1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

"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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Corinthians 13:11-12

1 Corinthians 13:11-12. When I was a child, &c. The difference between our present and future conceptions of spiritual things may be illustrated by the knowledge of a child compared to that of a man. For in our present state, we are mere infants in knowledge, in comparison of what we shall be hereafter. I spake as a child Would naturally do, words hardly intelligible, and often unmeaning; I understood Or was affected, as εφρονουν may be rendered; as a child That is, thrown into... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Love is greater than the gifts (13:1-13)The Corinthians were impressed with people who exercised the more spectacular gifts. Paul reminds them that no matter what gifts they have - tongues, prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, faith - if they lack love they are not merely unimportant, they are nothing (13:1-2). People may be so generous with their goods and money that in the end they themselves become poor. They may be so faithful to their duty that they sacrifice their lives. But without love they... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Corinthians 13:12

see . App-133 . through . App-104 . 1 Corinthians 13:1 . glass = mirror. Greek. esoptron. Only here and James 1:23 . darkly . Literally in (Greek. en) a riddle. Greek. ainigma. Only here in N.T. In the Septuagint, Numbers 12:8 . 1 Kings 10:1 .Proverbs 13:1 , Proverbs 13:6 , &c. know = fully know. App-132 . even as, &c . = even as I was fully known also. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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.In this there surely must be a glimpse of eternal things; and it evidently occurred to Paul in connection with what he had just said of the childhood age of the church giving way to maturity, applicable to the current era of that day; but like many other examples in the Bible, it has a secondary reference to something much more remote. (Other examples of... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

1 Corinthians 13:12. For now we see through a glass darkly— For now we see in an ambiguous manner, by means of a mirror; δι εσοπτρου . The LXX. use this word for the women's looking-glasses, or mirrors of metal, out of which Moses made the laver, Exodus 38:8. It is well known that the use of dioptric glasses in telescopes did not prevail till many ages after the date of this Epistle. The meaning of the verse is, "We now see the most noble objects of our intellectual view in an ambiguous and... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Corinthians 13:11-12

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:12

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