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
--"Now we see through a glass, darkly." Darkly—in a riddle! So weak are our perceptions of mind, that plain truths often puzzle us. The words that teach us are pictures which need explanation."
Charles Spurgeon
--"Things are all dark and confused now, in comparison of what they will be hereafter: Now we see through a glass darkly (ev ainigmati, in a riddle ), then face to face; now we know in part, but then we shall know as we are known.
Now we can only discern things at a great distance, as through a telescope, and that involved in clouds and obscurity; but hereafter the things to be known will be near and obvious, open to our eyes; and our knowledge will be free from all obscurity and error. God is to be seen face to face."
Matthew Henry
--"Paul who wrote this famous passage from the Bible in a letter to a church in Corinth, which was famous for the manufacture of these kinds of mirrors. The images reflected in these brass mirrors were indistinct in comparison to our modern mirrors. They were seen Darkly.
Which, literally translated from the original Greek language in which he wrote, means, “in a riddle or enigma…that the revelation appears indistinctly, imperfectly.”
Paul is telling us that this is the state of our knowledge of divine things–imperfect and incomplete. “Now I know in part,” Paul mourns. There were limitations upon the knowledge even of Paul; only a part was seen. But wonderfully, it will not always be so. One glorious moment in the future every single human being on earth will suddenly face Him — Jesus."
WordPress
--"Possibly the true meaning of the words δι 'εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι, through a glass darkly, may be found among the Jewish writers, who use a similar term to express nearly the same thing to which the apostle refers.
A revelation of the will of God, in clear and express terms, is called by them מאירה אספקלריא aspecularia maira, a clear or lucid glass, or specular in reference, specularibus lapidibus, to the diaphanous polished stones, used by the ancients for windows instead of glass. An obscure prophecy they termed נהריא דלא אספקלריא aspecularia dela naharia, "a specular which is not clear."
Adam Clarke
For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
1 Corinthians 13:12 AmplifiedBible
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
"But many mysteries yet remain unrevealed.
How much that is acknowledged to be truth is mysterious and unexplainable to the human mind!"
6BC 1091.6 E.G.W.
--"Now we see through a glass, darkly." Darkly—in a riddle! So weak are our perceptions of mind, that plain truths often puzzle us. The words that teach us are pictures which need explanation."
Charles Spurgeon
--"Things are all dark and confused now, in comparison of what they will be hereafter: Now we see through a glass darkly (ev ainigmati, in a riddle ), then face to face; now we know in part, but then we shall know as we are known.
Now we can only discern things at a great distance, as through a telescope, and that involved in clouds and obscurity; but hereafter the things to be known will be near and obvious, open to our eyes; and our knowledge will be free from all obscurity and error. God is to be seen face to face."
Matthew Henry
--"Paul who wrote this famous passage from the Bible in a letter to a church in Corinth, which was famous for the manufacture of these kinds of mirrors. The images reflected in these brass mirrors were indistinct in comparison to our modern mirrors. They were seen Darkly.
Which, literally translated from the original Greek language in which he wrote, means, “in a riddle or enigma…that the revelation appears indistinctly, imperfectly.”
Paul is telling us that this is the state of our knowledge of divine things–imperfect and incomplete. “Now I know in part,” Paul mourns. There were limitations upon the knowledge even of Paul; only a part was seen. But wonderfully, it will not always be so. One glorious moment in the future every single human being on earth will suddenly face Him — Jesus."
WordPress
--"Possibly the true meaning of the words δι 'εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι, through a glass darkly, may be found among the Jewish writers, who use a similar term to express nearly the same thing to which the apostle refers.
A revelation of the will of God, in clear and express terms, is called by them מאירה אספקלריא aspecularia maira, a clear or lucid glass, or specular in reference, specularibus lapidibus, to the diaphanous polished stones, used by the ancients for windows instead of glass. An obscure prophecy they termed נהריא דלא אספקלריא aspecularia dela naharia, "a specular which is not clear."
Adam Clarke
For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
1 Corinthians 13:12 AmplifiedBible
e·nig·ma
/iˈniɡmə/
noun
- a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand