angels are said to joy over the penitent sinner, but they are never said to be grieved for the reprobate sinner. May not the enlarged views of Divine perfections into which the glorified saints will be admitted serve to swallow up every inferior impression? Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight! (J. B. Owen, M.A.)

Recognition of friends in heaven

Luther, the night before he died, was reasonably well, and sat with his friends at table. The matter of their discourse was whether we shall know one another in heaven or not. Luther held it affirmatively, and this was one reason he gave: Adam, as soon as he saw Eve, knew what she was, not by discourse, but by Divine revelation; so shall we in the life to come. (J. Trapp.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:12 The contrast between now and then is between this age and the coming age. • Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror: In Paul’s day, mirrors were usually made of polished bronze, so the view was imperfect. Our perception in this life is limited and our understanding is partial and incomplete. • then: When the end comes and Christ establishes his eternal kingdom, we will see everything with perfect clarity. Then the spiritual gifts that give knowledge will be unnecessary.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 13:12. Βλέπομεν, we see) This corresponds in the LXX. to the Hebrew words ראה and חזה, 1Sa 9:9; 1Ch 29:29, concerning the Prophets; and this passage has a synecdoche of the nobler species for the whole genus; and along with the verb, we see, supply, and hear, for the prophets both see and hear; and it was usual generally to add words to visions. It will be of importance to read the Paneg. of Gregory, and the remarkable passage of Orige[120], which has been noticed by me in my observations on that book, pp. 104, 105, 217, 218, 219. But what a mirror is to the eye, that an enigma is to the ear, to which the tongue is subservient. On various grounds, we may compare with this Num 12:8. Moreover he says, we see, in the plurals I know, in the singular; and to see and to know differ in the genus [classification] of spiritual things, as the external sense, and the internal perceptions differ in the genus [under the head] of natural things. Nor does he mention God in this whole verse; but he speaks of Him, as He shall be all in all.—τότε, then) Paul had a great relish for those things, that are future: 2Co 12:2-3.—πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, face to face) פנים אל פנים, with our face, we shall see the face of our Lord. That is more than פה אל פה, στόμα πρὸς στόμα, mouth to mouth. Vision is the most excellent means of enjoyment. The word ΒΛΈΠΟΜΕΝ is elegantly used, and is adapted to both states, but under a different idea.—ΓΙΝΏΣΚΩ, ἘΠΙΓΝΏΣΟΜΑΙ) The compound signifies much more than the simple verb; I know, I shall thoroughly hnow. And so Eustathius interprets the Homeric word ἘΠΙΌΨΟΜΑΙ, ἈΚΡΙΒΈΣΤΑΤΑ ἘΠΙΤΗΡΉΣΩ, I shall observe most accurately; and ἐπίσκοπος, an overseer, ΣΚΟΠΕΥΤῊς ἈΚΡΙΒΉς, an accurate observer; and adds the reason, ὅτι ἡ ἐπιπρόθεσις καὶ ἀκρίβειάν τινα σημαίνει καὶ ἐπίτασιν ἐνεργέιας, that the ἐπὶ prefixed to the simple verb signifies a certain degree of accuracy and additional energy.—καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην, as also I am known) This corresponds to the expression, face to face.

[120] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_13:12. Justification of this analogy in so far as it served to illustrate the thought of 1Co_13:10.

ἄρτι] i.e. before the Parousia. διʼ ἐσόπτρου] through a mirror; popular mode of expression according to the optical appearance, inasmuch, namely, as what is seen in the mirror appears to stand behind it. The meaning is: our knowledge of divine things is, in our present condition, no immediate knowledge, but one coming through an imperfect medium. We must think not only of our glass mirrors, but of the imperfectly reflecting metal mirrors[2083] of the ancients (Hermann, Privatalterth. § 20. 26). Τὸ ἔσοπτρον περίστησι τὸ ὁρώμενον ὁπωσδήποτε, Chrysostom. This is enough of itself to enable us to dispense with the far-fetched expedient (Bos, Schoettgen, Wolf, Mosheim, Schulz, Rosenmüller, Stolz, Flatt, Heydenreich, Rückert, and others) that ἜΣΟΠΤΡΟΝ means speculare, a window made of talc (lapis specularis, see Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 22). In support of this, such Rabbinical passages are adduced as Jevamm. iv. 13, Omnes prophetae viderunt per specular (כאיספקלריא) obscurum, et Moses, doctor noster, vidit per specular lucidum. See Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 171; Wetstein in loc[2084] But against this whole explanation is the decisive fact that the assumed meaning for ἜΣΟΠΤΡΟΝ is quite undemonstrable, and that no expositor has succeeded in establishing it. It always means mirror, as do also ἔνοπτρον and ΚΆΤΟΠΤΡΟΝ (Pindar, Nem. vii. 20; Anacreon, xi. 2; Plutarch, Praec. conjug. 11; Luc. Amor. 44, 48; Wisd. vii. 26; Sir_12:11; Jam_1:23); a talc window is διόπτρα (Strabo, xii. 2, p. 540).

ἘΝ ΑἸΝΊΓΜΑΤΙ] which should not be separated from ΔΙʼ ἘΣΌΠΤΡΟΥ by a comma, is usually taken adverbially (Bernhardy, p. 211), like ΑἸΝΙΓΜΑΤΙΚῶς, so that the object of vision shows itself to the eye in an enigmatic way. Comp also Hofmann, who holds that what is meant is an expression of anything conveyed in writing or symbol, of such a kind that it offers itself to our apprehension and eludes it in quite equal measure. But ΑἼΝΙΓΜΑ is a dark saying; and the idea of the saying should as little be lost here as in Num_12:8. This, too, in opposition to de Wette (comp Osiander), who takes it as the dark reflection in the mirror, which one sees, so that ἐν stands for ΕἸς in the sense of the sphere of sight. Rückert takes ἐν for ΕἸς on an exceedingly artificial ground, because the seeing here is a reading, and one cannot read εἰς τὸν λόγον, but only ἘΝ Τῷ ΛΌΓῼ. Luther renders rightly: in a dark word; which, however, should be explained more precisely as by means of an enigmatic word, whereby is meant the word of the gospel-revelation, which capacitates for the βλέπειν in question, however imperfect it be, and is its medium to us. It is ΑἼΝΙΓΜΑ, inasmuch as it affords to us, (although certainty, yet) no full clearness of light upon Gods decrees, ways of salvation, etc., but keeps its contents sometimes in a greater, sometimes in a less degree (Rom_11:33 f.; 1Co_2:9 ff.) concealed, bound up in images, similitudes, types, and the like forms of human limitation and human speech, and consequently is for us of a mysterious and enigmatic nature,[2087] standing in need of the future λύσις, and vouchsafing πίστις, indeed, but not εἶδος (2Co_5:7); comp Num_12:8. To take ἐν in the instrumental sense is simpler, and more in keeping with the conception of the βλέπειν (videre ope aenigmatis) than my former explanation of it as having a local force, as in Mat_6:4; Sir_39:3 (in aenigmate versantes).

τότε δέ] ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, 1Co_13:10.

πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον] according to the Hebrew פָּנִים אֱל־פָּנִים (Gen_32:30; comp Num_12:8), face to (coram) face, denotes the immediate vision. Grammatically πρόσωπον is to be taken as nominative, in apposition,[2090] namely, to the subject of βλέπομεν, so that πρὸς πρόσωπον applies to the object seen. And it is God who is conceived of as being this object, as is evident from the parallel καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην.

ἄρτι γινώσκω κ.τ.λ[2091]] consequence of the foregoing spoken asyndetically, and again in the first person with individualizing force, in the victorious certainty of the consummation at hand.

ἘΠΙΓΝΏΣΟΜΑΙ ΚΑΘῺς ΚΑῚ ἘΠΕΓΝΏΣΘ.] cannot mean: then shall I know as also I am known, i.e. as God knows me (so most interpreters), but (observe the aorist): as also I was known, which points back to the era of conversion to Christ (for the apostle himself, how great a remembrance!), when the Christian became the object of the divine knowledge (see on 1Co_8:3) turning to deal with him effectually. The meaning therefore is: but then will my knowledge of God be so wholly different from a merely partial one, as it is now, that, on the contrary, it will correspond to the divine knowledge, so far as it once at my conversion made me its object, namely (opposite of ἐκ μέρους) by complete knowledge of the divine nature, counsel, will, etc., which present themselves to me now only in part. Notice further that the stronger term ἐπιγνώσομαι is selected in correspondence with the relation to the preceding simple ΓΙΝΏΣΚΩ (Bengel, pernoscam; see Valckenaer, a[2092] Luc. p. 14 f.), and that ΚΑΊ is the ordinary also of equivalence. It may be added, that this likeness of the future knowledge to the divine is, of course, relative; the knowledge is in suo genere completa, quanta quidem in creaturam rationalem cadere potest, Calovius.

