Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 13:9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
9. and we prophesy in part ] All inspired utterances are but partial revelations of Divine Truth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For we know in part – Compare the note on 1Co 12:27. This expression means only in part; that is, imperfectly. Our knowledge here is imperfect and obscure. It may, therefore, all vanish in the eternal world amidst its superior brightness; and we should not regard that as of such vast value which is imperfect and obscure; compare the note at 1Co 8:2. This idea of the obscurity and imperfection of our knowledge, as compared with heaven, the apostle illustrates 1Co 13:11 by comparing it with the knowledge which a child has, compared with that in maturer years and 1Co 13:12 by the knowledge which we have in looking through a glass – an imperfect medium – compared with that which we have in looking closely and directly at an object without any medium.
And we prophesy in part – This does not mean that we partly know the truths of religion, and partly conjecture or guess at them; or that we know only a part of them, and conjecture the remainder. But the apostle is showing the imperfection of the prophetic gift; and he observes, that there is the same imperfection which attends knowledge. It is only in part; it is imperfect; it is indistinct, compared with the full view of truth in heaven; it is obscure, and all that is imparted by that gift will soon become dim and lost in the superior brightness and glory of the heavenly world. The argument is, that we ought not to seek so anxiously that which is so imperfect and obscure, and which must soon vanish away; but we should rather seek that love which is permanent, expanding, and eternal.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 13:9-10
We know in part, and we prophesy in part.
We know in part
I. The imperfection of our knowledge.
1. We know but little.
2. That little is mixed with much error.
3. Includes much that is useless.
4. Is very imperfectly apprehended.
II. Its causes.
1. Intellectual.
2. Physical.
3. Moral.
III. Its lessons.
1. Humility.
2. Docility.
3. Distrust of our own understanding.
4. Hope. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
We know in part
The apostle says this not simply of the wisdom of this world, but of Divinely-given knowledge. A reverence not according to knowledge has led Christians to forget this, and to argue as if inspired writers gave us final and complete knowledge about the ways of God. This is not so, and hence much that is fragmentary even in Scripture, and representations which cannot be harmonised yet.
I. The part we do not know–by far the greater part; and the more we know, the more we seem not to know–as the outside of a circle gets larger as the inside is increased. Only beginners are proud of their acquirements; discoverers, who stand upon the boundaries of human knowledge, gazing with earnest eyes over the boundless untrodden region beyond, feel themselves unable to spell out the very alphabet of the universe of God.
1. What do we know about the material world? Men observe that things have certain appearances, and that changes occur with a certain regularity; but why they appear so, and how these changes take place, which obviously are the most important points to understand, belong to the part we do not know. Why a star moves or a plant grows, it is useless to ask an astronomer or a botanist.
2. So in the spiritual world. How much of goodness and how much of trial make up the facts and events of our lives! But what can we know about them–how they come, and why? What an amount of ingenuity we spend upon these questions, and how much are we perplexed! But vain are our endeavours to get at the meaning.
3. It is the same in regard to the great facts of the Christian revelation. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Why was that necessary? How was it possible? That is the part we do not know; and we must content ourselves, having appropriate evidence, with the fact that it is so. Pauls eager mind did indeed press against the furthest boundaries of inspired knowledge; but he once stopped with, O the depth of the riches, etc., and then turned to practical matters.
II. The part we no know. It is natural to us to appreciate what we lack, and to undervalue what we have. In this, as in other respects, we are but children of a larger growth. As a thousand natural wonders and beauties lie at our feet which we have not eyes attentive enough to see, or minds awake enough to study, or hearts big enough to love: so with the marvels of Christ and Christianity, of which our tongues often speak parrot-like in hymns and prayers, yet the rich significance of which we seldom feel. Our prayer should be, Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. (T. M. Herbert, M.A.)
We know in part
We wish we knew more. To appreciate the fact that we know but little, and to understand some of the reasons why, will help us to be more reconciled to our own ignorance and to that of others, and will contribute to remove some of the obstacles that lie in the way of a completer knowledge.
I. We are born with an eye graduated to some particular truth or truths, and not with a vision that spreads itself with equal facility over all truths.
1. It is no fault of ours that we cannot see the Southern Cross. That constellation does not form part of the heavens under which God intended us to live. If it had fallen to our lot to dwell in Patagonia, then we should have lived under its blaze, and it would then have been impossible for us to make out the Great Bear. No eye is able to see everything, and each eye has an outlook of its own.
2. Truth is like a diamond, and you must shift your position in order to catch the particular flash from each individual facet; which is what in the matter of truth we do not and cannot do. We can migrate from latitude to latitude, and skip from street to street; but as regards truth, we can change neither our nationality nor our address; truth is fixed, and we are born fixed in our relation to it. We are individually created into a specific angle with the truth. Truth individualises itself to each eye and makes only minute donations to each. It is with us in this respect much as it is with objects in their relation to a sunbeam, where one sort of material will pull the blue out of it; another the green; another the red, and so on through the entire bundle of colour bound up in a white ray. In the same way, each mind picks the particular truth that is native to it.
