Paul moved on to point out that Christian love (agape) characterizes our existence now and forever, but gifts (charismata) are only for the present. The Corinthians were apparently viewing the gifts as one evidence that they were already in the eschatological stage of their salvation.
13:8 Love never fails in the sense of falling away when the physical temporal things on which affection rests pass away; it outlasts temporal things. Gifts of the Spirit will pass away because they are temporary provisions, but the fruit of the Spirit will abide.
Prophecies are messages from God, but when we stand before Him and hear His voice there will be no more need for prophets to relay His words to us. Likewise when we stand before God there will be no need to speak in other languages since we will all understand God when He speaks. The knowledge that is so important to us now will be irrelevant then because when we are in God's presence we will know perfectly (v. 12; cf. 1:5; 8:1; 12:8). The knowledge in view seems to be knowledge of God's ways in the present age. As will become clearer in chapter 14, Paul's preference regarding the gifts was prophecy, but the Corinthians favored tongues and knowledge.
The verb Paul used to describe what will happen to prophecy and knowledge is in the passive voice in Greek and means "shall be terminated"(from katargeo; cf. 2:6). The verb he used to describe what will happen to tongues is in the middle voice and means "automatically cease of themselves"(from pauo).309The passive voice points to God terminating prophecy and knowledge when we see Him. The middle voice suggests that tongues will peter out before we see God.310Church history testifies that this is what happened to the gift of tongues shortly after the apostolic age.311Paul's dropping tongues from his discussion at this point supports the fact that the gift of tongues would not last as long as knowledge and prophecy. He continued to speak of knowledge and prophecy in the next verses.
13:9 In the meantime, before we see the Lord, our knowledge and prophecy are imperfect in contrast with what they will be when we see Him. Prophecy is imperfect in the sense that revelations of His mind are only partial, incomplete.
13:10 In the light of the context, what is perfect (Gr. teleion, mature, whole, complete) probably refers to the whole truth about God.312Another possibility is that it is our state when we stand in the Lord's presence.313When we reach that point in history the Lord will remove (katargeo, cf. v. 8) what is partial, the limits on our knowledge and the other limitations we suffer in our present condition. Variations on this second view are that the perfect refers to the Rapture,314to the Lord's return,315or to the maturing of Christ's body through the course of the church age.316
Another view is that the perfect refers to the completion of the New Testament canon and the partial to the incomplete canon and the Corinthians' partial knowledge.317They were incomplete because God had not yet given all the prophecy He would give to complete the New Testament. However this view puts too much weight on prophecy and knowledge and not enough on our other temporary limitations to which Paul also referred (v. 12).
A third possibility is that the perfect refers to the new heavens and new earth.318However the New Testament does not reveal that God will remove Christians' limitations to any greater extent sometime afterwe see the Lord Jesus than He will whenwe see Him (cf. Rom 8:32).
13:11 Paul compared our present phase of maturity to childhood and that of our later phase, when we are with the Lord, to adulthood. It is characteristic of children to preoccupy themselves with things of very temporary value. Likewise the Corinthians took great interest in the things that would pass away soon, namely knowledge, tongues, and prophecy. A sign of spiritual maturity is occupation with things of eternal value such as love. Again Paul was stressing the difference between the present and the future.
13:12 Another illustration of the difference between our present and future states as Christians is the mirror. In Paul's day, craftsmen made mirrors out of metal.
". . . Corinth was famous as the producer of some of the finest bronze mirrors in antiquity."319
Consequently the apostle's point was not that our present perception of reality is somewhat distorted, but in the future it will be completely realistic.320Rather it was that now we see indirectly, but then we will see directly, face to face. Today we might say that we presently look at a photograph, but in the future we will see what the photograph pictures.
Now we know (Gr. ginosko) only partially. When the Lord has resurrected or "raptured"us and we stand in His presence, we will know fully (Gr. epignosko), as fully as God now knows us.321Now He knows us directly, but then we will also know Him directly.
13:13 "Now"resumes Paul's original thought about the supremacy of love. It does not carry on the contrast between what is now and what will be later. In contrast to what will pass away--namely knowledge, tongues, and prophecy--faith, hope, and love will endure (cf. Rom 5:1-5; Gal. 5:5-6; Eph. 4:2-5; 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:8; Heb. 6:10-12; 10:22-24; 1 Pet. 1:3-8, 21-22). Faith here is not the gift of faith (v. 2; cf. 12:9) but the trust in God that characterizes all His children.
Among the enduring virtues love is the greatest because it will only increase when we see the Lord rather than decreasing in us, as faith and hope will. In the future we will continue to trust God and hope in Him, but the reality of His presence will make it easier for us to do so then than it is now.
Apparently Paul introduced faith and hope at this point to show that love is not only superior to the gifts, but it is superior even to other virtues. Faith and hope are gifts, and they are also Christian virtues of the same type as love. Yet love even outstrips the other major Christian virtues because it will outlast them.
"Love is a property of God himself. . . . But God does not himself trust (in the sense of placing his whole confidence in and committing himself to some other being); if he did, he would not be God. . . . If God hoped he would not be God. But if God did not love he would not be God. Love is an activity, the essential activity, of God himself, and when men love either him or their fellow-men they are doing (however imperfectly) what God does."322
The point of this beautiful classic exposition of love is this. We should value and give attention to the cultivation and practice of love even more than to that of the spiritual gifts (cf. 12:31). The gifts, as important as they are, are only partial and temporary. As love is the greatest of the virtues that will endure forever, so the gift of tongues is the least of the gifts. It will last only a short time.