[2083] Hence the designation χαλκὸς διαυγής for a mirror. See Jacobs, ad Anthol. VI. p. 378.

[2084] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[2087] The objection, that Paul would hardly have called the revelation αἴνιγμα (see de Wette) is sufficiently set aside by the consideration that he calls it so relatively, in relation to the unveiling still to come. Melanchthon puts it happily: Verbum enim est velut involucrum illius arcanae et mirandae rei, quam in vita coelesti coram aspiciemus.

[2090] As appositio partitiva. See Matthiae, § 431. 3. Fritzsche, ad Mat_3:12. Krüger, § 57. 10.

[2091] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[2092] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 13:12 figures in another way the contrast between the present partial and the coming perfect Christian state, in respect particularly of knowledge : it is the diff [2000] between discernment by broken reflexion and by immediate intuition. “For we see now through a mirror, in (the fashion of) a riddle; but then face to face.” βλέπω , as distinguished from ὁράω , points to the fact and manner of seeing rather than the object seen (see parls.). On ἄρτι , see note to 1Co 4:11 ; it fastens on the immediate present. διʼ ἐσόπτρου , “by means of a mirror”: ancient mirrors made of burnished metal a specialty of Cor [2001] were poor reflectors; the art of silvering glass was discovered in the 13th century. ἔσοπτρον = κάτοπτρον (2Co 3:18 ), or ἔνοπτρον (cl [2002] Gr [2003] ); not διόπτρα , speculare , the semi-transparent window of talc (the lapis specularis of the ancients), as some have explained the term. cf. Philo, De Decal ., § 21, “As by a mirror, the reason discerns images of God acting and making the world and administering the universe“; also Plato’s celebrated representation ( Repub ., vii., 514) of the world of sense as a train of shadows imaging the real. Mr [2004] , Hf [2005] , Gd [2006] , Al [2007] , El [2008] adopt the local sense of διά , “ through a mirror,” in allusion to the appearance of the imaged object as behind the reflector: but it is the dimness , not the displacement, of the image that P. is thinking of. Such a sight of the Divine realities, in blurred reflexions, presents them ἐν αἰνίγματι , enigmatically “in (the shape of) a riddle” rather than a full intelligible view. Divine revelation opens up fresh mysteries; advanced knowledge raises vaster problems. With our defective earthly powers, this is inevitable. πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον , Heb. panîm ’elpanîm (see parls.), with a reminiscence of Num 12:8 , στόμα κατὰ στόμα … καὶ οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων (referring to the converse of God with Moses): the “face” to which ours will be turned, is God’s . God is the tacit obj [2009] of 1Co 13:12 b , which interprets the above figure: “Now I know ( γινώσκω , a learner’s knowledge: see 1Co 1:21 , etc.; contrast οἶδα , 2 above and 1Co 2:11 ) partially; but then I shall know-well ( ἐπιγνώσομαι ), as also I was well-known”. God has formed a perfect apprehension of the believing soul (1Co 8:3 ); He possesses an immediate, full, and interested discernment of its conditions (Rom 8:27 , etc.); its future knowledge will match, in some sense, His present knowledge of it, the searching effect of which it has realised (Gal 4:9 , etc.).

[2000] difference, different, differently.

[2001] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2002] classical.

[2003] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[2004] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[2005] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[2006] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2007] Alford’s Greek Testament .

[2008] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[2009] grammatical object.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_13:12

For now we see, through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

This is a confirmation of what precedes. Our present knowledge is imperfect, for we now see through a glass. These words admit of three interpretations.

1. The preposition (διά) may have its ordinary instrumental sense, we see by means of a glass; or,

2. It may have its local sense, through. Then, assuming glass (ἐσόπτρον) to mean a window, the meaning is, we see as through a window; and as the windows were commonly made of mica, and therefore imperfectly transparent, to see through a window was to see dimly. As the word, however, properly means a mirror, Jam_1:23, the best interpretation probably is,

3. We see as through a mirror; the optical impression is that the object is behind the mirror, and the spectator seems to look through it. The ancient mirrors were of imperfectly polished metal, and the reflection which they gave was very obscure. Darkly, literally, in an enigma. This may be taken adverbially, as by our translators, we see enigmatically, i.e. obscurely; or the idea may be that we see divine things as it were wrapped up in enigmas.

We do not see the things themselves, but those things as set form in symbols and words which imperfectly express them. The reference seems to be to Num_12:8. Of an ordinary prophet God said, I will make myself known unto him in a vision, and speak to him in a dream; but of Moses he says, With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark sayings, i.e. in enigmas. (The Septuagint version is δι ̓ αἰνιγμάτων). The clearest revelation of the things of God in words is as an enigma, when compared to sight. Every thing is comparative. The revelations made to Moses were clear in comparison to the communications made to others by visions and dreams. Paul says the writings of Moses were enigmas compared to the revelations contained in the gospel, 2Co_3:12, 2Co_3:13. And the gospel itself is obscure compared to the lucid medium through which we shall see hereafter. But then face to face, i.e. no longer through a mirror, but immediately. Comp. Gen_32:31. Num_12:8. The word of God is a mirror wherein even now we behold the glory of the Lord (2Co_3:18), but what is that to seeing him face to face!

Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then shall I know even as I am known, i.e. perfectly. As we are required to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, Mat_5:48, so we may be said to know even as we are known. We may be perfect in our narrow sphere, as God is perfect in his; and yet the distance between him and us remain infinite. What Paul wishes to impress upon the Corinthians is, that the gifts in which they so much prided themselves, were small matters compared to what is in reserve for the people of God.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The applying of the similitude of our childhood to this present life, wherein we darkly behold heavenly things, according to the small measure of light which is given us, through the understanding of tongues, and hearing the teachers and ministers of the Church: of our man’s age and strength, to that heavenly and eternal life, wherein when we behold God himself present, and are lightened with his full and perfect light, to what purpose should we desire the voice of man, and those worldly things which are most imperfect? But yet then, shall all the Saints be knit both with God, and between themselves with most fervent love, and therefore charity shall not be abolished, but perfected, although it shall not be showeth forth and entertained by such manner of duties as peculiarly and only belong to the infirmity of this life.

All this must be understood by comparison.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

now--in our present state.

see--an appropriate expression, in connection with the "prophets" of seers (Sa1 9:9).

through a glass--that is, in a mirror; the reflection seeming to the eye to be behind the mirror, so that we see it through the mirror. Ancient mirrors were made of polished brass or other metals. The contrast is between the inadequate knowledge of an object gained by seeing it reflected in a dim mirror (such as ancient mirrors were), compared with the perfect idea we have of it by seeing itself directly.

darkly--literally, "in enigma." As a "mirror" conveys an image to the eye, so an "enigma" to the ear. But neither "eye nor ear" can fully represent (though the believer's soul gets a small revelation now of) "the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (Co1 2:9). Paul alludes to Num 12:8, "not in dark speeches"; the Septuagint, "not in enigmas." Compared with the visions and dreams vouchsafed to other prophets, God's communications with Moses were "not in enigmas." But compared with the intuitive and direct vision of God hereafter, even the revealed word now is "a dark discourse," or a shadowing forth by enigma of God's reflected likeness. Compare Pe2 1:19, where the "light" or candle in a dark place stands in contrast with the "day" dawning. God's word is called a glass or mirror also in Co2 3:18.

then--"when that which is perfect is come" (Co1 13:10).

face to face--not merely "mouth to mouth" (Num 12:8). Gen 32:30 was a type (Joh 1:50-51).

know . . . known--rather as Greek, "fully know . . . fully known." Now we are known by, rather than know, God (Co1 8:3; Gal 4:9).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. Now we see through a glass, darkly] δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι. Of these words some literal explanation is necessary. The word εσοπτρον which we translate a glass, literally signifies a mirror or reflector, from εις, into, and οπτομαι, I look; and among the ancients mirrors were certainly made of fine polished metal. The word here may signify any thing by which the image of a person is reflected, as in our looking, or look in glass. The word is not used for a glass to look through; nor would such an image have suited with the apostle's design.

The εσοπτρον or mirror, is mentioned by some of the most ancient Greek writers; so Anacreon, Ode xi. ver. 1:-

Αεγουσιν αἱ γυναικες,

Ανακρεων, γερων ει·

Ααβων ΕΣΟΠΤΡΟΝ αθρει

Κομας μεν ουκετ' ουσας.

The women tell me,

Anacreon, thou art grown old;

Take thy mirror, and view

How few of thy hairs remain.

And again, in Ode xx. ver. 5:-

Εγω δ' εσοπτρον ειην,

Ὁπως αει βλεπης με.

I wish I were a mirror

That thou mightst always look into me.

In Ex 38:8, we meet with the term looking glasses; but the original is maroth, and should be translated mirrors; as out of those very articles, which we absurdly translate looking GLASSES, the brazen laver was made!

In the Greek version the word εσοπτρον is not found but twice, and that in the apocryphal books.

