What does it mean that now we see in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12)?

The apostle proceeds to illustrate the present and the future by the childhood and full growth of a man as follows. "When I was a child, I talked as a child, I thought as a child, I reckoned as a child; when I am become a man, I have done away with the things of the child. For we see now through a mirror in a dark form, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know, even as I also was fully known. But now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but [the] greater of these [is] love." (Vers. 11-13.) Clearly the drift of the passage is not to cast uncertainty on our present measure of knowledge, but to set forth its partial character, as compared with the fulness in glory. He confirms the difference by another similitude, the reflection of a mirror with no more than a dim shape seen thereby, and seeing face to face. The medium, or rather our seeing now, is necessarily imperfect, and the result more or less dark. By-and-by it will be immediate vision, and I shall know fully as I was also fully known. It is a difference not merely of measure but of manner too. Our very learning now, no matter how much we have learnt, proves our ignorance. It will not be so then. The state which needs to grow, as well as the means which contribute to growth, will have passed away. Truth will be fully known as a whole in that day, not learnt piecemeal as now.

(Vv. 8-13). Having depicted the nature of love, the Apostle declares its permanence. Love never fails. Prophecies will be done away; their fulfilment will bring them to an end. Tongues will cease with the present divided condition of the nations. Knowledge, or the partial knowledge that we have at the present time, will be done away. Such knowledge as we now possess is not full knowledge, but rather something that we are ever acquiring, and therefore only a proof of our ignorance. It is only knowledge “in part”. In the perfect condition of heaven this knowledge in part will for ever have passed away. There may be blessed unfoldings of truth in that heavenly scene, but whatever is presented there will be fully known, in contrast to our present condition in which, though truth is fully revealed, it is yet only partially apprehended. However much we may enter into the truth down here, it ever remains knowledge “in part”. To set forth our present partial knowledge, the Apostle uses the figure of a child, who can only think, speak and reason as a child. When the child becomes a man, the childish condition is left behind. So we, while in these bodies, are compelled very largely to think of spiritual things in natural terms in accord with our present condition. Thus, as to the truth, we only see through a glass darkly. At present we are like one looking at objects through some semi-transparent medium that obscures the vision. In the perfect state we shall see face to face; there will be no medium between us and that upon which we gaze. Then we shall know as we are known. We shall fully know the truth as a whole, not merely in part, even as we are fully known.

Another illustration in verse 12 emphasizes this. At present we see as through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Spiritual things now are learned with the help of reflections, types, symbols, and faith of course must be in exercise to discern in its measure the significance of all these teaching aids. It is not like seeing the object itself, but its reflection as in a mirror. We learn what the Church of God is by symbols, such as the Pearl of Great Price, the Building of God, the One Flock, the One Body, the Epistle of Christ, the Bride, and the Holy City. Thus now we gradually learn; but then what may seem too abstract to us now, will be seen in its full reality and blessedness.

"Believeth all things" is not being suspicious: one believes readily. It "hopeth all things"; it does not mean ill, it does not think of evil. Evil tends to depress the soul, but God is above all that. I find constantly the danger of thinking the evil is greater than the good; but if I bring in God, He is greater than all opposed. Christ was here in the world with no thought of suspicion, and that is the spirit in which we are to walk through the world. If you are always suspecting people, who will trust you? I feel the great difficulty in seeing the evil, which is apt to get the upper hand of your mind; though it is no good deluding oneself that it is not there, because it is there. But love will go on in heaven when there is no evil to think about; prophecies will fail, tongues cease, and knowledge vanish away. "When that which is perfect is come" (v. 10) means the time of glory, when everything is perfect, and these partial things will have ceased. Knowledge now is in degree, "we know in part"; all that kind of learning will pass away. Learning is a proof of ignorance, and this will not be then. Even in divine things we learn, and all that is testimony to ignorance. It gives a great idea of the littleness of man in that way. All these partial instruments of communicating will be done with when I know as I am known: which is, I believe, God's way of knowing; it is not knowing in part; it is not so much the measure as the manner of God's knowing. God can create ideas. I know so far as things are knowable to be known. Now we see "darkly" what we do not see clearly. It is just as I see through a window, instead of seeing the object at once. It is an extraordinary expression; we do not see clearly, but in a mystery, not like plain open things. It is an enigma, though I do not like that word, because it does not suit divine things.

Verse 12. "For now we see through a glass, darkly," etc. We see, but not yet God; that is the final promise to the many sons whom He is bringing to His glory. In the meanwhile, the word which reveals Him hides Him also. If we look into it, all is light; for it presents to our faith a living and speaking likeness of the Lord. If we would look through it, all is dark; for truth is a riddle7 to the intellect, until with spiritual bodies we have conferred on us a mental organism capable of apprehending it. By a patient meditation of the Scriptures we obtain their comfort also;8 but the end of even an inspired search is to discover that the riches of wisdom and knowledge still belong to God — that His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out.9

"We see through a glass darkly" now; this belongs to our present condition in which our apprehension of heavenly things is necessarily limited. Apart from our feeble appreciation of the full and perfect revelation that God has given of Himself in the Son, and of the vast wealth of truth connected with His purposes in Christ made known by the Holy Spirit, there are the "unspeakable words" of the Paradise of God "which it is not lawful for a man to utter." When we enter the heavenly Paradise we shall know these blissful things; we shall see "face to face," and know perfectly what we have learned partially down here.

Divine knowledge now possessed is imperfect. "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. … 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 Cor. 13:9-12.) However much we may know, how little it is at the most! Many cannot fail to be sensible in themselves of a sorrowful immaturity of knowledge of Christ and of God His Father. "The measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13) is not yet reached by us. We look on the unseen as through a window of dulled glass; the character of the glory is not in our full view, Here we are learners in the school of God; there we shall stand in the fulness of the adoption, with our lessons learned and the liberty of full age come.

The Apostle further illustrates this point by his own childhood. When a child he spoke, thought, reasoned, as a child. When manhood was reached he was done with what belonged to childhood's days. The application of this illustration is in verse 21. The contrast lies between now and then; between our present condition, limited as we are by flesh and blood, though we are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and the heavenly condition into which we shall enter when we are in the likeness of Christ, even as to our bodies. Now it is seeing as through a glass obscurely: then knowing according as we have been known.

But our partial knowledge of the truth will give place to knowledge in the measure in which "I am known." This is not by any means omniscience (knowing all things), but knowing all that relates to my position and condition in manhood, as God knows it. This of course involves a great deal more than is seen on the surface; and all will be seen then in a perfect perspective, not influenced by our present limited, unbalanced condition. These are necessary reminders when considering the actual exercise of ministry in chapter 14.

For each one of us, no doubt, the state will be perfect, the partial condition will be done away. That is surely so. When the bud is ripened into the flower, the perfect condition is reached; it is a bud no longer. Does it follow from this at all that the flower is in no wise dependent upon that bud which is passed away? We know it is dependent. So when it is no longer a condition of faith, but of sight, — no longer seeing through a glass, darkly, but face to face, the present knowing* — not the knowledge itself, but the manner of it — will have passed. We "shall know," not as afar off any longer, but in the presence of the things known. That is, "as we are known," as He to whom all