1 Corinthians 13:12

An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

For now [i.e., during the church’s infant state] we see in a mirror [Note: God’s word is elsewhere likened to a mirror. See James 1:22-25] indistinctly [i.e., because of having only partial knowledge and prophecy], but then [i.e., when the church matures and has the completed Scriptures], we will see face to face [i.e., clearly]. Now I have [only] partial knowledge, but then I will have full knowledge, just as [God has] full knowledge of me.

Cross References

Matthew 18:10

Make sure you do not look down on any one of these little ones [i.e., humble followers of Christ]. For I tell you, their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:8

“Those persons whose hearts are pure [before God] are blessed because they will see God.

John 10:15

just like the Father knows me [intimately] and I know the Father [that way]. And I [am about to] give up my life for the sheep.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that our present sufferings do not deserve to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us [i.e., in the future life].

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child I spoke, thought and reasoned like a child. But now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. [Note: Paul uses an analogy to illustrate that the church made use of the supernatural gifts in its infancy, but that these would no longer be needed when it matured].

1 Corinthians 8:3

But if anyone loves God, that person is known by God.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But all of us [Christians], with unveiled faces, see the Lord’s splendor reflected, as [though we were] looking in a mirror, and [so] are being transformed into His likeness in ever-increasing splendor. This is [the work] of the Lord, [who is] the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:7

for we live by faith, not by what we see.

Philippians 3:12

[It is] not that I have already arrived at the goal [of spiritual maturity], or have already been made perfectly [righteous], but I am pushing onward in order to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for [i.e., to receive all that Christ intended for me].

James 1:23

For if anyone is [only] a listener to the word and does not practice it, he is like a person who sees his natural face in a mirror,

1 John 3:2

Dearly loved ones, we are God’s children now, but it has not yet been revealed [to us] what we will be [in the future life, Luke 20:34-36]. But, we do know this, however, that when Jesus is revealed [i.e., at His second coming], we will be like Him [I Cor. 15:49], for we will see what He really looks like!

Revelation 22:4

and they will see His face, and His name will be [written] on their foreheads.