In the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, chap. 7:26, speaking of wisdom the author says: "She is the brightness of the everlasting light, και εσοπτρον ακηλιδωτον, and the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness."

In Ecclus. xii. 11, exhorting to put no trust in an enemy, he says: "Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him, ως εκμεμαχως εσοπτρον, as if thou hadst wiped a looking glass, (mirror,) and thou shalt know that his rust hath not altogether been wiped away." All these passages must be understood of polished metal, not of glass, which, though it existed among the Romans and others, yet was brought to very little perfection; and as to grinding and silvering of glass, they are modern inventions.

Some have thought that the apostle refers to something of the telescopic kind, by which distant and small objects become visible, although their surfaces become dim in proportion to the quantum of the magnifying power; but this is too refined; he appears simply to refer to a mirror by which images were rejected, and not to any diaphanous and magnifying powers, through which objects were perceived.

Possibly the true meaning of the words δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι, through a glass darkly, may be found among the Jewish writers, who use a similar term to express nearly the same thing to which the apostle refers. A revelation of the will of God, in clear and express terms, is called by them אספקלריא מאירה aspecularia maira, a clear or lucid glass, or specular in reference, specularibus lapidibus, to the diaphanous polished stones, used by the ancients for windows instead of glass. An obscure prophecy they termed אספקלריא דלא נהריא aspecularia dela naharia, "a specular which is not clear."

Nu 12:6: If there be a prophet-I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in a dream; Rab. Tanchum thus explains: "My Shechinah shall not be revealed to him, באספקלריא מאירה beaspecularia maira, in a lucid specular, but only in a dream and a vision."

On Eze 1:4, Eze 1:5 : And I looked, and behold a whirlwind-a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, c. Sohar Chadash, fol. 33, says: "This is a vision באספקלריא דלא נהרא beaspecularia dela nahara, by an obscure or dark specular."

From a great variety of examples produced by Schoettgen it appears that the rabbins make a great deal of difference between seeing through the lucid glass or specular, and seeing through the obscure one. The first is attributed only to Moses, who conversed with God face to face, i.e. through the lucid specular; and between the other prophets, who saw him in dreams and visions, i.e. through the obscure specular. In these distinctions and sayings of the ancient Jews we must seek for that to which the apostle alludes. See Schoettgen.

The word αινιγματι, which we render darkly, will help us to the true meaning of the place. The following is Mr. Parkhurst's definition of the term and of the thing: "αινιγμα, from ηνιγμαι, the perfect passive of ισυιττω, to hint, intimate, signify with some degree of obscurity; an enigma, in which one thing answers or stands in correspondence to, or as the representative of, another, which is in some respects similar to it; occurs 1Co 13:12: Now-in this life, we see by means of a mirror reflecting the images of heavenly and spiritual things, εν αινιγματι, in an enigmatical manner, invisible things being represented by visible, spiritual by natural, eternal by temporal; but then-in the eternal world, face to face, every thing being seen in itself, and not by means of a representative or similitude."

Now I know in part] Though I have an immediate revelation from God concerning his great design in the dispensation of the Gospel, yet there are lengths, breadths, depths, and heights of this design, which even that revelation has not discovered; nor can they be known and apprehended in the present imperfect state. Eternity alone can unfold the whole scheme of the Gospel.

As - I am known.] In the same manner in which disembodied spirits know and understand.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. We now see through a glass Here we have the application of the similitude. “The measure of knowledge, that we now have, is suitable to imperfection and childhood, as it were; for we do not as yet see clearly the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom, and we do not as yet enjoy a distinct view of them.” To express this, he makes use of another similitude — that we now see only as in a glass, and therefore but obscurely. This obscurity he expresses by the term enigma

In the first place, there can be no doubt that it is the ministry of the word, and the means that are required for the exercise of it, that he compares to a looking-glass For God, who is otherwise invisible, has appointed these means for discovering himself to us. At the same time, this may also be viewed as extending to the entire structure of the world, in which the glory of God shines forth to our view, in accordance with what is stated in Romans 1:16; and 2 Corinthians 3:18. In Romans 1:20 the Apostle speaks of the creatures as mirrors, in which God’s invisible majesty is to be seen; but as he treats here particularly of spiritual gifts, which are subservient to the ministry of the Church, and are its accompaniments, we shall not wander away from our present subject.

The ministry of the word, I say, is like a looking-glass For the angels have no need of preaching, or other inferior helps, nor of sacraments, for they enjoy a vision of God of another kind; and God does not give them a view of his face merely in a mirror, but openly manifests himself as present with them. We, who have not as yet reached that great height, behold the image of God as it is presented before us in the word, in the sacraments, and, in fine, in the whole of the service of the Church. This vision Paul here speaks of as partaking of obscurity — not as though it were doubtful or delusive, but because it is not so distinct as that which will be at last afforded on the final day. He teaches the same thing in other words, in the second Epistle — (2 Corinthians 5:7) — that,

so long as we dwell in the body we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Our faith, therefore, at present beholds God as absent. How so? Because it sees not his face, but rests satisfied with the image in the mirror; but when we shall have left the world, and gone to him, it will behold him as near and before its eyes.

Hence we must understand it in this manner — that the knowledge of God, which we now have from his word, is indeed certain and true, and has nothing in it that is confused, or perplexed, or dark, but is spoken of as comparatively obscure, because it comes far short of that clear manifestation to which we look forward; for then we shall see face to face Thus this passage is not at all at variance with other passages, which speak of the clearness, at one time, of the law, at another time, of the entire Scripture, but more especially of the gospel. For we have in the word (in so far as is expedient for us) a naked and open revelation of God, and it has nothing intricate in it, to hold us in suspense, as wicked persons imagine; but how small a proportion does this bear to that vision, which we have in our eye! Hence it is only in a comparative sense, that it is termed obscure.

The adverb then denotes the last day, rather than the time that is immediately subsequent to death. At the same time, although full vision will be deferred until the day of Christ, a nearer view of God will begin to be enjoyed immediately after death, when our souls, set free from the body, will have no more need of the outward ministry, or other inferior helps. Paul, however, as I noticed a little ago, does not enter into any close discussion as to the state of the dead, because the knowledge of that is not particularly serviceable to piety.

Now I know in part That is, the measure of our present knowledge is imperfect, as John says in his Epistle, (1 John 3:1,2,) that

we know, indeed, that we are the sons of God, but that it doth not yet appear, until we shall see God as he is.

Then we shall see God — not in his image, but in himself, so that there will be, in a manner, a mutual view.

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.

(12) For now—i.e., in this earthly life, the “for” connecting the previous statement with that which it illustrates.

Through a glass, darkly.—Better, through a mirror in a dark saying. The illustration here is from a mirror when the image appears far behind the mirror itself. If we remember the imperfect metal surfaces which formed the mirrors of those days, we can imagine how imperfect and enigmatical (the Greek word is “in an enigma”) would the image appear; so that the Apostle says, “Like that image which you see when you look at an object in a mirror far off, with blurred and undefined outline, such is our knowledge here and now; but then (i.e., when this dispensation is at an end) we shall see as you see a man when you stand before him face to face. (See Num_12:7-8 for a similar thought, but a different illustration of it—“mouth to mouth.”) The word for “glass” here is the same as in Jas_1:23, and must mean a mirror, and not, as some commentators suggest, a pane of transparent stone or horn, such as was then used, for which a quite different word would have been employed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. For now we see through a glass] Literally, by means of a mirror. Per speculum, Vulgate. Bi a mirour, Wiclif. Meyer reminds us that we are to think rather of the mirrors of polished metal used in ancient times, the reflections of which would often be obscure and imperfect, than of our modern looking glasses.

darkly] Literally, in an enigma. Darke speaking, Tyndale. An enigma (in English, riddle) is properly a question, such as the Sphinx propounded to Œdipus, couched in obscure language, the answer to which is difficult to find. Cf. Num_12:8, and Pro_1:6, where the Hebrew word is translated in the Septuagint by the word used here by St Paul. Also Tennyson, Miller’s Daughter,

“There’s something in this world amiss

Shall be unriddled by and by.”

face to face] Cf. Num_12:8, to which the Apostle is evidently referring. Also Job_19:26-27; 1Jn_3:2; Rev_22:4.

then shall I know even as also I am known] The word in the original signifies thorough, complete knowledge. ‘I am known,’ should rather be translated I was known, i.e. either (1) when Christ took knowledge of me (Meyer), or (2) I was (previously) known. It is God’s knowledge of us, His interpenetrating our being with His, which is the cause of our knowledge. Cf. Gal_4:9; ch. 1Co_8:3. Also St Mat_11:27, and St John 17 throughout.

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.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three,.... Which are the principal graces of the Spirit of God: faith is to be understood, not of a faith of miracles, for that does not abide; nor of an historical one, or mere assent to truth; persons may have this faith, and believe but for a while; but of that faith, which is peculiar to God's elect; is a fruit and effect of electing grace, and for that reason abides; is the gift of God, and one of those which are without repentance; is the work of God, and the operation of his Spirit, and therefore will be performed with power; it is the grace by which a soul sees Christ, goes unto him, lays hold on him, receives him, relies on him, and lives upon him: "hope" is also a gift of God's grace, implanted in regeneration; has God and Christ, and not any worldly thing, or outward performance, for its object, ground, and foundation, to build upon; it is of things unseen, future, difficult, yet possible to be enjoyed; it is supported by the love of God, is encouraged by promises, and is sure, being fixed on Christ and his righteousness; it is that grace by which saints wait for things promised, and rejoice in the believing views of glory and happiness: charity designs love to God, Christ, and the saints, as has been explained, and a large account is given of it in this chapter: these are the three chief and leading graces in God's people, and they abide and continue with them; they may fail sometimes, as to their lively exercise, but never as to their being and principle; faith may droop and hang its wing, hope may not be lively, and love may wax cold, but neither of them can be lost; Christ prays that faith fail not, hope on him is an anchor sure and steadfast, and nothing can separate from the love of Christ; as not from the love of Christ to his people, so not from theirs to him: these graces abide now, during the present life: he that has true faith in Christ, shall die in it; and he that has a good hope through grace, shall have it in his death; and love will outlive death, and be in its height and glory in the other world: for which reason it is added,

but the greatest of these is charity; and is said to be so, not that it is on every account the greatest; faith in many things exceeds that, as what is ascribed to it in Scripture shows; but because of the peculiar properties and effects of it before mentioned, it including faith and hope, as in Co1 13:7 and besides many other things, and because, without this, faith and hope are nothing: and besides, its usefulness is more extensive than either of the other two; a man's faith is only for himself; a just man lives by his own faith, and not another's; one man's faith will be of no service to another, and the same is true of hope; but by love saints serve one another, both in things temporal and spiritual, and chiefly it is said to be the greatest, because most durable; in the other world, faith will be changed for vision, and hope for enjoyment, but love will abide, and be in its full perfection and constant exercise, to all eternity. The Jews (w) say much the same of humility the apostle does here of charity;

"wisdom, fear, humility, they are alike, "but humility is greater than them all".''

(w) Piske Toseph. in T. Bab. Yebamot, art. 196.

Next: 1 Corinthians Chapter 14

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Ver. 12. In a glass, &c.] See Num 12:8.

But then face to face] i.e. Distinctly, Clearly, immediately, beatifically. And surely, if Lipsius thought when he did but read Seneca that he was even upon Olympus’ top, above mortality and human things; what a case shall we be in, when we shall behold Christ in his glory, and consider that every vein in that blessed body bled to bring us to bliss! If the mathematics alone are so delectable, that men think it sweet to live and die in those studies; what shall we think of heaven’s happiness, which we shall one day clearly apprehend, but not fully comprehend?

Now I know in part] The present tense in grammar is accompanied with the imperfect; the perfect with the plusquam perfectum pluperfect. And such is the condition of our present and future happiness.

Even as I am known] We shall know the creatures by knowing God; as God now knows all his works by knowing himself.

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.

For now we see through a glass - Paul here makes use of another illustration to show the imperfection of our knowledge here. Compared with what it will be in the future world, it is like the imperfect view of an object which we have in looking through an obscure and opaque medium compared with the view which we have when we look at it “face to face.” The word “glass” here (ἐσοπτρον esoptron) means properly a mirror, a looking-glass. The mirrors of the ancients were usually made of polished metal; Exo 38:8; Job 37:18. Many have supposed (see Doddridge, in loc. and Robinson’s Lexicon) that the idea here is that of seeing objects by reflection from a mirror, which reflects only their imperfect forms. But this interpretation does not well accord with the apostle’s idea of seeing things obscurely. The most natural idea is that of seeing objects by an imperfect medium, by looking “through” something in contemplating them.

It is, therefore, probable that he refers to those transparent substances which the ancients had, and which they used in their windows occasionally; such as thin plates of horn, transparent stone, etc. Windows were often made of the “lapis specularis” described by Plint (xxxvi. 22), which was pellucid, and which admitted of being split into thin “laminae” or scales, probably the same as mica. Humboldt mentions such kinds of stone as being used in South America in church windows - Bloomfield. It is not improbable, I think, that even in the time of Paul the ancients had the knowledge of glass, though it was probably at first very imperfect and obscure. There is some reason to believe that glass was known to the Phenicians, the Tyrians, and the Egyptians. Pliny says that it was first discovered by accident. A merchant vessel, laden with nitre or fossil alkali, having been driven on shore on the coast of Palestine near the river Belus, the crew went in search of provisions, and accidentally supported the kettles on which they dressed their food upon pieces of fossil alkali.

The river sand above which this operation was performed was vitrified by its union with the alkali, and thus produced glass - See Edin. Encyclopedia, “Glass.” It is known that glass was in quite common use about the commencement of the Christian era. In the reign of Tiberius an artist had his house demolished for making glass malleable. About this time drinking vessels were made commonly of glass; and glass bottles for holding wine and flowers were in common use. That glass was in quite common use has been proved by the remains that have been discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. There is, therefore, no impropriety in supposing that Paul here may have alluded to the imperfect and discolored glass which was then in extensive use; for we have no reason to suppose that it was then as transparent as that which is now made. It was, doubtless, an imperfect and obscure medium, and, therefore, well adapted to illustrate the nature of our knowledge here compared with what it wilt be in heaven.

Darkly - Margin, “In a riddle” (ἐν αἰνίγματι en ainigmati). The word means a riddle; an enigma; then an obscure intimation. In a riddle a statement is made with some resemblance to the truth; a puzzling question is proposed, and the solution is left to conjecture. Hence, it means, as here, obscurely, darkly, imperfectly. Little is known; much is left to conjecture; a very accurate account of most of that which passes for knowledge. Compared with heaven, our knowledge here much resembles the obscure intimations in an enigma compared with clear statement and manifest truth.

But then - In the fuller revelations in heaven.

Face to face - As when one looks upon an object openly, and not through an obscure and dark medium. It here means, therefore, “clearly, without obscurity.”

I know in part - 1Co 13:9.

But then shall I know - My knowledge shall be clear and distinct. I shall have a clear view of those objects which are now so indistinct and obscure. I shall be in the presence of those objects about which I now inquire; I shall “see” them; I shall have a clear acquaintance with the divine perfections, plans, and character. This does not mean that he would know “everything,” or that he would be omniscient; but that in regard to those points of inquiry in which he was then interested, he would have a view that would be distinct and clear - a view that would be clear, arising from the fact that he would be present with them, and permitted to see them, instead of surveying them at a distance, and by imperfect mediums.

Even as also I am known - “In the same manner” (καθὼς kathōs), not “to the same extent.” It does not mean that he would know God as clearly and as fully as God would know him; for his remark does not relate to the “extent,” but to the “manner” and the comparative “clearness” of his knowledge. He would see things as he was now seen and would be seen there. It would be face to face. He would be in their presence. It would not be where he would be seen clearly and distinctly, and himself compelled to look upon all objects confusedly and obscurely, and through an imperfect medium. But he would he with them; would see them face to face; would see them without any medium; would see them “in the same manner” as they would see him. Disembodied spirits, and the inhabitants of the heavenly world, have this knowledge; and when we are there, we shall see the truths, not at a distance and obscurely, but plainly and openly.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The apostle pursues his former theme, comparing the imperfect state of believers, as to knowledge in this life, with what shall be in the life that is to come. In this life it is as in a looking glass, (where we only see the images and imperfect representations of things), and darkly, in a riddle; it is but a little knowledge that we have, and what we have we get with a great deal of difficulty; but in heaven we shall have such knowledge as two men have who see one another face to face, and shall know God fully, in some measure, though not in the same degree, of the fulness and perfections wherein God knoweth us.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Through a glass—Not through a transparent glass, as window glass, but through or in a mirror. The word through is used because the objects seen in a mirror seem to be back of it, and we to look through the glass. The mirrors of antiquity were made not of glass, but of polished metal; and hence the image was seen darkly.

Darkly—Literally, in enigma. We can no more clearly understand the realities of eternity than childhood can understand the experiences of manhood. No words, however plain, can make him realize them as they really are. And so, to us, heaven and eternity are problems and mysteries, illustrated only by analogies which after all are enigmas.