3. It is the way we are made. It has its advantages; some one aspect of truth we have power to take hold of and to feel keenly. It results in each man having his own little patch of truth to cultivate, and by that means he doubtless gets more produce on to the worlds market than he would do if he had a whole hundred acre lot to cultivate scatteringly.
4. That ought to keep us steadily at work on constructive lines, not destructive ones; telling what little we do see and know, and letting the rest go. A star is not brilliant because I happen to see it; it is brilliant because–it is brilliant. Exactly so it is of a truth. If there is some reality that your mind looks right into, but that your Christian neighbour has no sense of and no care for, it is not because he is a theological idiot, but because your little star does not happen to shine where he stands.
II. We allow the one particular bent that we are born with to assert a despotism over us.
1. If, e.g., there is some particular truth of Gods Word that we have a native bias for, we shall be almost certain to make that determine for us the portions of Scripture that we shall admit to our thought and our confidence; much as the one glowing constellation that is in the direct range of our vision will be almost certain to prevent our scouring around to detect others imperfectly disclosed.
2. The same holds of other books as well as of the Bible. Look at the library of any Christian thinker, and you will be able to determine what his theological bent is. The very particularity of his view operates to keep it narrow, and his will only be those that he can use as whet-stones upon which to whet his particularity down to a thinner edge.
3. Then, too, the habit of thinking along some congenial line, not only weakens our interest in truth lying upon other lines, but sometimes even impairs our power of appreciating truth lying upon them. Just as a creature needs a different bodily construction to enable him to live upon land from what he does to exist in water, so, to a certain degree, a different equipment is required to live and think in a region of spirit from what is required to adapt one to a world of matter; and the more exclusively we are habituated to the former, the more awkward it will make us when we undertake to make any headway in the latter. Some of us use our scientific faculties so little that they become aborted and we lose all power to appreciate scientific facts. And the converse of that is equally true.
4. So that in these days, when there is being so strong a pressure brought to bear in behalf of those branches of knowledge that deal with matter only, if you want your boy to be a Christian, see to it that he gets his mind trained in those faculties that will especially be called in play in the discernment and appreciation of spiritual truth.
III. By a deliberate act of our own will we veto the truth.
1. Truth depends for its power upon the concurrence of the mind as much as light depends for its power on the concurrence of the eye. A truth coming to us always knocks at the door and then stands outside waiting till some one comes and answers. No man is likely to be persuaded against his will. We personally decide just how much Gods Word shall do for us and how far it shall go with us. The preacher never drives it in; we let it in, and just as far as we choose. Good hearing is a far more difficult art than good preaching.
2. Christ had perfect confidence in the truth, and He had just as much confidence that when once the heart had taken the truth fairly in, something would come of it; the parable of the sower teaches that. It may rain as hard as ever it did in the days of old Noah, but the rain will start no grass so long as the downpour falls on to frozen ground.
IV. There are certain elements of Christian knowledge that can come only with the years and indeed with the centuries.
1. Experience is the only perfect teacher. We can of course crowd ourselves with facts, but that is not wisdom. Wisdom is gained by the process of somehow letting the threads of truth weave themselves into the tissue of our own life; and therefore it is not a thing to be hurried any more than you can hurry the growing of the corn. You will have to visit the country before ever you will quite understand what you have so painstakingly learned. Experience is expository; the Bible illuminates us but we illuminate the Bible. We make the Bible ours by our becoming its. We do not understand the publican until we have been on our knees by his side. We do not fathom the story of the prodigal until we have returned from the far country and have known what it is to stand in restored relations with that father. Is there any one of us who feels that he has more than merely begun to understand this chapter?
2. The simple change, too, that comes with our steady departure from childhood to manhood brings us on to a new side of some matters. Perhaps we have found out that life is not what we once thought it was going to be. Possibly the present is not quite so real as it used to be, and very likely the great future is growing upon us. One day I was looking at two large telescopic photographs of the moon, one taken when it was at its full, the other a week later. In the latter, some of the mountains that showed dull and lustreless in the earlier view, came out bright, as in the meantime the sun had passed along to the point where it could illumine the evening slopes, I remarked this to the dealer whose hair had been whitened by the years. Yes, he said, very quietly, but quite cheerily, withal, Yes, the lights are very differently arranged when you get into the last quarter. (C. H. Parkhurst, D.D.)
Limited knowledge
Knowledge is not always good. It profited our first parents little. God knew this then and He knows it now. Consider–
I. The assumption made–Now we know. It is knowledge that makes man better than the brute, that makes him like God, that develops his power, that is his salvation. We know, indeed, and therefore stand out before the heathen, the Jews, the early Christians. We have privileges which are peculiarly our own, and which none have ever enjoyed before.
II. The limitation enforced. We know in part. Of all things finite, human knowledge is the most limited. It is limited–
1. In its range.
2. In power.
III. The significance implied. This state of limited human knowledge has its purpose.
1. It places us in our own proper position. We are tempted to make our own knowledge an absolute standard. We fix rules for morality, doctrine; we organise parties and call them perfect, because we imagine our knowledge is perfect; but the authors can only see in part. It requires a serious effort to understand that others have the power of seeing what we cannot see.
