1 Corinthians 13:12

figures in another way the contrast between the present partial and the coming perfect Christian state, in respect particularly of knowledge : it is the diff [2000] between discernment by broken reflexion and by immediate intuition. “For we see now through a mirror, in (the fashion of) a riddle; but then face to face.” βλέπω, as distinguished from ὁράω, points to the fact and manner of seeing rather than the object seen (see parls.). On ἄρτι, see note to 1 Corinthians 4:11; it fastens on the immediate present. διʼ ἐσόπτρου, “by means of a mirror”: ancient mirrors made of burnished metal a specialty of Cor [2001] were poor reflectors; the art of silvering glass was discovered in the 13th century. ἔσοπτρον = κάτοπτρον (2 Corinthians 3:18), or ἔνοπτρον (cl [2002] Gr [2003]); not διόπτρα, speculare, the semi-transparent window of talc (the lapis specularis of the ancients), as some have explained the term. cf. Philo, De Decal., § 21, “As by a mirror, the reason discerns images of God acting and making the world and administering the universe“; also Plato's celebrated representation (Repub., vii., 514) of the world of sense as a train of shadows imaging the real. Mr [2004], Hf [2005], Gd [2006], Al [2007], El [2008] adopt the local sense of διά, “ through a mirror,” in allusion to the appearance of the imaged object as behind the reflector: but it is the dimness, not the displacement, of the image that P. is thinking of. Such a sight of the Divine realities, in blurred reflexions, presents them ἐν αἰνίγματι, enigmatically “in (the shape of) a riddle” rather than a full intelligible view. Divine revelation opens up fresh mysteries; advanced knowledge raises vaster problems. With our defective earthly powers, this is inevitable. πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, Heb. panîm 'elpanîm (see parls.), with a reminiscence of Numbers 12:8, στόμα κατὰ στόμα … καὶ οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων (referring to the converse of God with Moses): the “face” to which ours will be turned, is God's. God is the tacit obj [2009] of 1 Corinthians 13:12 b, which interprets the above figure: “Now I know (γινώσκω, a learner's knowledge: see 1 Corinthians 1:21, etc.; contrast οἶδα, 2 above and 1 Corinthians 2:11) partially; but then I shall know-well (ἐπιγνώσομαι), as also I was well-known”. God has formed a perfect apprehension of the believing soul (1 Corinthians 8:3); He possesses an immediate, full, and interested discernment of its conditions (Romans 8:27, etc.); its future knowledge will match, in some sense, His present knowledge of it, the searching effect of which it has realised (Galatians 4:9, etc.).

[2000] difference, different, differently.

[2001] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2002] classical.

[2003] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[2004] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[2005] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[2006] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2007] Alford's Greek Testament.

[2008] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[2009] grammatical object.