Face to face—By direct, clear sight; not in mirror and enigma. As…

known—As I was known by God in my earthly existence, just so in eternity shall I, with perfect exactness, know the realities.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Through a glass; rather, through (or, by means of) a mirror. Our "glasses" were unknown in that age. The mirrors were of silver or some polished metal, giving, of course, a far dimmer image than "glasses" do. The rabbis said that "all the prophets saw through a dark mirror, but Moses through a bright one." St. Paul says that no human eye can see God at all except as an image seen as it were behind the mirror. Darkly; rather, in a riddle. God is said to have spoken to Moses "by means of riddles", (Num_12:8; Authorized Version, "in dark speeches Human language, dealing with Divine facts, can only represent them indirectly, metaphorically, enigmatically, under human images, and as illustrated by visible phenomena. God can only be represented under the phrases of anthropomorphism and anthropopathy; and such phrases can only have a relative, not an absolute, truth. Then ; i.e. "when the perfect is come." Face to face. Like the "mouth to mouth" of the Hebrew and the LXX in Num_12:8. This is the beatific vision. "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is". (1Jn_3:2) "Now we walk by faith, not by sight. (2Co_5:7) Then shall I know even as also I am known; rather, then shall I fully know even as also I was fully known, viz. when Christ took knowledge of me at my conversion. Now, we do not so much "know" God, but "rather are known of God. (comp 1Co_8:3)

The body the dark medium of spiritual vision.

now we see through a glass, darkly," etc. It needs no illustration to show that our vision of spiritual things is very dim. The cause of this is our subject the medium is dark, that medium is the body. Through the five senses we gather all the lights that flash on our consciousness and form within us ideas. But why is it dark?

I The body tends to MATERIALIZE THE CONCEPTIONS OF THE MIND. We "judge after the flesh.

II The body tends to SWAY THE DECISIONS OF THE MIND. The desires of the flesh often move and master the soul.

III The body tends to CLOG THE OPERATIONS OF THE MIND. Business, sleep, refreshment, exercise, disease, all these interrupt the soul. Our visions of spiritual things being so dim:

1. None should pride themselves in their knowledge.

2. Atone should arrogate infallibility of judgment.

3. All should anticipate higher and fuller visions.

When the medium is removed, we shall see "face to face.

Face to face.

He who looked into and, as it seemed, through the brazen disc saw a dim reflection of his own or his brother"s features, or a misty representation or the landscape. But he who sees face to face sees, as by an immediate intuition, with nothing to hinder a perfect knowledge of perception. The comparison opens up to us a wonderful and most inspiring view of the perfection of the future, the heavenly state.

I TRUE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE GENERALLY. The apostle speaks without any words limiting the application of his statement to religious realities. Man"s pride of knowledge, notwithstanding his intellectual powers are limited in their range and in their efficacy. Some of the causes of this limitation we can see, and we can well believe that in another and higher state they may be removed. The senses or other avenues of perception may be multiplied in number and intensified in power. It may be that words which are the medium of much of our knowledge may be replaced by symbols more definite and instructive. Our feebleness of attention and application may be replaced by a vigour not possible in this body. Many things now known by inference may then be known by intuition. And whilst there may be a change in our own natural capacities and faculties, there may be also an enlargement of the material presented to our minds. And the search after truth may be more pure and disinterested as well as more vigorous. We are all aware that purity of heart is a condition of apprehending moral and spiritual truth; this condition will in heaven be perfected, and corresponding results may be expected.

II TRUE ESPECIALLY OF WHAT MAY BE CALLED OUR RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

1. Of religious truth. This we now know sufficiently for all practical purposes; but we are often conscious that we see but glimpses and hear but whispers of the great truths upon which our higher life and deathless hopes depend. The progress made by the child as he advances to spiritual maturity is probably as nothing compared with the advance to be made by the Christian when the veil of sense and time falls off. The mysteries by which the mind has often been perplexed shall be revealed; the harmony of truths we could not reconcile shall be apparent; the reasons of regulations we could not understand shall become plain. The world, ourselves, society, life, all are now full of enigmas. Eternity shall provide the solution.

2. Of our knowledge of God in Christ. We do know Christ, and, notwithstanding the objections of philosophers, we have a real though very partial and inadequate knowledge of God himself; for Christ said, "He who hath seen me hath seen the Father also." There have been special revelations of God to specially favoured members of the human family; but hereafter, the vision shall be open, it shall be for all the purified and glorified. "We shall see him as he is." "We shall know God even as we are known." Well is this called "the beatific vision:" to behold and know him who is infinite in nature, eternal in existence, perfect in all moral attributes.

III TRUE ALSO OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF OUR SPIRITUAL KINDRED AND BRETHREN. There are many circumstances which hinder us from enjoying more than a superficial acquaintance with some of our nearest kinsmen and our daily associates. But in heaven there shall be no disguise, no restraint, no separation. Misunderstandings shall vanish; we shall see "face to face." Imagination pictures, upon the suggestion of this principle, the fellowship of pure delight to be enjoyed with all "saints," in "the assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. T.

Now, and then.

Divine knowledge is the truest riches of the intellect; Divine love, the dearest wealth of the heart. Love is greater than all gifts; greater than tongues and than prophecy, which shall pass away; greater even than knowledge, which here is but partial and progressive. How natural that St. Paul, whose mind was eager for knowledge, and whose life was so largely devoted to communicating it, should linger for a moment and think of knowledge such as it now is and such as it is destined hereafter to be!

I THE PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE OF THIS PRESENT STATE. "We see as through a mirror, in an enigma.

1. Earth is a mirror dimly reflecting God"s attributes. The glory, beauty, adaptations of nature, all speak of God. There is a reflection, and the wisdom, the power, the goodness, of the Creator may be recognized. Yet it is a dim reflection; lightning, tempest, and earthquake, sickness, anguish, and death, perplex the mind of the reflective observer. There is no complete and adequate solution here.

2. Life is a mirror dimly reflecting God"s government. No careful, observant mind can fail to trace an overruling Providence in human life, in the life of the individual, anti in the life of the nation. Yet the reflection of a perfectly wise and righteous government, it must be admitted, is dim. We cannot always "justify the ways of God to men;" the heart often sinks at the sight of prosperous wickedness, of the slow progress made by truth and righteousness. The kingdom of God seems near us; but we ask, "Is it here?

3. Revelation is a mirror dimly reflecting God"s purposes. There has been doubtless a progressive removal of the veil which hides God from us. Yet this revelation has been chiefly for practical purposes. We look into revelation to satisfy our inquiries concerning the Divine nature, concerning the eternal life, and there meets our view a dim manifestation. We see, but we see "in an enigma.

II WHY THE FUTURE STATE IS ONE OF CLEARER, FULLER KNOWLEDGE.

1. There may be a reason in ourselves. Spiritual childhood will develop into manhood; the imperfections of the body, the infirmities of human

2. nature, the prejudices of the earthly life, will disappear, and our vision will be purged.

3. A reason in the character of our knowledge. The processes here and now are slow, hesitating, inferential. Hereafter it would seem that we shall know by intuition much which now we learn mediately and with much liability to error.

1. A reason in the manifestation itself. More material will be offered to our faculties; clearer light will beam upon us. In the vaster dominion then accessible, of which only a province is now within our reach, there will open up to the glorified as in a blaze, a sphere of Divine knowledge.

2. A reason in the circumstances and the society of heaven. Here opportunities are restricted; there they will be illimitable. Here fellowship is imperfect; there the society of glorified saints and blessed angels will be fitted to stimulate and encourage the soul by sympathy with all its lofty quests and aspirations.

3. A reason in the prolonged opportunity of eternity. The reflection often forces itself upon us: "Art is long, and time is fleeting." There is no time for the dirtiness to pass off the mirror upon which, as we gaze, we breathe. Yonder infinite opportunity invites the ardent spirit to intermeddle with all knowledge; we feel that we can but lose ourselves in a prospect so vast, illimitable, and glorious.

III WHAT IT MAY BE EXPECTED WILL HEREAFTER BE CLEARLY KNOWN.

1. The past of our existence will then be seen in due perspective, and will be plain to the mind looking back upon it.

2. Light shall be east upon the mysteries of earth and time. What has been perplexing and inexplicable when beheld so near at hand shall be clear and unmistakable as the appointment of Divine wisdom and love, when looked down upon from yonder heights.

3. Christ himself shall be then seen "as he is," so as even his dearest and most congenial friends cannot know him now. "Then face to face," to be "changed into the same image, from glory to glory. T.

Now then.

I OUR PRESENT IGNORANCE. Our knowledge of Divine things (for these are here chiefly referred to) resembles that which we obtain of natural objects when we see them "through a glass," or rather "reflected in a mirror." And ancient mirrors, of which the apostle speaks, were by no means so perfect as modern ones. Made of imperfectly polished metal, they gave but a very defective representation of objects reflected. The imperfection of our present knowledge is thus strikingly illustrated. We see now "darkly," or "in an enigma," and the enigma often puzzles us not a little. Our present ignorance arises from:

1. Imperfection in the mirror. Though the Scripture be inspired of God, yet it reveals plainly only necessary truth. Other truth is set forth in figure or is barely hinted at. So that we do not find by any means in God"s Word a solution of all mysteries. We see much in it we may see all that we need to see; but it is still a book of mystery, a mirror which only partially reflects the great realities. Then the mirror is often blurred.

(1) Defects and errors in translation if we read only in our mother tongue; and if we have the modern "gift of tongues," it is often difficult to determine the precise meaning of a word or passage.