2. It alters the whole tone of our spiritual life on earth. It should
(1) Remove fear, for what appears to us to be dark may in reality be light.
(2) Remove doubt, for we must trust.
(3) Lessen grief, for trials may be blessings in disguise.
IV. The privilege bestowed. Our present limited knowledge is to some extent a blessing.
1. It gives us something to look forward to–Then we shall know even as we are known. All mysteries shall one day be revealed, and then all errors shall cease.
2. It prevents much sorrow. How fearful to know all that is before us!
3. It engages our thoughts on the practical rather than the theoretical. Love is the practical duty at present; for we can love even if we cannot know. (J. J. S. Bird, M.A.)
Partial knowledge
There is a partial knowledge that is–
I. A necessity. The knowledge of the highest creature must by the necessity of nature be partial. What he knows is as nothing compared with the knowable, still less with the unknowable. Who by searching can find out God?
II. A calamity. Our necessary ignorance is not a calamity, but a benediction. It acts as a stimulus. But ignorance of knowable things must be ever a disadvantage. Ignorance of ethics, political economy, laws of health, religion, entails incalculable injuries. Ignorance of these things is the night, the winter of intellect.
III. Sinful. A partial knowledge of our moral condition, the claims of God, the means of redemption, where a fuller knowledge is attainable, is a sin. Ignorance of Christ in a land of churches and Bibles is a sin, and theft of no ordinary heinousness. It is a calamity to heathens, it is a crime to us.
IV. Beneficent. Our ignorance of our future is a blessing. Were the whole of our future to be spread out before us, with all its trials, sorrows, death, life would become intolerable; it is mercy that has woven the veil that hides the future. Conclusion: Our partial knowledge should make us humble, studious, undogmatic, devout. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Our partial knowledge
is:–
I. A discipline to diligence.
1. We require our children to know, and then we give them, not the knowledge that they seek, but the key of that knowledge. Doubtless the teacher imparts knowledge, but his greater function is in wisely keeping it back until it is fairly won. So God teaches without telling; sets alluring objects of knowledge almost within sight and reach; sets ajar the doors of science, and writes up, Ask, and ye shall receive, etc.
2. And no faithful seeker seeks in vain. Perhaps he finds somewhat other than he sought, as Saul sought the straying asses and found a kingdom. Men sought by alchemy for the philosophers stone, the elixir of life, etc., and found them not, but found marvellous things in the quest, and by and by found themselves at the splendid portals of the great treasure-house of modern chemistry. Geography explored unknown seas for a new route to Cipango and Cathay, and lo! a new continent was given as her reward. Astrology adventured out vaguely among the stars, seeking she knew not what, and became transfigured into astronomy.
3. But ever with what is given is something yet reserved. Each new discovery discloses new questions yet to be answered. And what is true in the study of material things is even more impressively true in the higher study of man, and duty, and God. Ye shall know, if ye shall follow on to know the Lord.
II. A discipline to humility and patience. And so good a discipline is it that they who have learned the most are commonly the humblest, for they know how inadequate their knowledge is. For running through the very midst of human life, in its most intimate concerns, is a line of unanswerable questions. Along the seam between will and motive, foreknowledge and responsibility, eternity and time, spirit and matter, the absolute and the conditioned, are ranged the antinomies over which the only wisdom is to despair and be patient. And that is the wisdom which after these six thousand years of discipline, theology and philosophy are only now at last beginning to learn.
III. A discipline to charity towards others whose knowledge is yet more narrowly limited or is on a different side from ours. We are vexed at their narrowness, and do not think what reason we give them or others to be vexed at ours. Probably none of us are aware where our knowledge is nearest akin to ignorance and error. Likely enough it is at the very point where we are most positive. We need, as a training in charity, to look upon the things of others as well as upon our own things. Vinet says, The men of two hundred years hence will be looking back with astonishment on some monstrous error that was unconsciously held by the best Christians of the nineteenth century. This is the constant story of the past. And it is right that we should be reminded of it; not that we should cease to hold the truth or hold it with timorous or hesitating grasp, but that we should learn to hold the truth no longer in unrighteousness or in self-righteousness, but in love.
IV. A discipline to faith. We speak of a man of great and settled faith, meaning a learned, confident theologian, who has surveyed and triangulated the whole field of sacred knowledge. Eternity, Trinity, Atonement, all these are quite clear and definite to him. Nay, rather, he is a man, so far as this goes, of no faith at all. He has not the necessary antecedent condition of faith that should bring him to the feet of the great Teacher, and to lay his hand in that of the only Guide. And you who, vexed by doubts and uncertainties and limitations, have been wont to say, But for these I might believe, learn now to speak in a higher strain, and say, In spite of these–no; because of these I must–I do believe. To whom can I go but to Him who hath the words of eternal life? Blessed be God, who hath fenced up my way of knowledge that so I might learn to feel for the leading of His hand, and walk by faith, not by sight.
