Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 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.
What did the apostle mean when he said now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face? He is talking about a time when there will be no need for prophecy, the gift of tongues will cease, and knowledge will vanish away.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
Because he says we shall see face to face, many think he is talking about when Jesus comes. However it is interesting that he says this will happen when that which is perfect shall come. The word ‘perfect’ is a Greek word that means complete or full grown and mature – teleios. The idea of maturity is surly at work here because the apostle says:
1 Corinthians 13:11 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.
The gifts he is speaking of were all at work among the church during the writing of the New Testament. They are all speaking gifts. Could it be that perfect thing which was to come was the completion of the Word of God? That would mean that when the New Testament was completed, those gifts mentioned would fail, cease and vanish away. Is the Bible ever called ‘perfect’? Yes it is and the idea is one of looking into a glass.
James 1:23-24 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
The word here is related to a glass or a mirror. A man who hears and does not do the word is like a man who looks into the glass and then forgets what he saw. Paul speaks of the time of the Corinthian church as one in which they saw through a glass darkly. In other words they could see the reflection from the word but it was not as bright as it could be because the Bible was still being written. James calls the Bible the ‘perfect law of liberty’.
James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Now the whole point is being a doer of the Word and loving as Jesus loved. We now have the completed Bible. We should not be children anymore. We should hear and do what God says! We don’t see through the glass darkly now, we see face to face. The Bible is in our hands and we need to look into it and be changed into the image of Christ!
In Christ,
Rody