(2) Defects in exposition on the part of teachers. Other mirrors, such as nature and the course of human events, furnish us with knowledge of Divine things; but these mirrors, in the hands of men, and under the influences of evil, have become warped and misshapen, consequently the reflections are more or less distorted. We have further to reflect that no mirror could perfectly reflect what we desire to know.

1. Imperfection in our vision. We do not by any means see all that is reflected. Now dust is in our eyes, and now tears, and we see comparatively little. We have many ophthalmic disorders which impair our sight.

2. Dimness of the light in which we live. The haze of sin is around us; the atmosphere is darkened by evil; the beams of the Sun of Righteousness have to break through much fog.

3. We move as we gaze. Our life is rapid. We snatch hurried glances at things Divine. We do not see as much as we might see. The most of us might get longer seasons of quiet contemplation if we would. Not a few need to learn the wisdom of sacrificing the little for the great; alas! so many sacrifice the great for the little. We must do this and that and the other; and we never pause to ask the questionWhy must we? It comes to this piece of folly we must do the little and trivial; there is no need for us to do the great and the all important! For these and other reasons our present condition is largely one of ignorance. Still we should be thankful

1. that we see something;

2. that we can see enough for life and duty.

II OUR FUTURE KNOWLEDGE. Hereafter things will be changed. No longer shall we see in a mirror darkly, but "face to face." Our life will not then be a study of reflections. The atmosphere will then be purer. Our vision will be corrected and perfected. Earthly distractions will cease. Then remark how perfect our knowledge will be. Our knowledge of truth will be like God"s knowledge of us: "Then shall I know even as also I am known." God sees us through and through, and is acquainted with all our ways; so hereafter shall we know those things which are now perplexing mysteries to us. The insoluble will then be solved, the contradictories reconciled. In our sphere then we shall be "perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect". (Mat_5:48) We shall know God more truly; for "we shall see him as he is." Note: The path of piety is the path of knowledge. The promise of the solution of great mysteries is made to the godly. Part of the torment of the lost may consist in the distraction occasioned by mysteries which for them have no promise of solution. This is the cause of not a little suffering and sorrow here; it may be such a cause hereafter, and a more intense cause. Believers are sometimes ridiculed for credulity, fancifulness, indifference to "facts." But believers are on the way towards the very highest know]edge and the completest grasp, in all their significance, of the greatest facts of the universe. Now we are but children, and concerned with things which, in comparison with "things to come," are childish (though in the child and the childish things there are the true germs of what in fuller development belong to the man and manly things); hereafter we shall become men, and put away childish things (ver. 11). H.

The nature of the future knowledge.

"Then shall I know even as also I am known." Better read, "I was known," i.e. known or apprehended of Christ. St. Paul"s thought appears to be that soul culture brings the true, full knowledge and power. A man knows only in the measure of the progress of the work of Divine grace in him; and what we may call perfect knowledge can only come when we are ourselves morally perfected, wholly sanctified, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Two points claim consideration.

I THE NATURE AND LIMITATIONS OF MAN"S PRESENT KNOWLEDGE. It is dependent on our senses. Show that this means that our knowledge is limited to the spheres with which our senses stand related. Even transcendent and so called supernatural things cannot be conceived until set under sensible forms and figures. We can only transcend nature by the help of nature. The senses limit even the imagination. It may be shown that God"s world is set ready for just the creatures he has put in it; and if any other than the sensible world is to be opened to us, we must be changed, renewed, regenerated, and so new sensibilities and capacities must be given and developed. Illustrate that the world of science is the proper sphere for men who have only senses and intellect. It is a vast sphere, a wonderful sphere, but only a limited sphere; and since researches or observations within it are dependent on the frailty of the instruments used, no absolute truth of science can ever be obtained. Illustrate from the observations of astronomers. No conclusion can be affirmed with absolute certainty because the disturbing conditions of the atmosphere can never be perfectly estimated in connection with any experiment. Then add to this frailty of the senses the influence of sin on man when his attention is directed to moral questions. No man can hope, of himself, to attain the perfect moral truth. Illustrate from the sadly mixed systems of all the great classical or modem moralists, and plead that the key to all truth is the vision of God which comes with the soul"s conversion and regeneration. Here on earth a man knows nothing aright until he knows God, as manifested in the person of his Son.

II THE NATURE AND LIMITATIONS OF MAN"S FUTURE KNOWLEDGE. It will not be imprisoned in sense forms or figures. It will come by soul faculties, of which our bodily senses are but suggestive types. It will come out of new spheres and new relations. It will take new thought forms. It will replace observation by insight, so it will need no verification. It will bear relation to moral character, and not to intellectual endowments. It will be the apprehension men may gain, when the blinding influence of sin and self love are wholly passed away, and spiritual insight has no clouds or veils to pierce through. But man"s future knowledge, however wonderful it may be, must still be limited, forever it can but be the knowledge of a created being. He can never know God, never know more than God may be pleased to reveal of himself and of his ways. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now we see - Even the things that surround us. But by means of a glass - Or mirror, which reflects only their imperfect forms, in a dim, faint, obscure manner; so that our thoughts about them are puzzling and intricate, and everything is a kind of riddle to us. But then - We shall see, not a faint reflection, but the objects themselves. Face to face - Distinctly. Now I know in part - Even when God himself reveals things to me, great part of them is still kept under the veil. But then I shall know even as also I am known - In a clear, full, comprehensive manner; in some measure like God, who penetrates the center of every object, and sees at one glance through my soul and all things.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if the apostle had said, Now in our minority we see divine revelations, as the prophets did of old, in a dark enigmatical manner, and by symbolical representations of things upon the fancy, as in a glass; but then in the adult state of the church we shall see them after the Mosaical manner, in a way more accommodated to human nature, and as it were face to face: we shall see clearly, immediately, not by reflection, but by intuition.

These adverbs, now and then, distinguish the twofold state of gracious souls; and show what they are whilst confined to the body, and what they shall be when emancipated and freed from the body, that clog of mortality which now hangs upon them.

Observe here, 1. That our imperfect knowledge of God is set forth by seeing in a glass, because it is a weak and imperfect vision; a glass gives but a weak and languid representation of the face that is seen in it; and because it is a vanishing and transient vision, a man having looked in a glass, presently forgets what he saw there: and because it is no immediate sight, but mediante speculo, by the glass of his word and ordinances we see and understand something of God’s nature and will; though after all our searchings here to find out what God is, we rather know what he is not, than are are able to declare what he is.

Observe, 2. That such as have seen God here, as in a glass, in the glass of his ordinances and providence, in the glass of his word and works, shall see him face to face, and fix their eye upon him in heaven to all eternity: when once the pious soul is unsheathed from the body, it glistens gloriously; as soon as the cage is open, this bird soars aloft, and sings melodiously.

It is death’s office to beat down the partition-wall, a gross, earthly body; and then the glorified soul shall have a clear and perfect vision, an immediate and possessive vision, a satisfying and soul- transforming vision, a permanent and eternal vision, of the holy and blessed God, which the apostle here calls seeing face to face.

Observe, 3. How St. Paul in the latter words of the verse gives us a plainer expression of that which before he had spoken more darkly and obscurely: Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known.

Where note, How the apostle changes the person: before it was, we see through a glass darkly; here it is, I know in part. He had included himself before in the word we: but he doth in more apparently in saying, I. Now I know in part. When so great an apostle acknowledges the imperfection of his knowledge, who can, who dare, boast of the largeness of his understanding?

Note farther, The apostle’s saying, Now I know, intimates, that he had begun his acquaintance with God here, which he expected should be improved and perfected in heaven; he that knows not God in part here, shall never know him face to face in glory; heaven is a place of perfection indeed, but nothing is perfected there, which did not commence and begin here.