V. A discipline to hope. It is not for always, this which is in part, even though it is expedient for us now. It is the dimness which turns our mind toward the day-star and the coming dawn. This hunger and thirst unsatisfied are a continual promise of the coming time when I shall be filled. In this mood I can well afford to await that glorious time for which I am not yet prepared, but for which God is preparing me, when that which is perfect shall have come and these things which are in part shall be done away–when I shall see face to face and know even as I am known. (L. W. Bacon, D.D.)
Present defect and future perfection
I. A statement of present defect.
1. The gifts themselves.
(1) The knowledge is not ordinary but extraordinary, being the effect of supernatural influence (1Co 12:8).
(2) The gift of prophecy comprehended much. Sometimes it meant the power of foretelling future events; sometimes celebrating the praises of God by a Divine afflatus; sometimes the power of teaching the doctrines of the gospel by the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. So it means here.
(3) We may, however, apply the terms to that more ordinary knowledge and teaching which is the present qualification of all who have received the Spirit and have the knowledge of the truth of God. This is knowledge which none can possibly surpass, and which very few can equal.
2. The imperfection ascribed to these gifts.
(1) The Spirit of God never gave a full development of all His revelations. Even the apostles themselves did not know all that it was possible to know respecting Jesus Christ. Paul, with all his knowledge, says, I have suffered the loss of all things–that I may know Him. And as the knowledge was imperfect, so was the prophecy. The inspired apostle found himself on the shore of a boundless ocean, and exclaimed, O the depth of the riches! etc.
(2) And so to us the same imperfection attaches most strongly. The pride of our nature may induce us to imagine otherwise; but that pride will very soon be checked. The man who has studied the hardest, who has been most frequently wrapt into visions of future times–even he must still say, I know in part–I prophesy in part. And I would ask a Christian of the highest class, if any illuminations, in which he has been enabled hitherto to rejoice, have permitted him yet to say, That which is perfect is come? Consider what you know of God–of His government of the universe, of the councils of His will, and of the connection of these with His actions–and then say how incomplete is your knowledge! Consider what you know of the mediatorial influence of Christ–of the fall transformation of the soul into His image–of the future state. You have, it is true, facts to believe, but you cannot comprehend their fulness; you study, you meditate, you explore–but you are soon lost; and you come to the conclusion, I know in part.
(3) And then some will say, Where there is so much mystery, there should be no faith. But if you will reason thus on religion, extend your reasoning to life, to nature, to all around you. You know that you live; you sit, you think, you hear, you speak; but how soon will you find your knowledge, even on these subjects, limited and nonplussed! Here we must be content to see imperfectly–to comprehend as in enigma. We can only stand as it were on the threshold of the temple; it is in the future age that the veil will be rent, that the inner sanctuary will be open to our gaze, and the fire that burns on the golden altar revealed.
3. The reasons on which this imperfection is founded.
(1) Mans moral pollution. The most sinful are always the, most ignorant. Adam by transgression lost much of his knowledge; and in proportion as transgression increased, ignorance abounded. Sin has a tendency to pervert the imagination, and forms an hindrance in the way of attaining the pure and sublime knowledge of religion.
(2) Mans intellectual weakness. There is much in Divine knowledge that we have not a capacity for knowing. Engaged as we all are on material objects, and able to see only through the medium of our senses, what wonder is it if we be compelled to confess, We know in part?
(3) The designs of God in connection with mans present and future state. It is not the design of God that we should know all. The future state is to make up for the defects of the present. It is this which makes heaven an object of such ardent desire to the Christian.
II. An anticipation of future perfection.
1. In regard to some future state of the Church upon earth. Look at the Church in our own day; see how abundantly our information has increased. Yet the Church is now in a very imperfect state compared with what it shall be in the last days; then many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. None shall say to his neighbour or his brother, Know the Lord, etc.
2. In reference to the state of the Church in heaven. Then it will be truly said, That which is perfect is come.
(1) A perfection of purity.
(2) Of power.
(3) Of knowledge.
(4) Of happiness. (J. Parsons.)
Present imperfection and future perjection
Observe–
I. The imperfection of our present condition.
1. Gifts are but partially distributed.
2. Are imperfect.
3. Are adapted to a state of imperfection.
II. The perfection of heaven.
1. Certainly anticipated.
2. Implies the removal of all imperfection and its causes.
3. The consummation of our nature and its consequent happiness. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. For we know in part] We have here but little knowledge even of earthly, and much less of heavenly, things. He that knows most knows little in comparison of what is known by angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. And as we know so very little, how deficient must we be if we have not much love! Angels may wonder at the imperfection of our knowledge; and separate spirits may wonder at the perfection of their own, having obtained so much more in consequence of being separated from the body, than they could conceive to be possible while in that body. When Sir Isaac Newton had made such astonishing discoveries in the laws of nature, far surpassing any thing that had been done by all his predecessors in science from the days of Solomon; one of our poets, considering the scantiness of human knowledge when compared with that which is possessed by the inhabitants of heaven, reduced his meditations on the subject to the following nervous and expressive epigram:–
Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man explain all nature’s law,
Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And show’d our NEWTON as we show an ape.
