1 Corinthians 13:12-13

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:13

The three graces. These are faith, hope, love. I. THEIR EXCELLENCE . 1. Faith. Unites us to Christ; secures our forgiveness, justification, sanctification, final and complete redemption. It is the great power in our present life: "The just shall live by faith." 2. Hope. Brightens the present by brightening the future. In distress we have hope of deliverance; in sickness, of restoration or translation to the painless life; in sin, of holiness; in sorrow, of joy; in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:13

The immortality of all graces. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three." The word "abideth" is significant, as applied to each of the three great graces. While so much must "pass away," why may faith, hope, and charity be said to abide? Because they are the dress of souls, not of bodies. They are things belonging to character, not merely to conduct. Souls pass through into new spheres of existence, taking with them all that is peculiar to them. We shall step into the eternal world... 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

Albert Barnes

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

And now abideth - “Remains” (μένει menei). The word means properly to remain, continue, abide; and is applied to persons remaining in a place, in a state or condition, in contradistinction from removing or changing their place, or passing away. Here it must be understood to be used to denote “permanency,” when the other things of which he had spoken had passed away; and the sense is, that faith, hope, and love would “remain” when the gift of tongues should cease, and the need of prophecy,... 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

Joseph Benson

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

1 Corinthians 13:13. And now In the present world; abideth In the hearts of holy persons, and influencing their lives, even all their tempers, words, and works; faith, hope, love, these three The principal and radical saving graces, of most frequent use in the Christian life, and productive of all the others. 1st, Faith, whereby we receive as infallibly true, and infinitely important, the testimony of God, contained in his word concerning things past, present, and to come; especially... 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

E.W. Bullinger

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

abideth . Greek. meno. See p. 1511. 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

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