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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 13:12 - 13:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. δι' ἐσόπτρου. Literally, by means of a mirror. Per speculum, Vulgate. Bi a mirour, Wiclif. Meyer reminds us that we are to think rather of the mirrors of polished metal used in ancient times, the reflections of which would often be obscure and imperfect, than of our modern looking-glasses.
ἐν αἰνίγματι. In an enigma. Connected with αἶνος, a fable, this word means any saying that is difficult to understand, like the aenigma the Sphinx proposed to Oedipus. There is a confusion of metaphor therefore here, but it conveys a fulness of meaning. We see here (1) by means of a mirror, i.e. not directly, but through a medium, and (2) we have to deal with things of which it is difficult to penetrate the meaning. See Soph. Oed. Tyr. 393 καίτοι τό γ' αἴνιγμ' οὐχὶ τοὐπιόντος ἦν | ἀνδρὸς διειπεῖν, ἀλλὰ μαντείας ἔδει.
πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. Cf. Num 12:8, to which the Apostle is evidently referring. Also Job 19:26-27; 1Jn 3:2; Rev 22:4.
ἐπεγνώσθην. ἐπιγινώσκω signifies thorough, complete knowledge. ‘I am known’ should rather be translated I was known, i.e. either (1) when Christ took knowledge of me (Meyer), or (2) I was (previously) known, or (3) the aorist may be altogether indefinite, ‘as God hath been wont to know me.’ It is God’s knowledge of us, His interpenetrating our being with His, which is the cause of our knowledge. Cf. Gal 4:9; ch. 1Co 8:3. Also Mat 11:27, and John 17 throughout.