Observe, 4. When the apostle says, We shall know even as we are known: he means, that we shall know God as really and truly, though not so fully and comprehensibly, as he knows us; we shall know him in his nature and attributes; then and there will his wonderful clemency be sweetly displayed, his exact justice visibly demonstrated, his perfect wisdom clearly unfolded, all the knotty intrigues of providence wisely resolved, all the mysterious depths of divine counsels fully discovered, to the delightful satisfaction of the admiring and adoring soul, who shall then see as it is seen, and know as it is known.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. “For now we see through a mirror in an enigma.” They had no glass in Paul’s day, but used polished metals as mirrors which were very imperfect. Hence the brightest spiritual light shining material bodies is but a dim, twinkling star contrasted with the meridian sun in his noonday splendor antithetical to the glory of the celestial worlds. “Now I know in part then shall I know perfectly even as I am also perfectly known.” E.V. does not well bring out this wonderful passage, forever settling the question of spiritual recognition in the disembodied as well as the resurrection state. We will not only know and recognize, but while it is here only partial, there it will be perfect, as that is a perfect world. Hence everything there, having been shadowy here, will be perfect.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known . [The superlative excellence of love is here shown in that it survives all things with which it may be compared, and reveals its close relation to God whose name is love ( 1Jo_4:8 ), by its eternal, imperishable nature. Prophecies, tongues and knowledge-three supernatural gifts though they were--were mortals compared with the divine spirit of love. They were needful in developing the infant church, but as that institution passed onward toward maturity and perfection ( Heb_5:12-14 ; Heb_6:1 ; Eph_3:14-21 ; Eph_4:11-16 ), they were outgrown and discontinued, because from them had been developed the clear, steady light of the recorded Word, and the mature thoughtfulness and assurance of a well-instructed church. They were thrown aside, therefore, as the wheat stalk which has matured its grain; or, to use Paul's own figure, put away as the speech, feeling and judgment of childhood when they have produced their corresponding faculties in manhood. Though the triplet of child-faculties--speech, feeling, thought, do not form a close parallel with the triplet of gifts--tongues, prophecies, knowledge, yet they were alike in that to both, the child and the church, they seemed severally all-important. All Christians who mistakenly yearn for a renewal of these spiritual gifts, should note the clear import of these words of the apostle, which show that their presence in the church would be an evidence of immaturity and weakness, rather than of fully developed power and seasoned strength. But if the gifts have passed from the church as transient and ephemeral, shall not that which they have produced abide? Assuredly they shall, until that which is perfect is come; i. e., until the coming of Christ. Then prophecy shall be merged into fulfillment, and the dim light of revelation shall be broadened into the perfect day. We to-day see the reflection of truth, rather than the truth itself. It has come to us through the medium of minds which, though divinely illuminated, were yet finite, and it has modified itself, though essentially spiritual, so as to be clothed in earthly words; and it is grasped and comprehended by us through the use of our material brains. Thus, though perfect after its kind, and true as far as it goes, our present knowledge of heavenly things is perhaps as far from the full reality as is the child's conception of earthly things ( Joh_3:12 ). And so our present knowledge may well merge, as will prophecy, into a higher order of perfection, wherein both the means of manifestation ( 2Co_5:7 ) and of comprehension ( 1Jo_3:2 ) will be wholly perfect. So, though at present we may indeed know God, yet our knowledge is more that received by description, than that which is received by direct, clear sight, and personal acquaintance; but hereafter we shall know God in some sense as he knows us, and know the beings of the heavenly land as thoroughly as they now know us. Mirrors were then made of polished silver or brass, and were far more indistinct than our present glasses; so that to see a reflection in one of them was far less satisfactory than to see the reality.]

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.

12. For now we see in a glass. In a “mirror.” The mirrors of the ancients were of polished metal, and were far inferior to ours. The images were indistinct in comparison. They were seen darkly, indistinctly, imperfectly. Thus in this state of our knowledge of divine things imperfect and incomplete. But then face to face. We will not look in a glass in the coming state, but will see face to face, without a veil, or obscurity. Now I know in part. There were limitations upon the knowledge even of Paul; only a part was seen. But then, when the veil is taken away, and the full revelation has come in the presence of Christ, he shall know fully, know God, eternity and its secrets, even as he is known to God. Thus it is shown that all these spiritual gifts are fleeting.

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.

12. δι’ ἐσόπτρου. Literally, by means of a mirror. Per speculum, Vulgate. Bi a mirour, Wiclif. Meyer reminds us that we are to think rather of the mirrors of polished metal used in ancient times, the reflections of which would often be obscure and imperfect, than of our modern looking-glasses.

ἐν αἰνίγματι. In an enigma. Connected with αἶνος, a fable, this word means any saying that is difficult to understand, like the aenigma the Sphinx proposed to Oedipus. There is a confusion of metaphor therefore here, but it conveys a fulness of meaning. We see here (1) by means of a mirror, i.e. not directly, but through a medium, and (2) we have to deal with things of which it is difficult to penetrate the meaning. See Soph. Oed. Tyr. 393 καίτοι τό γ’ αἴνιγμ’ οὐχὶ τοὐπιόντος ἦν | ἀνδρὸς διειπεῖν, ἀλλὰ μαντείας ἔδει.

πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. Cf. Num 12:8, to which the Apostle is evidently referring. Also Job 19:26-27; 1Jn 3:2; Rev 22:4.

ἐπεγνώσθην. ἐπιγινώσκω signifies thorough, complete knowledge. ‘I am known’ should rather be translated I was known, i.e. either (1) when Christ took knowledge of me (Meyer), or (2) I was (previously) known, or (3) the aorist may be altogether indefinite, ‘as God hath been wont to know me.’ It is God’s knowledge of us, His interpenetrating our being with His, which is the cause of our knowledge. Cf. Gal 4:9; ch. 1Co 8:3. Also Mat 11:27, and John 17 throughout.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12.] Contrast between our present sight and knowledge,—and those in the future perfect state.

γάρ justifies the analogy of the former verse: for it is just so with us.

ἄρτι, in our present condition, until the Lord’s coming.

διʼ ἐσόπτρου, through a mirror: i.e. as Billroth, Meyer, and De W.—according to the popular illusion, which regards the object, really seen behind the mirror, as seen through it. We must think, not of our mirrors of glass, but of the imperfectly-reflecting metallic mirrors of the ancients. The idea of the lapis specularis, placed in windows, being meant, adopted by Schöttgen from Rabbinical usage (e.g. ‘omnes prophetæ viderunt per specular obscurum, et Moses doctor noster vidit per specular lucidum’(Wetst.): and see numerous examples in his Hor. Hebr. i. 646 ff.), and followed by many Commentators, is inconsistent with the usage of ἕσοπτρον, which (Meyer) is always a mirror (Pind. Nem, vii. 20: Anacr. xi. 2; xx. 5. Lucian, Amor. xliv. 48: see also reff.): the window of lapis specularis being δίοπτρα (Strabo, xii. 2, p. 540).

ἐν αἰνίγματι] There is a reference to ref. Num., στόμα κατὰ στόμα λαλήσω αὐπῷ ἐν εἴδει, καὶ οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων. Many take the words adverbially,—‘enigmatically’ (so E. V., ‘darkly’ [and so we are almost obliged to do in an English version]): but this cannot be [the strict rendering], because αἴνιγμα is objective, not subjective: ‘a dark hint given by words.’ I agree with Meyer, notwithstanding De Wette’s strong objections, in believing ἐν αἰνίγματι to mean ‘in a dark discourse,’ viz. the revealed word, which is dark, by comparison with our future perfect knowledge. So also Luther: in einem bunteln Wort. Thus, as observes, ἐν will denote, as ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, Mat 6:4, the local department, in which the βλέπειν takes place.

τότε = ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, ver. 10: ‘at the Lord’s coming, and after.’

πρόσωπ. πρὸς πρόσωπ.] Face towards face, i.e. by immediate intuition: so Heb. in reff.

I shall thoroughly know even as I was (during this life: he places himself in that state, and uses the aor. as of a thing gone by) thoroughly known. In this life we are known by God, rather than know Him: see Gal 4:9; ch. 8:3, note,—and cf. Philo de Cherub. 32, vol. i. p. 159, νῦν ὅτε ζῶμεν, κρατούμεθα μᾶλλον ἢ ἄρχομεν, κ. γνωριζόμεθα μᾶλλον ἢ γνωρίζομεν. The sense of this aor. ἐπεγνώσθην must not be forced, as in E. V., to a present, or to a future, as by some Commentators.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι διʼ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι. ‘For we see at present by means of a mirror in a riddle.’ The γάρ confirms the preceding illustration; for as childhood to manhood, so this life to the life to come. The argument is a fortiori. If adults have long since abandoned their playthings and primers, how much more will the reflected glimpses of truth be abandoned, when the whole truth is directly seen. Almost certainly, διʼ ἐσόπτρου means ‘by means of a mirror,’ not ‘through a mirror.’ Ancient mirrors were of polished metal, and Corinthian mirrors were famous; but the best of them would give an imperfect and somewhat distorted reflexion, and Corinthian Christians would not possess the best (1:26). To see a friend’s face in a cheap mirror would be very different from looking at the friend. This world reflects God so imperfectly as to perplex us; all that we see is ἐν αἰνίγματι. The word occurs nowhere else in the N.T., but is freq. in the LXX. Probably Num 12:8 is in St Paul’s mind: στόμα κατὰ στόμα λαλήσω αὐτῷ, ἐν εἴδει καὶ οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων* Other words for ‘mirror’ are ἔνοπτρον and κάτοπτρον. Comp. 2Co 3:18. Tertullian wrongly thinks of a window-pane made of horn, which is only semi-transparent; per corneum specular. But a window with horn or lapis specularis would be δίοπτρον, not ἔσοπτρον. See Smith, D. Ant. 1. p. 686. Others explain the διά as meaning that in a mirror one seems to see through the surface to the reflected objects.

τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. ‘But then (when τὸ τέλειον shall have come) face to face’; πρόσωπον π. πρ being an adverb after βλέπομεν. The expression is Hebraistic; Gen 32:30: comp. πρ. κατὰ πρ. Deu 34:10.

