Charity, Part XII: Face to Face (1 Corinthians 13:12)
2023-01-08
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. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
This verse says a lot about this passage concerning what is meant by what perfection is coming. I have avoided that discussion until now because this is the verse that explains it. Most people I have met say the phrase “that which is perfect is come” in 1 Corinthians 13:10 refers to the completion of the canon of Scripture. It could be this, but there are a few reasons why I do not think so.
First is the analogy of the “glass,” or mirror. Consider the following: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Looking into a mirror we see the glory of the Lord, and the more we do so, the more we are changed. We only see the face of the Lord so well in this present age (“darkly”). When will we see the Lord face to face? Only at His return.
Second is the phrase “but then shall I know even as also I am known.” This is a theme throughout the Scriptures. The Lord knows us, and we learn to know Him throughout our lives. To reference a verse we saw in Part X, consider the following: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). We are fully “apprehended” by Christ now, but apprehending Christ is something we do throughout our lives. The apostle Paul was not “perfect” when he wrote those words. When would he be considered “perfect”? “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:11). We will be perfected on the Day Christ returns.
The complete canon of the Scriptures is part of how the Lord works within us and reveals Himself to us. But until the day of the resurrection, and our Adamic nature is fully eradicated, we will never be complete.