These fine lines are a paraphrase from a saying of Plato, from whom our poet borrows without acknowledging the debt. The words are these: “The wisest of mortals will appear but an ape in the estimation of God.” Vid. Hipp. Maj. vol. xi. p. 21. Edit. Bipont.
We prophesy in part] Even the sublimest prophets have been able to say but little of the heavenly state; and the best preachers have left the Spirit of God very much to supply. And had we no more religious knowledge than we can derive from men and books, and had we no farther instruction in the knowledge of God and ourselves than we derive from preaching, our religious experience would be low indeed. Yet it is our duty to acquire all the knowledge we possibly can; and as preaching is the ordinary means by which God is pleased to instruct and convert the soul, we should diligently and thankfully use it. For we have neither reason nor Scripture to suppose that God will give us that immediately from himself which he has promised to convey only by the use of means. Even this his blessing makes effectual; and, after all, his Spirit supplies much that man cannot teach. Every preacher should take care to inculcate this on the hearts of his hearers. When you have learned all you can from your ministers, remember you have much to learn from God; and for this you should diligently wait on him by the reading of his word, and by incessant prayer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For we know in part; it was truly said, as to things human, that the greatest part of those things that we know, is the least part of those things which we are ignorant of. A great measure of Divine things is also unknown to us, and the knowledge of them reserved for thr resurrection and day of judgment, Joh 14:20.
And we prophesy in part; nor can the communication of our knowledge to that, be larger than what we by prophecy communicate; we having ourselves but a short and imperfect communication of Divine things, we can communicate but an imperfect degree of knowledge to others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9, 10. in partpartially andimperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to the “perfect man,””the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph4:11-13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For we know in part,…. Not that the Scriptures, the rule and measure of knowledge, and from whence spiritual knowledge is derived, are imperfect; so that there is need of unwritten traditions, and of enthusiastic revelations and inspirations, to inform of things otherwise unknown; for though they were at sundry times, and in divers manners delivered, yet now they contain a complete system of divine truths, to which nothing is to be added, and from which nothing is to be taken away; or that only a part of the saints know the things of God; for though there is a difference between them, some have more knowledge than others, yet all have some, all are taught of God, and know him, and have that anointing which teacheth all things; wherefore the sense also is not, that only a part of truth, and not the whole, is known; for the Spirit of God leads into all truth; the whole counsel of God is made known in the Scriptures, and by the ministers of the word; though, to this sense the Arabic version inclines, rendering it, “some part of doctrine we know”; and so in 1Co 13:12 “some part of knowledge I know”; as also the Syriac version, which renders it , “a little from much we know”; but the true meaning is, that though the rule of knowledge is perfect, and all the saints have knowledge, and every truth of the Gospel is known; yet by those that know most, it is known but imperfectly: the truth itself may be most clearly discerned, as it is revealed in the word; yet the manner of it, how it is, may not be known; and many difficulties may attend it, and objections be raised to it, which are not easily solved; as in the doctrines of the Trinity, predestination, the union of the two natures in Christ, the resurrection of the dead, c.
and we prophesy in part the word of prophecy, as it sure, it is also perfect, to which we do well to take heed; and though all do not prophesy, yet all that do, and that prophesy aright, that is, explain the word of God aright, these preach the Gospel fully, declare the whole counsel of God, and keep back nothing profit able to the saints; yet still their prophesying or explaining the prophecies of the Old Testament, or the mysteries of the Gospel, is but imperfect at best in the present state of things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In part ( ). See on 12:27. As opposed to the whole.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “For we know in part,” (ek merous gar ginoskomen) “For (in firm knowledge) we know fragmentarily, in part.” Paul and the Corinth brethren knew the will of God fragmentarily, as He wrote – 1) part from the Old Testament, as inspired, written, 2) part from Jesus and the twelve apostles, and 3) part by spiritual gifts; 2Pe 1:19-21; 2Pe 3:15.
2) “And we prophesy in part.” (kai ek merous propheteuomen) and in fragments, or fragmentarily, (here a little, there a little). We prophecy.” (through the gift of prophecy). The term “Prophesy” means “to speak forth,” not merely to foretell matters. One may speak forth fervently, by divine sanction, the prophecies (fortellings) of the Scriptures. One may prophecy (speak forth) pre-inspired prophecies today, but the charismatic gift of foretelling has ceased.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He now proves that prophecy, and other gifts of that nature, are done away, (798) because they are conferred upon us to help our infirmity. Now our imperfection will one day have an end. Hence the use, even of those gifts, will, at the same time, be discontinued, for it were absurd that they should remain and be of no use. They will, therefore, perish. This subject he pursues to the end of the chapter.
9. We know in part This passage is misinterpreted by most persons, as if it meant that our knowledge, and in like manner our prophecy, is not yet perfect, but that we are daily making progress in them. Paul’s meaning, however, is — that it is owing to our imperfection that we at present have knowledge and prophecy. Hence the phrase in part means — “Because we are not yet perfect.” Knowledge and prophecy, therefore, have place among us so long as that imperfection cleaves to us, to which they are helps. It is true, indeed, that we ought to make progress during our whole life, and that everything that we have is merely begun. Let us observe, however, what Paul designs to prove — that the gifts in question are but temporary. Now he proves this from the circumstance, that the advantage of them is only for a time — so long as we aim at the mark by making progress every day.
