Devine Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:12

What does 1 Corinthians 13:12 mean?

A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 13:12 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 1 Corinthians 13:12 means

Our present experience of God’s reality is like looking into a polished metal mirror—real, but indirect and blurred. One day, it will be “face to face,” a direct, unhindered knowing. Now our knowledge is partial; then it will be full, corresponding to the way God already knows us. This anticipates the believer’s future, personal communion with the Lord, secured by Christ and completed at His coming. The hope of that day encourages patience with the limits of the present and fuels the choice to prioritize love, which belongs to both sides of the veil—now in part, then in unhindered perfection.

1 Corinthians 13:12 in context

1 Corinthians 13 — The More Excellent Way

Set in the middle of Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts, this chapter is the great hymn of love. Eloquence without love is noisy brass. Knowledge, faith, and self-sacrifice without love profit nothing. Love is patient and kind, does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Tongues will cease and knowledge pass away, but love never fails.

  • Christian love
  • Gifts in proportion
  • Permanence of love
  • Maturity

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

We see now through a glass in a dark manner: but then face to face. Now I know in part: but then I shall know even as I am known.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

For we see now through a dim window obscurely, but then face to face; now I know partially, but then I shall know according as I also have been known.

Context

Here Paul’s second image intensifies the contrast between the present and the future: from dim reflection to direct encounter. It explains why prophecy and knowledge will be “done away”—they mediate what will one day be immediate. This vision of fullness prepares for the concluding summary in verse 13, where Paul names the enduring triad and crowns love as greatest, drawing together the chapter’s threads.

v.11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.

v.12This passage

v.13But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:7

    (for we walk by faith, not by sight);

  • John 10:15

    even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

  • 1 Corinthians 13:9

    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

  • James 1:23

    For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:

  • Genesis 32:30

    And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

  • Matthew 5:8

    Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Sermon ideas from 1 Corinthians 13:12

Angles a pastor or small-group leader might preach or teach from this passage, drawn from the chapter's main themes.

  • What 1 Corinthians 13:12 teaches us about christian love

  • What 1 Corinthians 13:12 teaches us about gifts in proportion

  • What 1 Corinthians 13:12 teaches us about permanence of love

  • What 1 Corinthians 13:12 teaches us about maturity

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