Paul talks about seeing God as a reflection, but we eventually will see Him face to face.
Mirrors were made out of polished brass.
Here Paul, like elsewhere in his letters, says we only know part of the picture now, but when we are taken home we will know the whole picture and see it as God sees it.
1st Corinthians was written by Paul in Ephesus May AD56 as his fourth letter.
Background Reading: The Supremacy of Love
And now I will show you the best way of all.
13:1 If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing. 3 Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is always patient;
love is always kind;
love is never envious
or arrogant with pride.
Nor is she conceited,
5 and she is never rude;
she never thinks just of herself
or ever gets annoyed.
She never is resentful;
6 is never glad with sin;
she’s always glad to side with truth,
and pleased that truth will win.
7 She bears up under everything;
believes the best in all;
there is no limit to her hope,
and never will she fall.
8 Love never fails. Now if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are languages, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For what we know is incomplete and what we prophesy is incomplete. 10 But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways. 12 Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
also read: James 1:23
Other slides in this module:
- Next 43 Years of the Book of Acts, Acts 18:23
- Next 4 years of the Book of Acts, Acts 18:23-21:18
- Books Burn, Paul is in Ephesus, Acts 19:18-20
- Look in a Mirror, Paul writes to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
- Satan as an Angel of Light, Paul writes to the Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 2:5-11 and 11:14
- Paul writes the book of Romans
- Idol or the Golden Calf
- Olive Tree
- Paul arrested and put in Chains
- First of several trials for Paul
- Paul before the High Priest Ananias and the Sanhedrin
- Second Trial for Paul, this time before Felix
- Paul’s third trial in front of Felix
- Paul’s fourth trial was in front of Festus
- Festus consults with King Herod Agrippa 2
- Paul before King Agrippa for his fifth trial
- Paul, a prisoner, sails for Rome in chains
- Map, Paul sails for Rome and prison
- Paul and the Snakebite ashore on Malta
- Paul heals the people on the island of Malta
- Paul under house arrest is still preaching
- Gospel of Luke
- Roman Soldier, The Armour of God
- Comeback, Paul’s plea for Onesimus
- Epaphras took a letter to the city of Colossae
- Run the race
- Map, Paul’s 5th trip which was after the book of Acts was written
- Rome burns, 19 July AD64
- Kiss of Love
- Scribe, Paul’s Letter To Titus
- Paul writes to Timothy a second time
- Victor’s Crown
- The book of Hebrews
- Moses leads God’s people
- Crossing the Red Sea
- Paul back in jail or prison again in Rome
- The Book of Jude
- Jerusalem is destroyed 2nd September AD70
- 3rd John
- John on the Island of Patmos
- Eight Characteristics of Jesus
- The Holy City, the New Jerusalem
- Jesus Reigns
- AD96 the end of the book of Revelation and the continuation of the Christian church
- Questions and Answers 1-14
- Questions and Answers 15-28
- Questions and Answers 29-43
- Timeline for Acts part two
- Resources: Acts part one and two
- Next Module » »