(798) “ Seront un iour abolis;” — “Will one day be done away.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) We know in part.Knowledge and preaching are incomplete; therefore, when this dispensation ends, and the complete dispensation is brought in, these imperfect gifts shall cease. Gifts are but the implements of the divine husbandry; graces are the seeds themselves. When the great harvest-time comes, the instruments, however useful, will be cast aside altogether; the seeds will, by the very process of death, be transformed into blossoms and fruits, and in that perfected form remain for ever.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. In part Our knowledge and our prophecies, based upon our knowledge, are alike limited and temporary.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 13:9-10. For we know in part, &c. The wisest of men have here but short, narrow, imperfect conceptions even of the things round about them; and much more of the deep things of God: and even the prophesies which men deliver from God, are far from taking in the whole of future events, or of that wisdom and knowledge of God, which is treasured up in the Scripture revelation. But when we are arrived at that perfect and heavenly stateboth that poor, low, and glimmering light, which is all the knowledge we can now attain to, and all the present slow and unsatisfactory methods of obtaining it, shall be exchanged for the more extensive views of whatever it can be desirable to know; opening upon the mind in the most easy, clear, and delightful manner.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 13:9-10 . Proof of the last and of the first of the three preceding points. The second stood in need of no proof at all. For in part ( ; its opposite is , Lucian, Dem. enc. 21) we know , imperfect is our deep knowledge, and in part we speak prophetically , what we prophetically declare is imperfect. Both contain only fragments of the great whole, which remains hidden from us as such before the Parousia.
. . [2082] ] but when that which is perfect shall have appeared (at the Parousia; otherwise, Eph 4:13 ), then will that which is in part (the gnosis and the prophecy therefore also, seeing they belong to the category of the partial) be done away . The appearance of the perfected condition of things necessarily brings with it the abolition of what is only partial. With the advent of the absolute the imperfect finite ceases to exist, as the dawn ceases after the rising of the sun. We are not to supply, with Hofmann, and (as substantival infinitives) to and to , by which unprecedented harshness of construction the sense would be extorted, that only the imperfect and will cease to make room for the perfect. But what Paul means and says is that these charismata generally, as being designed only for the aeon of the partial, and not in correspondence with the future aeon of the perfect, will cease to exist at the Parousia; their design, which is merely temporary, is then fulfilled. With the advent of the Parousia the other charismata too (1Co 13:8 ff.) surely cease altogether: not simply that the imperfection of the way in which they are exercised ceases.
[2082] . . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1987
THE SAINTS VIEWS IN HEAVEN
1Co 13:9-12. We know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: nouw I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
IN the chapter before us, the Apostle expatiates upon the nature of true charity; developing it in all its properties, and in all its operations. And, having done this with a singular felicity of thought and expression, he declares the superiority of this grace above every thing else, whether gifts or graces; and that too, not only on account of its own intrinsic excellence, but on account of its duration; because, when all other things shall have passed away, this will endure through eternal ages.
To enter fully into the Apostles views, we must notice, in succession,
I.
His statement of the subject
Whatever we possess here, we have it only in part
[God, in his mercy, has given us a revelation: but this revelation contains but a very small part of what God might have revealed, if it had pleased him to do so. And the knowledge which we have of what he has revealed, is extremely partial and superficial. What know we of God, and his perfections? of Christ, and his offices? of the Holy Spirit, and his operations [Note: Mat 11:27.]? What know we of the human heart, and its unsearchable depravity [Note: Jer 17:9.]? What know we of the riches of Christ [Note: Eph 3:8.], and of all the wonders of redemption, the length and breadth, and depth and height, of which surpass all finite comprehension [Note: Eph 3:18-19.]? ]
And even what knowledge we do possess shall in the eternal world be done away
[We shall have no need of the written word to teach us, when once we are brought into the presence of God; nor will our present imperfect conceptions of it abide with us. The word, which at present is to us as the polar star, will then vanish from our sight; and the views which we now have of it, like those of the early dawn, will be dispelled; both the one and the other giving way, as darkness before the noon-day sun To what purpose would a man carry a taper in the day-time? Even so the light within us, and the light without, will add nothing to the brightness of the objects in heaven, or to the clearness of our perception of them, when once we shall behold them in their perfect state.]
But this will receive additional light from,
II.
His illustration of it
We all know how imperfect the conceptions of a child are, in comparison of what he possesses when he is become a man
[A child speaks without reflection, chooses [Note: , sapiebam. Compare Rom 8:5. the Greek.] without judgment, reasons [Note: .] without solidity: but, when he becomes a man he exercises all his faculties in a more appropriate and becoming manner. He no longer utters the unmeaning and senseless sounds which emanated from him in his infant state, or makes the trifling observations that befitted him when he first began to speak. Nor does he set his mind on things which are of no value, in preference to those that are of real and important use. Nor, though he still may err in his reasonings, does he any longer found his conclusions on premises which have no apparent connexion with them. His intellectual powers being expanded by use and exercise, he dismisses, as unworthy of him, the puerilities which he once affected.]