Our knowledge of divine things in this life cannot be direct all comes through the distorting medium of human thought and human language, figures, types, symbols, etc. Even those who are illumined by the Spirit can give only a few rays of the truth, and those not direct, but reflected. Even the Gospel is a riddle, compared with the full light of the life to come. Here our knowledge is mediate, the result of inference and instruction; it is partial and confused; a piecemeal succession of broken lights. There it will be immediate, complete, and clear; a connected and simultaneous illumination. The imperfection of our knowledge, even of revealed truth, is not sufficiently recognized; and hence the rejection of Christianity by so many thoughtful people. Christians often claim to know more than it is possible to know. They forget how much of the Bible is symbolical. See Goudge, p. 122.

ἄρτι γινώσκω ἐκ μέρους. In realizing what is true of all of us, St Paul returns to his own personal experience; ‘At present I get to know from a part only, but then I shall know in full even as I was known also in full, once for all,’ by God from all eternity. Or the aorist may refer to Christ’s knowledge of him at his conversion. For ἐπιγινώσκειν, which is very frequent in Luke (1:4, 5:22, etc.) and in St. Paul (Rom 1:32; 2Co 6:9, etc.), see Lightfoot on Col 1:9, and J. A. Robinson on Eph 1:17, p. 248. It is difficult to believe that here the compound is not meant to indicate more complete knowledge than the simple verb: but it does not follow from this that the compound always does so. In any case, καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην is a bold way of expressing the completeness of future illumination; human knowledge is to equal (καθώς, ‘exactly as’) divine. Comp. Philo (De Cherub. § 32, p. 159;) νῦν ὅτε ζῶμεν γνωριζόμεθα μᾶλλον ἤ γνωρίζομεν. In this verse we have γίνωσκω in all three voices.

D* F G, Vulg. Arm. Goth., Tert. Cypr. omit. γάρ, but it is well attested (א A B K L P, Copt.).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Through a glass [δι εσοπτρου] . Rev., in a mirror. Through [δια] is by means of. Others, however, explain it as referring to the illusion by which the mirrored image appears to be on the other side of the surface : others, again, think that the reference is to a window made of horn or other translucent material. This is quite untenable. Esoptron mirror occurs only here and Jas 1:23. The synonymous word katoptron does not appear in the New Testament, but its kindred verb katoptrizomai to look at one's self in a mirror, is found, 2Co 3:18. The thought of imperfect seeing is emphasized by the character of the ancient mirror, which was of polished metal, and required constant polishing, so that a sponge with pounded pumice - stone was generally attached to it. Corinth was famous for the manufacture of these. Pliny mentions stone mirrors of agate, and Nero is said to have used an emerald. The mirrors were usually so small as to be carried in the hand, though there are allusions to larger ones which reflected the entire person. The figure of the mirror, illustrating the partial vision of divine things, is frequent in the rabbinical writings, applied, for instance, to Moses and the prophets. Plato says : "There is no light in the earthly copies of justice or temperance or any of the higher qualities which are precious to souls : they are seen through a glass, dimly" (" Phaedrus, "250). Compare" Republic, " 7, 516.

Darkly [εν αινιγματι] . Lit., in a riddle or enigma, the word expressing the obscure form in which the revelation appears. Compare dij aijnigmatwn in dark speeches, Num 12:8.

Face to face. Compare mouth to mouth, Num 12:8.

Shall I know [επιγνωσομαι] . American Rev., rightly, "I shall fully know." See on knowledge, Rom 3:20. The A. V. has brought this out in 2Co 6:9, well known.

I am known [επεγνωσθην] . The tense is the aorist, "was known," in my imperfect condition. Paul places himself at the future stand - point, when the perfect has come. The compound verb is the same as the preceding. Hence American Rev., "I was fully known."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 12. “For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I have been known.”

The ordinary application of the two parts of this verse to the gift of knowledge seems to me mistaken. Why should the apostle in this application omit the gift of prophecy? We shall find that the terms of the first half of the verse apply as naturally to the last gift as those of the second half to knowledge. As to tongues he omits them, as already in 1Co 13:9. He does not think it necessary to revert expressly to their future disappearance.

The object of βλέπειν, to see, is here God Himself, with His plan of grace and glory toward us. The mirrors of the ancients were of metal; those made at Corinth were famous. The image which they presented could never be perfectly distinct. There is no ground for Rückert’s idea that what is meant is a window formed of semi-transparent glass or of a square of horn. Tertullian already understood it so: Velut per corneum specular (see Edwards). The διά, through, on which this view rested, may signify: by means of. Or the term through may be suggested by the fact that the image seems to be placed behind the surface of the mirror.

We perceive Divine things, says the apostle, only by means of their image in a mirror. Plato had already expressed a similar idea in his famous comparison of the cave. This figure signifies two things: knowledge of a mediate character, and for that very reason always more or less confused.—᾿Εν αἰνίγματι, literally: in the form of enigma. The word αἴνιγμα denotes a sentence which, without expressly saying the thing, leaves it to be guessed. It thus serves to bring out the relative obscurity in the manifestation of Divine things, which we now possess. If we apply the expression exclusively to the gift of knowledge, we shall see in the mirror, with some, space and time, those necessary forms of all our ideas, or the categories of reason which determine all its processes; Paul in that case would have here anticipated Kant. Or, according to others, Paul is thinking of the facts of sacred history as manifesting God’s character and essence, or of the revelations of Scripture in general. Holsten combines these two last interpretations. But do we not arrive at a more natural explanation of the apostle’s words, if we apply them to the gift of prophecy? The image in the mirror corresponds in this case to the inward picture which the Spirit of God produces in the prophet’s soul at the time of his vision, and in which the Divine thought is revealed to him. And the expression: in the form of enigma, which we have translated darkly, exactly renders the character of such a picture. The prophet required in every case to apply his whole attention to the vision to extract from it the idea of the fact revealed to him; comp. 1Pe 1:10-11. What seems to me to confirm this meaning is the analogy of the terms used by Paul to those of the Pentateuch, particularly in the passage Num 12:6-8, where the Lord says: “If there be a prophet among you, I will make Myself known unto him, ἐν ὁράματι, in a vision, and I will speak unto him, ἐν ὕπνῳ, in a dream; but My servant Moses is not so....With him I speak mouth to mouth, στόμα κατὰ στόμα, and he seeth Me, ἐν εἴδει, manifestly, and not δἰ αἰνιγμάτων, in enigmas (confused representations).” With this mediate view of the Divine, by means of prophetic picture, the apostle contrasts the immediate intuition which will be the character of future contemplation; and he here uses expressions which remind us of what is said in the Old Testament regarding the incomparable mode of communication between God and Moses (Deu 34:10 : mouth to mouth, and Exo 33:11 : ἐνώπιος ἐνωπίῳ, face to face). The communication which God granted to Moses, and to Moses only, was a kind of anticipation of the final mode of intuition here described; comp. Num 12:8 (LXX.): καὶ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ κυρίου εἶδε, and he saw the glory of the Lord.

The second part of the verse relates to the gift of knowledge. With the fragmentary, successive, analytic, discursive mode of our present knowledge, there is contrasted the intuitive, central, complete, and perfectly distinct character of our future knowledge. The verb γινώσκω, strictly: I learn to know, denotes effort and progress. Then Paul substitutes for the simple active verb γινώσκω, the compound ἐπιγινώσκω in the middle form to denote the complete assimilation of the knowledge to come: to put the finger on the object, so as to possess it entirely. And, to give the fullest idea of this kind of knowledge, he uses the boldest conceivable parallel, identifying the knowledge which we shall have of God with that which He now has of us. The καθώς, according as, as, indicates the immediate and perfectly distinct character, and the καί serves still more to emphasize the notion of identity.

The first person singular is substituted in this second part of the verse for the first plural, we see, to emphasize more strongly the absolute inwardness of this wholly personal relation. Meyer, Kling, Hofmann, Holsten think that the aorist I have been known refers to the date of conversion; comp. Gal 4:9; but this restricted sense is unnatural in our passage. Paul is speaking of the knowledge which God has of man during the whole course of his life. From the standpoint of the life to come, at which the context puts us, this knowledge appears to him as a thing of the past.

With this whole view opened up, what became of the superiority of knowledge and speech on which the Corinthians prided themselves so greatly (comp. 1Co 1:5; 1Co 1:7)? As the faint glimmer of dawn gives place to the brightness of the rising sun, so those confused conceptions and those fragmentary knowledges in which they glory will vanish in the brightness of immediate vision granted at the hour of the Advent (the ἀποκάλυψις, 1Co 1:7). What will then remain of the present state? Nothing? No; that would mean that all the present labour of the believer is vain. Something will remain, undoubtedly: but it will not be gifts, it will be the virtues which constitute the essential elements of the Christian character, without which, as Heinrici says, the Christian personality itself is extinguished:

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.