Still more imperfect are our present views of eternal things, in comparison of what they will be in a future state
[Now we see them all as in a mirror, darkly: they appear to us as a riddle or enigma, which we cannot without great difficulty comprehend [Note: See the Greek.]. The incarnation of Gods only dear Son, his substitution in the place of sinful man, the atonement offered by him for sin, his intercession for us at the right hand of God, his appointment to be the Head of vital influence to his Church and people, our union with him by faithwhat know we of these, and ten thousand other mysteries of our holy religion? the darkest riddle that ever was propounded is more level with our apprehension than these mysterious truths. And what know we of the felicity of heaven? What conception can we form of the souls exercises in its disembodied state; or of the glory of the Godhead, as shining forth to the view of the glorified saints and angels? Even the resurrection of the body, what know we about it? or what notion have we of a spiritual body? We must all confess, that our present views are so indistinct, as scarcely to deserve the name of knowledge. But when we shall behold God face to face, and see the Lord Jesus Christ as he is, then will our faculties be wonderfully enlarged, and our perceptions be infinitely more clear. O what views shall we then have of our own sinfulness, and of the Redeemers love! What an apprehension shall we then have of the perfections of our God, as united and harmonizing in the great work of redemption! Our knowledge will then arise, not, as now, from a variety of ideas communicated in succession to the mind, but from one intuitive perception: we shall see God, and the things of God, in some measure as God himself sees us: he sees the whole of us, even the inmost recesses of our souls, all at once, with equal clearness in every part: and somewhat of the same kind will be our knowledge of him, though, of course, in an infinitely lower degree: for then shall we know even as also we are known.]
See, then,
1.
In what light we should regard death
[To an ungodly man, indeed, death will be terrible, beyond all conception; because it will introduce him to a perfect knowledge of all those terrors, which, in this world, he would not believe. But to the true Christian, death is the door of entrance into glory. It is the friendly messenger sent to us by God, in answer to that prayer of our blessed Saviour; Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me [Note: Joh 17:24.]. Who, then, would deprecate it? Who should not account it gain, and number it amongst his treasures [Note: 1Co 3:22.]? Who should not desire to depart, that he may be with Christ [Note: Php 1:21; Php 1:23.]? Methinks it is a shame to Christians to be wedded to life, except for the purpose of honouring God, and advancing in a meetness for the heavenly inheritance ]
2.
In what light we should regard this present life
[This is a state of childhood; and, as children are educated for the purpose of acting their part as men upon earth, so should we be preparing daily to act our part in heaven. We should now be searching into all those truths which will there be more fully revealed to us, and be obtaining those dispositions which will qualify us for the enjoyment of them And here let me say, that the great and learned will do well to remember what they are; and the poor and unlearned will do well to look forward to what they will be. Our felicity above will be proportioned, not to our intellectual, but moral, attainments: and as, even in this world, God often reveals to babes and sucklings what he has hid from the wise and prudent, so much more, in the eternal world, will he most largely impart both knowledge and happiness to those who, in the present state, evince most fully the teachableness and humility of little children [Note: Mat 18:1; Mat 18:4.].
To all then I say, If ye will be men indeed, put away childish things. Put away your foolish communications, your corrupt affections, and your vain reasonings. Form your judgment, and exercise your inclinations, in accordance with the word of God. Begin to view things, here, as you will view them hereafter. Be no longer children, but men. If you look at the world around you, what are they but children of a larger growth? The dispositions and habits of those most advanced in life are, for the most part, not at all different from what they were in the earlier stages of their existence: earthly vanities still retain their ascendant over their minds; and the realities of the eternal world have as little influence over them as ever. Let it not be so, my brethren; but now begin to obtain those views, to cherish those desires, and to follow those pursuits, which a more enlightened judgment will dictate, and which will approve themselves as wise in the eternal world.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Ver. 9. We prophesy in part ] We therefore know but imperfectly, because we are taught but imperfectly. My greatest knowledge, said Chytraeus, is to know that I know nothing. (Melch. Adam.) And not only in most other things am I ignorant, said Augustine, Epist. cxix. chapt. xxi. but even in the Scriptures (my chief study and trade of life) multo plura nescio quam scio I am ignorant of more matters than I know. The rabbins in their comments upon Scripture, when they meet with hard knots that they cannot explicate, they solve all with this, Elia cum venerit, solver omnia, Elias, when he comes, shall assoil all our doubts. Erastus at the point of death said, that he therefore held it a happiness to die, because now he should fully understand an answer to all those harder questions wherein here he could have no satisfaction. (Melch. Adam, in Vita Erasti.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9, 10. ] Reason given ; that our knowledge, and our prophesying (utterance of divine things) are but partial , embracing but a part : but when that which is perfect (entire universal) shall have come, this partial shall be abolished superseded. See Eph 4:11-13 , where the same idea is otherwise expressed.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 13:9-10 : reasons why Prophecy and Knowledge must be abolished. Though amongst the (1Co 12:31 ) and rich in edification (1Co 14:6 ), these charisms are partial in scope, and therefore temporary: the fragmentary gives place to the complete. (see note, 1Co 12:27 , and parls.): coming of a part , our knowledge and prophesying are limited by the limiting conditions of their origin. For the conscious imperfection of Prophecy , cf. 1Pe 1:10 f.; this text has some bearing on the much-discussed “inerrancy” of Scripture. , , “But when there comes the perfect ( full-grown, mature ; see note on 1Co 2:6 ), the ‘in part’ will be abolished”: cf. Eph 4:13 f., where is contrasted with as here; also Phi 3:11 ff. This is brought about at the it “comes” with the Lord from heaven ( 1Co 15:47 ; cf. 1Th 1:10 ; 1Th 1:7 above); that of Eph 4 . is some what earlier.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
know. App-132.
in part. Greek. ek (App-104.) merous.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9, 10.] Reason given;-that our knowledge, and our prophesying (utterance of divine things) are but partial, embracing but a part: but when that which is perfect (entire-universal) shall have come, this partial shall be abolished-superseded. See Eph 4:11-13, where the same idea is otherwise expressed.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 13:9. , in part) Not only does the apostle say this, This prophecy and this knowledge, which we have, are imperfect; for the same must be said even of love, we love only in part [not perfectly]; but such is the nature of prophecy itself, with the exception of the one prophet Jesus Christ, and such the nature of knowledge, that they ought to be reckoned among the things, which are in part, [not merely because they are now imperfect, but also] because we use them only in this imperfect life. On the phrase, comp. the note on Rom 15:15, I have written more boldly.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 13:9
1Co 13:9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;-At the time this was written, some things were unknown, had not been revealed. For the knowledge of Gods will they were dependent upon those possessing the gift of prophecy. Most expositors think this refers to the partial knowledge of divine things we possess in this world, compared with the clear vision we shall possess when we shall have passed into the future; but this is wholly outside the scope of the apostles writing here. He is contrasting the spiritual gifts, their teachings and blessings, with the service of love under the completed and perfect law.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
1Co 13:12, 1Co 2:9, 1Co 8:2, Job 11:7, Job 11:8, Job 26:14, Psa 40:5, Psa 139:6, Pro 30:4, Mat 11:27, Rom 11:34, Eph 3:8, Eph 3:18, Eph 3:19, Col 2:2, Col 2:3, 1Pe 1:10-12, 1Jo 3:2
Reciprocal: 1Ch 17:2 – Do all Mar 8:24 – I see 1Co 14:1 – prophesy 1Co 14:6 – knowledge 1Th 5:20 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 13:9. In part is said in view of the temporary use and purpose of the spiritual gifts. While the church had such helps only, the knowledge of spiritual things was but partial.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 13:9. For we know in parteven in respect of the supernatural gift of knowledgeand we prophesy in partin necessarily broken, fragmentary utterances, giving at best but imperfect views of Divine truth.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 9. The reading , for, is evidently preferable to the , then, of the Byz. The apostle wishes to explain why this doing away shall take place. Prophecy lifts on each occasion only a corner of the veil which covers the plan of God and its final accomplishment. Similarly the isolated acts of spiritual knowledge grasp the truth of salvation only in fragments, and consequently every particular point of the great fact. Even to possess the complete knowledge of one point, the whole would require to be known distinctly. Now this full and only true knowledge is not granted us in the present economy. As to tongues, the apostle does not think it necessary to justify their disappearance. The reason for it is too evident: it is their ecstatic character. The only ground for ecstatic transport is that we are not yet living fully in the reality of the Divine. When we live in God, we are in Him without going out of ourselves. This is why there is no ecstasy in the life of Jesus, at least after His baptism.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
9. We now know in part. All of our knowledge here is fragmentary, but gleams of light amid worlds of darkness; the brightest light attainable here but as a dim star, contrasted with the meridian sun in his noonday glory, when compared to the unutterable effulgence of Heavenly day. We prophesy Our efforts to understand the mysteries of godliness revealed in the Bible are only calculated to flood us with the humiliating realization of our ignorance. Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest philosopher of modern times, said he felt like a little boy on the shore of time, picking up a pebble or a shell here and there, while the mighty deep rolled before him unexplored. Socrates, the greatest philosopher of the ancient world, said: This much do I know, I know nothing.
PERFECTION OF GLORY
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 9
In part; imperfectly.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
13:9 {4} For we know in {h} part, and we prophesy in part.
(4) The reason: because we are now in the state that we have need to learn daily, and therefore we have need of those helps, that is, of the gift of tongues, and knowledge, and also of those that teach by them. But to what purpose serve they then, when we have obtained and gotten the full knowledge of God, which serve now but for those who are imperfect and go by degrees to perfection?
(h) We learn imperfectly.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In the meantime, before we see the Lord, our knowledge and prophecy are imperfect in contrast with what they will be when we see Him. Prophecy is imperfect in the sense that revelations and explanations of His mind are only partial, incomplete.